Shocking DNA findings from two mummies discovered in Northern Africa may rewrite the family tree of human history.
Scientists from the Max Planck Institute in Germany found that these ancient corpses unearthed in present-day Libya carried the DNA of a previously unknown group of humans from 7,000 years ago.
This lost group in the Sahara Desert had a distinct genetic makeup that was much different than scientists expected to find out among ancient humans traveling in and out of Africa.
Between 5,000 and 14,500 years ago, this desert region was a lush and fertile area known as the Green Sahara.
That has led scientists to believe that ancient humans in this part of the world would have interacted more with other human tribes arriving from sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East.
Instead, this lost group appears to have completely isolated themselves from other human populations migrating to the Green Sahara.
In fact, the mummy DNA had significantly less Neanderthal DNA than ancient humans living outside of Africa in that era, challenging what researchers assumed about the ancient world and how much these cultures intermingled.
First author Nada Salem from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology said: ‘Our research challenges previous assumptions about North African population history and highlights the existence of a deeply rooted and long-isolated genetic lineage.’
Scientists have discovered 2 mummies in present-day Libya which appear to be from a long lost lineage of early humans
The skeletons were identified as being from two women, buried in the Takarkori rock shelter in southwestern Libya.
Instead of sharing a similar genetic makeup with modern populations from Africa, the Middle East, and Europe, these women had close genetic ties to a group of scavengers from 15,000 years ago.
The German researchers said these foragers lived in caves in present-day Morocco during the last Ice Age.
Both the group from the Ice Age and the newly discovered mummies from the Green Sahara have a DNA makeup that is completely different from sub-Saharan Africans.
This appears to prove that the two populations on the continent stayed relatively separate, even though this fertile region provided ample opportunity for the communities to meet and eventually interbreed.
In comparison to ancient humans found outside of Africa from 7,000 years ago, the Takarkori mummies have only a small trace of Neandertal DNA – far less than the one to two percent in Middle Eastern farmers of that time period.
Researchers noted that this unique lineage of humans no longer exists in its original form in the modern world.
The DNA of the Takarkori mummies now only makes up a part of the greater genetic puzzle in humans today.
However, the team explained that ‘this ancestry is still a central genetic component of present-day North African people, highlighting their unique heritage.’
Scientists from Germany say the 2 female skeletons trace their ancestry back to a population of scavengers from the Ice Age 15,000 years ago
Roughly 7,000 years ago, the Sahara Desert was actually a fertile land that scientists now refer to as the Green Sahara. It was a region that would have been ideal for farming and herding livestock
As for how this changes the story of early human history, the study published in the journal Nature contended that the mummies prove that early agricultural practices spread by one group teaching others how to farm and herd livestock.
This practice, known as cultural diffusion, means that the lost group of humans learned new ideas and shared their own with outsiders, but rarely intermarried or lived together.
Based on this theory, people in the Sahara started herding livestock around 7,000 to 8,000 years ago. Those ideas likely came from ancient travelers making their way from the Middle East.
The Green Sahara’s grassy plains and water sources were perfect for grazing animals, so it made sense for people to adopt this lifestyle.
Based on the genetic results of the Takarkori mummies, it’s clear that the Middle Eastern farmers did not permanently migrate to this area, according to the study.
This ‘migration theory’ would have meant that Middle Eastern herders moved into the Green Sahara with their animals, bringing their genes along, and eventually changing the genome of the local population.
However, none of this appears to have taken place, and herding actually spread throughout Northern Africa because it was a practical skill, not part of a cultural takeover.
