A pair of children's teeth that were lost 31,000 years ago in Siberia led scientists to the discovery of a previously unknown population of ancient humans.
These people inhabited northeastern Siberia during the Ice Age and were genetically distinct from other groups in the region, researchers reported in a new study.
The scientists analyzed genetic data extracted from the teeth, along with DNA from ancient remains found at other sites in Siberia and central Russia. In doing so, they reconstructed 34 ancient genomes dating to between 31,000 and 600 years ago, piecing together the puzzle of how Paleolithic humans spread across Siberia, and then crossed over the Bering Land Bridge into the Americas.
The tiny teeth belonged to two unrelated male children and were found at the Yana Rhinoceros Horn Site (RHS) on Siberia's Yana River, a locale that was first discovered in 2001. Though Yana RHS contained thousands of artifacts -- among them stone tools, ivory objects and animal bones -- these teeth are the site's only known human remains.
Together, the teeth and the artifacts are the earliest evidence of human occupation in the region; the teeth also represent the oldest Pleistocene human remains found at such high latitudes, the scientists reported.
Unknown Group of Ancient Humans Once Lived in Siberia, New Evidence Reveals | Mindy Weisberger, Senior Writer | June 7, 2019 11:20am ET
In honor of gay pride month, I'd like to point out that the scientist who analyzed the child's tooth is gay.
Yes, they do call him 'the tooth fairy'.
When I see a native American I like to yell, “Go back to Asia!”
A woman known as Kolyma1
That’s amazing. How did they know her name?
Climate change happened 23 centuries ago!
Before humans were burning fossil fuels?!!!
How Can That Be?????????????????????????????
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Could it have anything to do with walking across an ice bridge between Big Diomede Island (Russia) and Little Diomede Island (Alaska / North America)? They’re that close together. You CAN see Russia from Alaska.