Unknown group of ancient humans who once lived in Siberia, new evidence reveals

A pair of lost children's teeth 31,000 years ago in Siberia led scientists to discover a previously unknown population of humans.

The researchers reported in a new study that these people lived in Northeast Siberia during the Ice Age and were genetically distinct from other groups in the region.

Scientists analyzed the genetic data extracted from the teeth, as well as the DNA of ancient remains found on other sites in Siberia and central Russia. In doing so, they reconstructed 34 ancient genomes dating from 31,000 to 600 years ago, piecing together the puzzle of how Paleolithic men have spread to Siberia, and then crossed the Bering Land Bridge in the direction of Americas. [Photos: Newfound Ancient Human Relative Discovered in Philippines]

The tiny teeth belonged to two unrelated male children and were found on the Yana rhinoceros horn (HRH) site on the Yana River in Siberia, a locality that was first discovered in 2001. Although Yana RHS contains thousands of objects, including stone tools, ivory objects and animal bones – these teeth are the only human remains known to the site.

Together, teeth and artifacts are the first evidence of human occupation in the region; the teeth also represent the oldest Pleistocene human remains found at such latitudes, scientists reported.

Surprisingly, although the Yana River site is in the northeastern part of Siberia, tooth DNA has shown scientists that these "ancient North Siberians" are related to ancient hunter-gatherers of the Siberian. Western Eurasia and that they probably arrived in Siberia shortly after the Asians diverged. Europeans.

In comparison, other Siberian populations who arrived later in the region – including those whose contemporary Siberians have descended – date back to East Asia, according to the study.

Hunter-gatherer networks

Humans are believed to have lived in the High Arctic as early as 45,000 years ago, relying on evidence such as cutting marks on dismembered mammoth bones. The authors of the new study estimated that the inhabitants of Yana differentiated themselves from other Eurasian peoples around 40,000 years ago, said the study's lead author, Martin Sikora, an associate professor of geography. -genetic at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.

The differences between ancient Siberian populations are followed not only genetically, but also through variations in preserved material culture, which "correspond to the changes we observe in genetic ancestry over time," said Sikora to Live Science in an email.

The old DNA can also reveal an intriguing insight into the lifestyle of the ancient North Siberians, as patterns of genetic diversity can offer clues to population size and social organization, Sikora explained. The researchers' findings suggest that the residents of Yana may have lived in a group of about 500 people and that there was no evidence of consanguinity in the children's genome.

"This despite the location far removed, suggesting that they were organized in larger networks with other groups of hunter-gatherers," Sikora said.

Three waves of migration

Based on the genetic data, the researchers determined that humans populated Siberia in at least three major migratory waves. The former North Siberians, now extinct, arrived first, from the west; they were followed by two waves of migration from East Asia. The third of these waves was a group known as neo-Siberians, to which many contemporary Siberians can trace their ancestors.

About 18,000 to 20,000 years ago, descendants of ancient Northern Siberians mingled with members of both East Asian groups. According to the study, a partial skull discovered at a site near Kolyma, Siberia, dates from about 10,000 years ago. It presents a genetic similarity with the Siberians of the Old North and with the group of East Asia who have become ancestors of the Amerindians.

This indicates that the hitherto unknown Siberian group has been involved in the miscegenation that has led to the migration of humans to North America, said study co-author Eske Willerslev, geneticist of evolution. and director of the Lundbeck Center for GeoGenetics Center of the University of Copenhagen.

"This individual is the missing link of Native American ancestry," Willerslev said in a statement.

According to the authors, even though the ancient North Siberians were not the direct ancestors of contemporary Indians or Siberians, "traces of their genetic heritage can be observed in the ancient and modern genomes of America and the Americas. Northern Eurasia ", revealing that the human history of the researchers wrote that ancient Siberia – and the New World – is a much more complex narrative than is suggested by this genetic record .

The results were published online June 5 in the journal Nature.

Originally published on Science live.