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    New Species of Human Ancestor Found in Siberia A

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    drdevanpp
    A new species of human ancestor was discovered based on DNA analysis of a finger bone fragment found in Denisova Cave in southern Siberia. The bone is estimated to be from a child aged 5-7 years old who lived 48,000-30,000 years ago. Genetic tests showed the DNA did not match that of Neanderthals or early modern humans, indicating it was from an unknown human ancestor. This new species likely diverged from the human lineage around 1 million years ago and survived alongside Neanderthals and early modern humans in parts of Asia until at least 30,000 years ago. Analysis of DNA from the bone provides evidence of an unknown human relative that lived more recently than previously thought.

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    New Species of Human Ancestor Found in Siberia A

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    drdevanpp
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    A new species of human ancestor was discovered based on DNA analysis of a finger bone fragment found in Denisova Cave in southern Siberia. The bone is estimated to be from a child aged 5-7 years old who lived 48,000-30,000 years ago. Genetic tests showed the DNA did not match that of Neanderthals or early modern humans, indicating it was from an unknown human ancestor. This new species likely diverged from the human lineage around 1 million years ago and survived alongside Neanderthals and early modern humans in parts of Asia until at least 30,000 years ago. Analysis of DNA from the bone provides evidence of an unknown human relative that lived more recently than previously thought.

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    Ancient ancestors

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    New species of human ancestor found in Siberia A

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    A new species of human ancestor was discovered based on DNA analysis of a finger bone fragment found in Denisova Cave in southern Siberia. The bone is estimated to be from a child aged 5-7 years old who lived 48,000-30,000 years ago. Genetic tests showed the DNA did not match that of Neanderthals or early modern humans, indicating it was from an unknown human ancestor. This new species likely diverged from the human lineage around 1 million years ago and survived alongside Neanderthals and early modern humans in parts of Asia until at least 30,000 years ago. Analysis of DNA from the bone provides evidence of an unknown human relative that lived more recently than previously thought.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    9 views11 pages

    New Species of Human Ancestor Found in Siberia A

    Uploaded by

    drdevanpp
    A new species of human ancestor was discovered based on DNA analysis of a finger bone fragment found in Denisova Cave in southern Siberia. The bone is estimated to be from a child aged 5-7 years old who lived 48,000-30,000 years ago. Genetic tests showed the DNA did not match that of Neanderthals or early modern humans, indicating it was from an unknown human ancestor. This new species likely diverged from the human lineage around 1 million years ago and survived alongside Neanderthals and early modern humans in parts of Asia until at least 30,000 years ago. Analysis of DNA from the bone provides evidence of an unknown human relative that lived more recently than previously thought.

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    Archaeology

    This article is more than 13 years old

    New species of human ancestor found in


    Siberia
    Human relative, identified from fragments of a finger bone, lived
    until as recently as 30,000 years ago, say scientists

    A new human species was found in Deisova cave in the Atlai mountains of southern Siberia. Photograph:
    Johannes Krause

    Ian Sample, science correspondent


    @iansample
    Wed 24 Mar 2010 19.19 GMT

    The remains of a little finger discovered in a cave in the mountains of


    southern Siberia belong to a previously unknown human ancestor,
    scientists said today.

    The finding suggests an undocumented human species lived alongside


    Neanderthals and early modern humans in parts of Asia as recently as
    30,000 years ago. If confirmed, it would be the first time a new human
    ancestor has been identified since the discovery of Homo floresiensis, the
    diminutive "hobbits" that lived on the Indonesian island of Flores until
    13,000 years ago.

    Fragments of the finger bone were recovered from Denisova cave in the
    Altai mountain range that straddles Russia, Mongolia, China and
    Kazakhstan. The cave was occupied by humans for 125,000 years and a
    variety of stone tools and bones have been recovered.

    The size of the bone has led scientists to believe it came from a child, aged
    between five and seven, though they are unable to say whether it was
    male or female.

    Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in


    Leipzig, Germany, ran genetic tests on the bone fragments and were
    stunned to find it did not match the DNA profile of Neanderthals or early
    modern humans.Johannes Krause sequenced DNA from mitochondria,
    the sub-cellular bodies that carry genetic material passed down only the
    maternal line. Because the DNA came from the mother, they called the
    creature "X-woman".

    "It really looked like something I had never seen before. It was a sequence
    which is similar in some ways to humans, but still quite distinct," Krause
    said. It is the first time a new type of human has been identified from DNA
    alone.

    By comparing the DNA with sequences from Neanderthals and modern


    humans, Krause's team concluded that modern humans shared a common
    ancestor with the creature a million years ago. Humans and Neanderthals
    diverged from an ancestor that lived 500,000 years ago.

    When Krause saw the results of the genetic test, he called project leader
    Svante Pääbo. "It was absolutely amazing, I didn't believe him. I thought
    he was pulling my leg," Pääbo said. The bone fragments were recovered
    from a layer of rock in the cave dated to between 48,000 and 30,000 years
    ago.

    The first humans to move from Africa to Eurasia were Homo erectus 1.9m
    years ago, but scientists believed they died out around 100,000 years ago.
    The new species probably migrated from Africa more recently, around 1m
    years ago, and survived in Eurasia until at least 40,000 years ago.

    Krause's team is now analysing DNA from the nuclei of cells in the finger
    fragments in the hope of locating the species in the human family tree.
    The tests should also indicate whether there was any interbreeding
    between the new species, Neanderthals and modern humans.

    "There were at least three different forms of humans in the area between
    30,000 and 40,000 years ago, and there were also the hobbits in
    Indonesia, so the picture of what was around in human form in the late
    Pleistocene gets a lot more complex and a lot more interesting," Pääbo
    said.

    Chris Stringer, head of human origins at the Natural History Museum in


    London, said: "This new DNA work provides an entirely new way of
    looking at the still poorly understood evolution of humans in central and
    eastern Asia."

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