10-thousand-year-old genomes from southern Africa change picture of human evolution
In southern Africa, a group of people lived in partial isolation for hundreds of thousands of years. This is shown in a new study based on analyses of the genomes of 28 people who lived between 10,200 and 150 years ago in ...
Homo sapiens has been around for at least 300,000 years. But exactly where on the African continent our species originated has not been known. According to some theories, Homo sapiens evolved in eastern Africa and only spread southwards around 50,000 years ago. A new study by researchers at Uppsala University and the University of Johannesburg shows that this assumption is wrong.
"We have long known that southern Africa was inhabited, but it was previously unclear whether these inhabitants were just predecessors of ours or whether they were Homo sapiens. We can now show that Homo sapiens have existed and evolved in southern Africa for a long time. This area has played an important role in human evolution, perhaps the most important of all," says Mattias Jakobsson, who led the study and is a professor of genetics at Uppsala University.
Analyzed DNA from 28 individuals
The study is based on analyses of the genomes of 28 individuals who lived in southern Africa between 10,200 and 150 years ago. When the researchers compared the genomes of the Stone Age people of southern Africa with the genomes of modern and Stone Age people from all other parts of the world, they found that the Stone Age people of southern Africa had lived in isolation for a very long time.
Helena Malmström, Researcher at Department of Organismal Biology, Uppsala University, sampling at the Florisbad research station using the mobile clean lab. Credit: Alexandra Coutinho
Mandible of Matjes River 1 woman who lived 7 900 years ago in southern Africa. The material is housed at the Blomfontain Museum, South Africa. Credit: Mattias Jakobsson
Mandible of Matjes River 1 woman who lived 7,900 years ago in southern Africa. The material is housed at the Blomfontain Museum, South Africa. Credit: Mattias Jakobsson
Helena Malmström and Mattias Jakobsson holding a piece of a rib from the Riet River woman intended for radiocarbon dating, which showed that she lived 1,800 years ago. Credit: Mikael Wallerstedt
Helena Malmström, Carina Schlebusch and Mattias Jakobsson Piece looking at a piece of a rib from the Riet River woman intended for radiocarbon dating, which showed that she lived 1,800 years ago. Credit: Mikael Wallerstedt