Scientists in China have discovered traces of an ancient human lineage that was previously unknown and later almost completely disappeared without a trace.
Medianews.az reports that the results of the research were published in the journal "Current Biology".
Geneticists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences examined the DNA of three individuals buried at the Dunhuin archaeological site near Beijing. These individuals lived after the last ice age - during a warming period when the climate was rapidly changing.
Analyses showed that one of the individuals represented a genetic lineage previously unknown in East Asia. Scientists identified his closest genetic resemblance to a person who lived around 19,000 years ago near the Amur River.
However, about 2,000 years later, in the same area, a young man with a completely different genetic origin was buried. His DNA was more closely related to populations associated with the Mongolian plateau. This indicates that the population in the region changed over time.
Nevertheless, archaeological findings show that cultural continuity was preserved. Stone tools, pottery, and methods of processing plants have hardly changed.
According to the scientists, this ancient human lineage that was uncovered gradually mixed with other population groups and almost disappeared from the genome of modern East Asian populations. Today, traces of it are found only in rare cases. //Oxu.Az