|
 Scientists said on Monday they sequenced the genomes of two
individuals, one from 13,300 years ago and the other from 9,700
years ago, and found they represented a previously unknown lineage
that contributed significantly to the genetics of almost all modern
Europeans.
These individuals were members of hunter-gatherer groups that
settled in the Caucasus region, where southern Russia meets Georgia,
about 45,000 years ago, after our species trekked out of Africa to
populate other parts of the world. At the time, Europe was populated
by Neanderthals.
The Caucasus hunter-gatherers later became isolated there for
millennia during the last Ice Age, the scientists said.
 The thaw at the end of the Ice Age brought them into contact with
other peoples, leading to the advent of a culture of horse-riding
herders who swept into Western Europe around 5,000 years ago,
bringing metallurgy and animal-herding skills, they added.
"Modern Europeans are a mix of ancient ancestral strands," Trinity
College Dublin geneticist Daniel Bradley said. "The only way to
untangle the modern weave is to sequence genomes from thousands of
years ago, before the mixing took place."
Until now, only three such ancestral strands had been identified
flowing from ancient populations.
The Caucasus inhabitants comprised a previously unidentified "fourth
strand," said University of Cambridge geneticist Andrea Manica,
noting that they contributed significantly not only to the ancestry
of Europe but also to people in Central Asia and the Indian
subcontinent.
[to top of second column] |
Bradley called the finding "a major new piece in the human ancestry
jigsaw." The Caucasus region is located at a crossroads of the
Eurasian landmass, with nearby migration routes heading both west
and east.
The Caucasus hunter-gatherers lived in caves and in small groups of
probably no more than 20 to 30 people, University College Dublin
archaeologist Ron Pinhasi said.
One of the two sets of remains came from the Kotias Klde cave near
the village of Sveri in western Georgia and the other remains came
from about 25 miles (40 km) away in the Satsurblia cave near the
village of Kumistavi, Tengiz Meshveliani of the Georgian National
Museum said.
The research was published in the journal Nature Communications.
(Reporting by Will Dunham; Editing by Sandra Maler)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
