DNA from skeleton found in Indonesia, revealing unknown group of humans

In detail, it was found among the artifacts of the Toalean people, one of the region’s earliest hunter-gatherer cultures.

The study, which was published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, was a collaboration between Indonesian and international researchers.

“This is the first time someone has reported the discovery of ancient human DNA in the vast island region between mainland Asia and Australia.”said Adam Brumm, an archaeologist at Griffith University’s Australian Research Center for Human Evolution in Brisbane, who co-led the research.

Brumm was referring to an area stretching from Kalimantan and Lombok to the western tip of Papua, known to scientists as Wallacea.

For their part, the researchers found that the excavation was particularly difficult because DNA can be easily degraded in tropical climates. In this regard, Brumm said that “it is very rare to find ancient human DNA in the humid tropics, which is why it is such a happy find.”

This analysis revealed that the woman was part of a population group linked to present-day Papuans and indigenous Australians. However, the genome is also linked to a previously unknown divergent human line found nowhere else in the world.

The research challenges previous theories about the arrival times of different groups of humans in the region. “It shows how little we understand the history of mankind in the Wallacea Islands in Indonesia,” Brumm noted.