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'Fourth strand' of European ancestry originated with hunter-gatherers isolated by Ice Age
Phys.org ^ | Monday, November 16, 2015 | University of Cambridge, Nature

Posted on 11/16/2015 1:14:08 PM PST by SunkenCiv

The first sequencing of ancient genomes extracted from human remains that date back to the Late Upper Palaeolithic period over 13,000 years ago has revealed a previously unknown "fourth strand" of ancient European ancestry.

This new lineage stems from populations of hunter-gatherers that split from western hunter-gatherers shortly after the 'out of Africa' expansion some 45,000 years ago and went on to settle in the Caucasus region, where southern Russia meets Georgia today.

Here these hunter-gatherers largely remained for millennia, becoming increasingly isolated as the Ice Age culminated in the last 'Glacial Maximum' some 25,000 years ago, which they weathered in the relative shelter of the Caucasus mountains until eventual thawing allowed movement and brought them into contact with other populations, likely from further east.

This led to a genetic mixture that resulted in the Yamnaya culture: horse-borne Steppe herders that swept into Western Europe around 5,000 years ago, arguably heralding the start of the Bronze Age and bringing with them metallurgy and animal herding skills, along with the Caucasus hunter-gatherer strand of ancestral DNA -- now present in almost all populations from the European continent.

"The question of where the Yamnaya come from has been something of a mystery up to now," said one of the lead senior authors Dr Andrea Manica, from Cambridge's Department of Zoology.

"We can now answer that as we've found that their genetic make-up is a mix of Eastern European hunter-gatherers and a population from this pocket of Caucasus hunter-gatherers who weathered much of the last Ice Age in apparent isolation. This Caucasus pocket is the fourth major strand of ancient European ancestry, one that we were unaware of until now," he said...

Previously, ancient Eurasian genomes had revealed three ancestral populations that contributed to contemporary Europeans in varying degrees, says Manica.

(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: afanasievo; agriculture; animalhusbandry; cordedwareculture; dietandcuisine; godsgravesglyphs; helixmakemineadouble; huntergatherers; republicofgeorgia; yamnaya
DNA was extracted from the molar teeth of this skeleton, dating from almost 10,000 years ago and found in the Kotias Klde rockshelter in Western Georgia. Credit: Eppie Jones

DNA was extracted from the molar teeth of this skeleton, dating from almost 10,000 years ago and found in the Kotias Klde rockshelter in Western Georgia. Credit: Eppie Jones

1 posted on 11/16/2015 1:14:09 PM PST by SunkenCiv
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To: Fred Nerks

“We can now answer that as we’ve found that their genetic make-up is a mix of Eastern European hunter-gatherers and a population from this pocket of Caucasus hunter-gatherers who weathered much of the last Ice Age in apparent isolation. This Caucasus pocket is the fourth major strand of ancient European ancestry, one that we were unaware of until now,” he said...”>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Aha, Fred. We now know where ya come from! The 4th column!


2 posted on 11/16/2015 1:18:57 PM PST by Candor7 (Obama fascism article:(http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/05/barack_obama_the_quintessentia_1.html))
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Prehistoric Row Erupts Over Hunter-Gatherer Riddle
The Age | 2-19-2004
Posted on 02/20/2004 12:04:12 PM PST by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1082216/posts

Europeans drawn from three ancient ‘tribes’
BBC | 17 September 2014 | Paul Rincon
Posted on 09/21/2014 1:32:49 PM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3206392/posts

Ancient DNA shows earliest European genomes weathered the Ice Age
phys.org | Nov 06, 2014
Posted on 11/07/2014 1:36:13 PM PST by BenLurkin
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3224627/posts

European Hunter-Gatherers, Blue Eyes and Dark Skin?
The Unz Review | 26 Jan 2014 | Razib Khan
Posted on 01/27/2014 8:44:03 AM PST by Theoria
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3116231/posts

For Evolving Brains, a “Paleo” Diet Full of Carbs
The New York Times | AUG. 13, 2015 | Carl Zimmer
Posted on 08/13/2015 9:17:17 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3324541/posts


3 posted on 11/16/2015 1:20:23 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Here's to the day the forensics people scrape what's left of Putin off the ceiling of his limo.)
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To: StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; decimon; 1010RD; 21twelve; 24Karet; 2ndDivisionVet; ...

4 posted on 11/16/2015 1:20:44 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Here's to the day the forensics people scrape what's left of Putin off the ceiling of his limo.)
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To: All

This solves the mystery of why Putin always wanders around shirtless (glacial maximum no big deal).


