Ancient Human Skeleton Sheds Light on the Evolution of Our Genome

Scientists have taken a look at a skeleton of a man that lived 2,330 years ago, and have discovered new information about the evolution of humans and our earliest common genetic ancestry.

The new skeleton from the ancient man is unique; his DNA profile is one of the "earliest diverged" found to date in a region where modern humans are believed to have originated about 200,000 years ago. This means that the skeleton can shed light about the early evolution of humans.

The skeleton stands at 1.5 meters and was first found at St. Helena Bay in 2010. After examining the skeleton, the researchers found that the man probably ate fish and other marine creatures, foraging along the coast. In addition, a bony growth in his ear canal, known as "surfer's ear," suggested that he spent quite a bit of time diving for food in cold, coastal waters.

"We also know that this man pre-dates migration into the region, which took place around 2,000 years ago when pastoralists made their way down the coast from Angola, bringing herds of sheep," said Vanessa Hayes, one of the researchers, in a news release. "We could demonstrate that our marine hunter-gatherer carried a different maternal lineage to these early migrants-containing a DNA variant that we have never seen before."

The scientists sequenced the man's maternal DNA, also known as mitochondrial DNA, in order to find out a bit more about modern human prehistory. This maternal DNA actually provided the first evidence that humans all originally come from Africa. This, in turn, has helped researchers map a family tree when it comes to genetics.

"In this study, I believe we may have found an individual from a lineage that broke off early in modern human evolution and remained geographically isolated," said Hayes. "That would contribute significantly to refining the human reference genome."

The findings are published in the journal Genome Biology and Evolution.