Oldest genome discovered: New insights into early humans in Europe!

Oldest genome discovered: New insights into early humans in Europe!

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig have decoded the oldest known genome of a modern human. The remarkable pieces of bone discovered in the Ilsenhöhle in Ranis, Thuringia are around 45,000 years old and provide new insights into early human history. The excellent preservation of the genome was crucial for the analysis, which was published in the renowned journals “Nature” and “Science”. As the Reports from Deutschlandfunk Kultur and daily news show, the bones found belong to one of the earliest groups of modern humans who immigrated to Europe, but died out earlier and left no direct descendants.

Decoding genetics

Through their analysis, the researchers found that people at that time had dark skin, dark eyes and hair. This information shows that adaptations to European living conditions are due to genetic traits, probably inherited from Neanderthal ancestors. The Homo sapiens-Neanderthal admixtures detected in this analysis must have occurred around 45,000 to 49,000 years ago, according to the latest results, which represents a temporal adjustment to previous estimates.

Additionally, a team from the University of California at Berkeley conducted an independent study that found similar results. They analyzed 59 ancient genomes and found that genetic mixing occurred over a period of about 7,000 years, further supporting the findings. Estimates show that only a few hundred of these early modern humans lived between Britain and Poland, making the significance of the discovery all the more clear. The fundamental data are relevant not only for the theory of evolution, but also for other scientific disciplines such as architecture, social history and anthropology, as they enable precise conclusions to be drawn about the way of life and environmental conditions of people 45,000 years ago.