Table 1. Fossil comparative samples used in the analysis.

European – W. Asian H. neanderthalensis (n = 10; NEA)

Amud 1 (Am1), Feldhofer 1* (Fh1), Guattari (Gt) La Chapelle-aux-Saints (Ch), La Ferrassie 1 (Fr1), La Quina 5 (Qn), Shanidar 1* (Sh1), Spy 1& 2 (Sp1, Sp2), Tabun 1 (Tb1)

Homo heidelbergensis s.l. (n = 5; HH)

Dali* (Da), Kabwe (Broken Hill) (Kb), Petralona (Pe), Saldanha (Elandsfontein) (Sl), Sima de los Huesos 5* (Sm5)

Homo erectus s.l. (n = 2; HE)

KNM-ER 3733 (ER3733), KNM-ER 3883 (ER3883)

Late Middle-Late Pleistocene fossils from Africa and the Levant (n = 7; LPA, EAM)

Irhoud 1& 2 (Ir1, Ir2), Ngaloba (LH18), Qafzeh 6* & 9 (Qz6, Qz9), Singa (S1), Skhul 5 (Sk5)

Upper Paleolithic Eurasian modern humans (n = 20; EUP), Zhoukoudian Upper Cave (n = 2; UC)

Abri Pataud (AP), Brno 1 (Bn1), Chancelade (Cn), Cioclovina (Ci), Cro Magnon 1, 2, 3 (CM1, CM2, CM3), Dolní Věstonice 3, 13, 15, 16 (Dv3, Dv13, Dv15, Dv16), Grimaldi 4* (Gr), Mladeč 1, 5 (Ml1, Ml5), Muierii (Mu), Oase 2 (Oa), Ohalo II* (Oh2), Pavlov (Pv), Předmostí 3*, 4* (Pd3, Pd4), Upper Cave 101* &103 * (UC1, UC3)

*Indicates specimens for which high-quality casts or stereolithographs were measured. The symbols for each specimen used in the Figures are indicated in parentheses. One of the authors (Stringer) regards Sima de los Huesos 5 as an early Neanderthal rather than a H. heidelbergensis.