2-Apr-2025
First #ancientGenomes from the #GreenSahara deciphered
A new study reveals a long-isolated North African human lineage in the Central #Sahara during the African humid period more than 7,000 years ago
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1078547 #science #genome #humans #archaeology #NorthAfrica
First ancient genomes from the Green Sahara deciphered
An international team led by researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, has sequenced the first ancient genomes from the so-called Green Sahara, a period when the largest desert in the world temporarily turned into a humid savanna-like environment. By analyzing the DNA of two 7,000-year-old naturally mummified individuals excavated in the Takarkori rock shelter in southwestern Libya by the Archaeological Mission in the Sahara, Sapienza University of Rome, the team showed that they belonged to a long-isolated and now extinct North African human lineage. This group of cattle pastoralists has only a minor genetic component of non-African ancestry, suggesting that animal husbandry may have spread into the Green Sahara through cultural exchange rather than large-scale migrations. Moreover, the ancient genomes do not carry sub-Saharan African ancestry, suggesting that, contrary to previous interpretations, the Green Sahara was not a corridor connecting Northern and sub-Saharan Africa.
Genomic evidence from ancient Rapanui people from Easter Island shows that they had around 10% ancestry related to Andean people before Europeans arrived, evidence either that Native Americans lived on the island before Polynesians arrived in the 12-13th century or that Polynesians made it to mainland South America and then backtracked to the island.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07881-4
#Rapanui #Polynesians #PreColumbianAmerica #EasterIsland #AncientGenomes #AncientDNA #Admixture
Ancient Rapanui genomes reveal resilience and pre-European contact with the Americas - Nature
An analysis of 15 ancient genomes from individuals dating to AD 1670–1950 from Rapa Nui (also known as Easter Island) addresses questions about the population history of the island.
oh wow. Another massive load of
#AncientGenomes sequenced, implications for spread of
#IndoGermanic #languages: The Southern Arc and its lively genetic history
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/962841
The Southern Arc and its lively genetic history
In a trio of papers, published simultaneously in the journal Science, Ron Pinhasi from the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology and Human Evolution and Archaeological Sciences (HEAS) at the University of Vienna and Songül Alpaslan-Roodenberg from the University of Vienna and Harvard University, Iosif Lazaridis and David Reich at Harvard University—together with 202 co-authors—report a massive effort of genome-wide sequencing from 727 distinct ancient individuals with which it was possible to test longstanding archaeological, genetic and linguistic hypotheses. They present a systematic picture of the interlinked histories of peoples across the Southern Arc Region from the origins of agriculture, to late medieval times.
michael
Matt Hodgkinson