5 posted on 11/16/2015 1:42:44 PM PST by Peter ODonnell (Sorry Hillary the Oval Office has been reserved by the first gentleman)
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To: SunkenCiv

What I don’t get is where that guy got the printed color bar code he was buried with?


6 posted on 11/16/2015 1:55:37 PM PST by DaxtonBrown (http://www.futurnamics.com/reid.php)
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To: Candor7

Nah, I’m a Neanderthal...


7 posted on 11/16/2015 2:10:01 PM PST by Fred Nerks (FAIR DINKUM!)
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To: DaxtonBrown

Easy.

He was an interior decorator.


8 posted on 11/16/2015 2:14:46 PM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: Fred Nerks

Nah, I’m a Neanderthal...>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

LOL.

“Furthermore, the design was far from perfect, so why call it intelligent? The record shows that plenty of mistakes were made along the way and many corrections attempted all along the evolutionary track. To critique the imperfections of the divine design of man will take me another essay so I will close with one example. The human is the only species that needs to wash its arse; all other mammals for example have better designed sphincters which retract after defecation leaving the creature clean and without residue. If the Great Designer did a fine job at the top end of our anatomy, he did a lousy job at the other end.

(Proof of not so intelligent design
Human evolutionary branches settle the record, definitively:

http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=38915 )


9 posted on 11/17/2015 3:31:41 AM PST by Candor7 (Obama fascism article:(http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/05/barack_obama_the_quintessentia_1.html))
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To: DaxtonBrown

Yeah, and those symbols, if the dating of the substrate holds true, could mean that the English alphabet is far older than previously known and could be the forebearer of all known language with the rest splitting off.


10 posted on 11/17/2015 7:13:00 AM PST by Sawdring
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To: DaxtonBrown

He and the moon landing guys shopped in the same stores. /s


11 posted on 11/17/2015 12:12:35 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Here's to the day the forensics people scrape what's left of Putin off the ceiling of his limo.)
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To: Candor7
Homo antecessor is likely a direct ancestor living 750,000 years ago evolving into Homo heidelbergensis appearing in the fossil record living roughly 600,000 to 250,000 years ago through various areas of Europe.

Homo heidelbergensis remains were found in Mauer near Heidelberg, Germany and then later in Arago, France and Petralona, Greece.

Heidelbergensis

Bavarians can trace our ancestors back to before Neanderthal...of whom there are legends of survival in historic times.

Believe it or not!

12 posted on 11/17/2015 12:45:06 PM PST by Fred Nerks (FAIR DINKUM!)
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To: Fred Nerks

I believe it. I have met many, many Bavarians ! :-)


13 posted on 11/18/2015 3:07:17 AM PST by Candor7 (Obama fascism article:(http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/05/barack_obama_the_quintessentia_1.html))
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Then in 2016, a true ghost emerged from the genomes of 44 individuals who lived in the Middle East between 14,000 and 3400 years ago. Their DNA held genetic markers indicative of a distinct group of ancient H. sapiens based in the region more than 45,000 years ago. The members of this population are now known as Basal Eurasians, and they present a conundrum. Their DNA, which is still found in modern Europeans, shows none of the telltale signs of interbreeding with Neanderthals. This came as a surprise because ancestral humans mated with Neanderthals very soon after leaving Africa 60,000 years ago in the migration that was to give rise to all people of non-African heritage alive today... the genomes of modern Africans who belong to groups with deep ancestral roots, including the Baka hunter-gatherers from Cameroon, and the Hadza and Sandawe from Tanzania. Within these genomes, they have found stretches of DNA that appear to come from another hominin species. Because this DNA is found only in the descendants of African people - not in any Eurasians - the ghost species must have interbred with H. sapiens after the out-of-Africa migration 60,000 years ago. In fact, by the team's calculations, this probably happened within the past 30,000 years. If true, this is huge. It means that until very recently, there was at least one other species of hominin living alongside us in Africa. According to Akey, soon-to-be published evidence suggests there might have been more than one... It now transpires that Denisovans had their own ghosts. People living in Oceania and East and South-East Asia today have inherited about 5 per cent of their DNA from Denisovans. By taking a closer look at these genetic sequences, Akey's team found that they don't all relate to the original finger-bone genome in the same way. In fact, the group found signs of two evolutionarily distinct Denisovan populations. "That was really unexpected," he says. "There's actually another, ghost, Denisovan lineage."

Traces of mystery ancient humans found lurking in our genomes | October 10, 2018 | Catherine Brahic | New Scientist

14 posted on 05/19/2019 9:44:32 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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