The ancient ruins of a hunter-gatherer girl who died in Indonesia over 7,000 years ago reveal clues to a mysterious group of humans from the past.
Discovered in 2015 in the Leang Panninge Cave on Sulawesi, Indonesia, is the first discovery of ancient human DNA in the area known as Wallacea.
so study Adam Brumm, a professor of archeology at Griffith University and co-author of the study, announced Wednesday, saying that “a girl called Besse” belongs to a group of mysterious people that archaeologists have named Torean. rice field. This is the first time that the skeletons of the Toalean people have been discovered.
“We have ancient DNA from this woman’s bones, but we were able to reconstruct only about 2 percent of her complete genome.” Bloom said ABC. “It was how bad it was, and it took a lot of effort to get it even.”
Through DNA analysis, archaeologists confirmed the theory that the Torreas were associated with the Aboriginal Australian and Papuan ancestors, the first humans to live in Wallacea about 65,000 years ago.
Half of Besse’s genome is shared with today’s Aborigines, Papuans, and Western Pacific Islanders. She also has a direct relationship with the Denisovans and a distant relationship with the Neanderthals, both of which are extinct human species.
Professor Cosimo Posth of the University of Tubingen and co-supervisor of genome analysis Said Besse’s ancient and present human DNA ratios have shown that Sulawesi or another island of Waracea is an important meeting place between our species.
Further analysis revealed that Besse also had strong genetic ties to a group of ancient Asians who had not been associated with Aboriginal or Papuan ancestry.
“A truly unexpected discovery is that in the DNA of this ancient woman, we found an ancestor from a very ancient Asian population,” Brumm said. “I’m not sure who they are.”
Professor Akin Duli of Hasanuddin University said this meant that the early human population and genetic history of the region became more complex than previously thought.
“It is unlikely that we will know much about the identity of these early ancestors of Toaleans until more ancient human DNA samples are available from Wallacea,” Duli said.
However, given the tropical and humid weather in the region, it is very difficult to find well-preserved archaeological sites like Besse.
Only two other DNA samples were found throughout the region, they are from Laos and Malaysia.
Bessé’has, of course, nothing to do with the people of Sulawesi today, given that the majority of people from the Taiwan region three or 500 years ago are known to be descendants.
Toaleans has been an archaeological mystery a century ago since the discovery of unique and finely crafted caves in several caves in southern Sulawesi in 1902.
