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Warpy

(113,130 posts)
Tue Jul 13, 2021, 02:39 PM Jul 2021

The Genome of a Human From an Unknown Population Has Been Recovered From Cave Dirt

A cup of mud that has been buried beneath the floor of a cave for millennia has just yielded up the genome of an ancient human.

Analysis reveals traces of a woman who lived 25,000 years ago, before the last Ice Age; and, although we don't know much about her, she represents a significant scientific achievement: the feasibility of identifying ancient human populations even when there are no bones to recover
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First, the woman. Only a tiny fraction of her genome was recovered, but from that, the researchers were able to infer that she was a member of a previously unknown group of modern humans. That group is now extinct, but it contributed to present day populations in Europe and Asia, as discovered when the ancient genome was compared to current human genomes.

https://www.sciencealert.com/a-human-genome-has-been-recovered-from-cave-dirt

I knew they'd found ancient DNA fragments in habitation layers. Sequencing them this far is a massive achievement.

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The Genome of a Human From an Unknown Population Has Been Recovered From Cave Dirt (Original Post) Warpy Jul 2021 OP
Just 25,000 years and already extinct WOW at140 Jul 2021 #1
The article said she was a modern human Warpy Jul 2021 #2
I hadn't thought of that Random Boomer Jul 2021 #3
Y-haplogroups (male lineages) were also lost then Warpy Jul 2021 #4

at140

(6,132 posts)
1. Just 25,000 years and already extinct WOW
Tue Jul 13, 2021, 02:44 PM
Jul 2021

What never ceases to amaze me is how short human civilization is in context of earth's estimated age of 5 Billion years. I feel so lucky to be living now than just 200 years ago when pain killers and safe surgical procedures were not around.

Warpy

(113,130 posts)
2. The article said she was a modern human
Tue Jul 13, 2021, 03:35 PM
Jul 2021

so the extinct part was that particular mitochondrial line.

A lot of hose went extinct 700 years ago during the Black Death.

Random Boomer

(4,249 posts)
3. I hadn't thought of that
Wed Jul 14, 2021, 08:26 AM
Jul 2021

Thanks for pointing out yet another consequence of the Black Death pandemic. That one had never occurred to me.

Warpy

(113,130 posts)
4. Y-haplogroups (male lineages) were also lost then
Wed Jul 14, 2021, 10:15 AM
Jul 2021

It was a near extinction event, and it won't be the last one.

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