10 The Common Ancestry of Native Americans and Australasians in Asia

We used to believe that migrations by early humans were much easier before we began studying ancient DNA. Recent findings, however, have proven how completely off we were. The exact dates and methods of human arrival in the Americas remain a mystery. The discovery of hominin footprints in New Mexico in 2021 pushed the chronology of the Americas’ colonisation back by thousands of years, from 21,000 to 23,000 years ago!

Genetic studies on indigenous Australians have already revealed a common ancestry with indigenous Amazonians, but no one from Northern or Central America can be found in the Y population. In 2021, researchers tackled this issue by mining one of the biggest datasets of South American DNA. They found that South Americans and Australians shared a common ancestor in East Asia, and that members of that family eventually made it to the Americas via the Pacific coast, where they established a settlement in the Amazon. This would indicate that there was at least a two-way human migration from Asia to the Americas.[1]

9 Modern Genetic Make-Up Influenced by the Transatlantic Slave Trade

The use of DNA technology has also shed light on the shadowy era that occurred relatively recently in human history. Slave ships carried 12.5 million people across the Atlantic Ocean in only a few hundred years, making it the greatest forced migration in human history. We now know more about the outcome because to new research that used data from the 23&Me database.

The findings corroborate previous accounts and add weight to the widespread knowledge of the slave trade’s heinous nature. Slave traffickers, for instance, prayed upon the inhabitants of modern-day Senegal and Gambia for generations. Their offspring, however, are severely underrepresented in the United States of America nowadays. This is likely a result of the high rates of death that occur on plantations. How Africans intermarried and married with non-Africans varied geographically, according to the study. Compared to North Americans, who experienced more segregation, African-descended people from Latin America, where enslaved Africans frequently had offspring with native people, tend to have a smaller African-descended family tree.[2]

8 Neanderthal Genomes Returned to Africa

Ancient DNA discovered in Africans

The out-of-Africa theory is well-known; it states that the majority of people who are not Africans today may trace their ancestry back to a tiny band of people who departed the African continent some sixty to seventy thousand years ago. They interbred with various human populations, including the Neanderthals and the Denisovans, and had a few offspring along the route.

Prior research incorrectly presumed that Africans lacked Neanderthal ancestry due to the fact that all this mixing occurred outside of Africa. Researchers in the field of genetics sometimes use African DNA as a benchmark for estimating the proportion of Neanderthal and Denisovan ancestry in other populations. However, the results of this study provide evidence that humans also returned to Africa, where they introduced Neanderthal DNA into the African gene pool via a phenomenon known as gene flow.

Consequently, the findings implies that the diversity of Neanderthal ancestry in non-African groups may have been overestimated, implying that all humans may share a similar percentage of Neanderthal DNA. This research adds to previous archaeological findings from the Arabian Peninsula that have, as of 2021, demonstrated the enormous population movement that would have occurred in this area, as well as between the Middle East and Africa, resulting in the transmission of genes and cultural practices.the third

7 The Deepest Family Tree in the World

Recreated from a prehistoric tomb: the oldest known family tree

Many people from the British Neolithic period were interred in the enormous megaliths and cairns that were common during this time. The possible relationships between the human remains found in a monument have remained a mystery up to this point. They were likely family tombs, as we now know. Research utilising information from 35 individuals interred in a lengthy cairn at Hazleton, United Kingdom, revealed that they belonged to a same extended family spanning five generations. Based on their connections, researchers have reconstructed the oldest family tree yet found.

Male members of the rebuilt family tree are directly related to one another biologically. It seems like nearly every individual in the tomb could trace their ancestry back to one male skeleton. He was laid to rest with his children and grandkids from two separate marriages. The fact that the two sets of parents and their offspring were laid to rest in different sections of the tomb indicates that the distinct lineages were acknowledged even after many generations had passed.

The majority of the female bones seems to have originated from a different place; it’s possible that they were married into the family and moved in with their husbands. This provides more evidence that the first Neolithic farmers engaged in what is now known as female exomany, a practice in which females move in with their spouses and the patrilineal inheritance of family identity is maintained. In the same way that many people nowadays adopt their father’s surname, this is becoming more common. Several individuals who did not have a biological connection to the rest of the family were also buried alongside them, which prompted academics to propose that different types of relationships, including adopting step-children, may bring people together as family.[4]

6 The Transmission of Asian Languages via Agriculture

Response to News Article on Theories on the Origin of Transeurasian Languages

This research integrates the fields of language and genetics. Another field that combines archaeology and history is the study of language family migrations around the world, which frequently yields conflicting and perplexing conclusions.

All of Asia is home to languages that belong to the Transeurasian family, which includes Turkish, Mongolian, and Japanese. Scholars disagree on who was responsible for the language’s rapid expansion over such a vast region; some think farmers and pastoralists, while others point to migrations throughout the Bronze Age.

To solve the mystery, scientists consulted old DNA, analysed languages, and combed through archaeological artefacts. Researchers in northeast Asia found that early millet growers were the original inhabitants of the area that is now known as Transeurasian languages. Two stages of its spread followed. In the first stage, millet farmers spread out into other areas, carrying their language with them. After the late Neolithic, the Transeurasian peoples divided into five “daughter groups” that intermarried with other Eurasian peoples, trading partners, linguistic terminology, and agricultural knowledge, such as how to grow wheat.[5]

5 Learning About the Settlement of Polynesia

Origins of the Polynesians: Genealogy, Migration, and Background

Much in the Americas, the topic of human settlement in Polynesia is fraught with controversy. Keep in mind that the people of this area were navigating the world’s largest ocean in open canoes, and that the entire area is made up of islands. For a long time, researchers disagreed over whether South Americans or Australasians settled Polynesia.

The 430 modern-day inhabitants of 21 islands had their genomes analysed for this research. Based on their research, it appears that Polynesia’s first settlers sailed eastward from Samoa in the 11th century, possibly settling islands that had just been around for a few hundred years. After a long journey, they reached Easter Island sometime about 1200. They probably travelled in small groups of no more than 200 people, utilising the stars as a navigational aid, and leaving the massive sculptures that have made Easter Island renowned today as their legacy.[6]

4 The Greatest Amount of Denisovan DNA Is Distributed To

In the Philippines, Denisovan Genomes

As you can see from this list, ancient DNA has revealed the complexity and surprise factor of ancient human migrations.A cave in Siberia was the initial site of the Denisovans’ discovery in 2010. By comparing their genome to that of current humans, we discovered that they are most closely related to individuals in contemporary Southeast Asia!

The Ayta Magbukon, a native people of what is now the Northern Philippines, had the highest concentration of Denisovan DNA—up to 5% of their genome—according to this study, which expands upon earlier research. Denisovans must have inhabited Southeast Asian islands at least fifty thousand years ago, according to the scientists.

A lot of people are starting to notice the Philippines. Also in 2019, scientists revealed the existence of Homo luzonensis, a tiny hominid species that inhabited the northern islands about 60,000 years ago. It appears that Southeast Asia, including the Philippines, was a vibrant place in the past, with many different kinds of people coexisting and interacting with one another.[7]

3 Humans battled coronavirus outbreaks.

Origins of the Coronavirus in East Asia and Its Ancient Infectious Agents

Coronavirus was novel to you? Researchers have shown that ancient viruses can leave a DNA fingerprint that can be studied. According to this study’s authors, people have been coping with coronavirus variations since prehistoric times! Further, they provide credence to the idea that Europeans were more susceptible to the coronavirus as a result of their intermixing with Neanderthals.

Corona epidemics first appeared in East Asia about 9,000 years ago, or 20,000 years ago in human terms. A “selective pressure” on humans was created since it persisted for multiple generations. Although the current strain of COVID-19 is less lethal, the original strain was likely far more harmful. Evolutionary medicine, as this area is known, may still be helpful in assisting us in discovering treatments or fending off future epidemics, even though the researchers point out that it doesn’t seem to have rendered current East Asians any more or less susceptible to the virus.[8]

2 Middle-Easterners and Indigenous Peoples

Bacho Kiro was home to the first modern Europeans around 45,000 years ago.

By now, you’ve undoubtedly come to the realisation that ancient DNA has revealed some surprising details about the complexity of human movement. The outcomes can be incredibly perplexing as well. To illustrate the point, two recent articles examined the DNA of a population that lived in the Bacho Kiro cave in Bulgaria around 45,000 to 42,000 years ago. Not only that, but these skeletons are the earliest evidence of Homo sapiens in Europe.

According to the research, these individuals shared a common ancestor with our Neanderthal neighbours “just a few generations back,” implying that this practice was likely rather prevalent. After then, in order to determine which modern populations the Bacho Kiro could be linked to, scientists compared their genomes to those of individuals living today. That they shared a common progenitor with Native Americans and East Asians came as a shock to them. Further evidence that populations were constantly migrating and mixing was uncovered in the study when human remains from the same site, but dated to a later section of the Palaeolithic, were found to be more closely connected to modern Europeans.[1]

1 The DNA of nits could be used in future studies!

We couldn’t resist sharing this fascinating tidbit regarding potential future methods of analysing human DNA in a Jurassic Park style, even though it doesn’t directly shed light on our evolutionary history. Head louse glues its eggs to human hair, which apparently contains human DNA! Argentinian mummies from 1,500 to 2,000 years ago were used as samples by the scientists who developed this method. What if you had to use a nit-comb to go through the hair of a long-ago mummy?

In addition to being a more sustainable method of recovering ancient human DNA, this process is groundbreaking (and perhaps slightly disgusting). Modern methods of DNA extraction from dental or skeletal samples actually ruin the original specimen. Consequently, it’s no surprise that many archaeologists are hesitant to use DNA testing on their more uncommon artefacts. Countries that are hesitant to allow Western scientists to transport human remains may be able to sample DNA using this technology as well.[10]

SEE ALSO: Top 10 Odd Facts About Memory That You Probably Didn’t Know