Aug 25, 2021 06:11 PM
(This post was last modified: Aug 25, 2021 06:17 PM by C C.)
'New type of human' found in cave on Indonesian island
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/...sland.html
EXCERPTS: A 7,200-year-old skeleton of a young female discovered on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi has been identified as a 'new type of ancient human' from a group called the Toaleans, who only died out 1,500 years ago. An international research team isolated DNA from the ancient homo sapien, who was found in a cave called Leang Panninge ('Bat Cave') on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.
Christened Bessé, she is the first known skeleton from an early foraging culture called the Toaleans – 'seafaring hunter-gatherers' who lived in South Sulawesi from 8,000 to 1,500 years ago. Bessé, who was found buried in a foetal position and partially covered by rocks, was somewhere between 17 to 18 years old at time of death, researchers think.
Stone tools and red ochre – iron-rich rock used to make pigment – were found in her grave, along with bones of hunted wild animals. Bessé is a rare 'genetic fossil', and shares about half of her genetic makeup with present-day Indigenous Australians and people in New Guinea and the Western Pacific islands.
This includes DNA inherited from the now-extinct species of humans called Denisovans – the distant cousins of Neanderthals whose fossils have only been found in Siberia and Tibet. It remains unclear what happened to the Toalean culture and its people.
[...] The new study, published in the latest edition of Nature, marks the first time ancient human DNA has been reported from Wallacea.
[...] 'The discovery of Bessé and the implications of her genetic ancestry show just how little we understand about the early human story in our region, and how much more there is left to uncover,' Professor Brumm said.
Like the genome of the indigenous inhabitants of New Guinea and Australia, Bessé's genome contained traces of Denisovan DNA. The Denisovans are an extinct group of archaic humans known primarily from finds in Siberia and Tibet.
'The fact that their genes are found in the hunter-gatherers of Leang Panninge supports our earlier hypothesis that the Denisovans occupied a far larger geographical area,' said study author Professor Johannes Krause of the Max Planck Institutes for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.
It's possible Denisovans and the first modern humans (ancestors of today's indigenous Australians and Papuans) bred in Wallacea. These ancestors likely entered Wallacea some 65,000 years ago after spreading from Eurasia towards Oceania. The Wallace Islands were 'stepping stones' in this journey prior to them reaching Oceania around 50,000 years ago.
[...] 'It may well be the key place where Denisova people and the ancestors of indigenous Australians and Papuans interbred.'
Analyses also revealed something unexpected in the genome of Bessé – a deep ancestral signature from an early modern human population of Asian origin.
[...] Toalean foragers were the earliest inhabitants of Sahul, the supercontinent that emerged during the Ice Age when global sea levels fell, which exposed a land bridge between Australia and New Guinea.
'To reach Sahul, these pioneering humans made ocean crossings through Wallacea, but little about their journeys is known,' Professor Brumm said.
Ancestors of Bessé were among the first modern humans to reach Wallacea, but instead of island hopping eastward to Sahul they must have just remained in Sulawesi... (MORE - missing details)
Oldest genome from Wallacea shows previously unknown ancient human relations
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/926134
RELEASE: The international study was accomplished through close collaboration with several researchers and institutions from Indonesia. It was headed by Professor Johannes Krause of the Max Planck Institutes for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig and the Science of Human History in Jena, Professor Cosimo Posth of the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment at the University of Tübingen, and Professor Adam Brumm of Griffith University, Australia. The study has been published in the latest edition of Nature.
The Wallacean Islands formed stepping stones in the spread of the first modern humans from Eurasia to Oceania, probably more than 50,000 years ago. Archaeological finds show that the ancestors of our species lived in Wallacea as early as 47,000 years ago. Yet few human skeletons have been found.
One of the most distinctive archaeological discoveries in this region is the Toalean technology complex, dated to a much more recent period between 8,000 and 1,500 years ago. Among the objects manufactured by the people of the Toalean culture are the characteristic stone arrowheads known as Maros points. The Toalean culture has only been found in a relatively small area on the southern peninsula of Sulawesi.
“We were able to assign the burial at Leang Panninge to that culture,” says Adam Brumm. “This is remarkable since it is the first largely complete and well preserved skeleton associated with the Toalean culture.”
Selina Carlhoff, doctoral candidate at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History and lead author of the study, isolated DNA from the petrous bone of the skull. “It was a major challenge, as the remains had been strongly degraded by the tropical climate,” she says.
The analysis showed that the Leang Panninge individual was related to the first modern humans to spread to Oceania from Eurasia some 50,000 years ago. Like the genome of the indigenous inhabitants of New Guinea and Australia, the Leang Panninge individual’s genome contained traces of Denisovan DNA.
The Denisovans are an extinct group of archaic humans known primarily from finds in Siberia and Tibet. “The fact that their genes are found in the hunter-gatherers of Leang Panninge supports our earlier hypothesis that the Denisovans occupied a far larger geographical area,” says Johannes Krause.
Another piece in the great genetic puzzle. A comparison with genomic data of hunter-gatherers who lived west of Wallacea at about the same time as the Leang Panninge individual provided further clues – that data showed no traces of Denisovan DNA. “The geographic distribution of Denisovans and modern humans may have overlapped in the Wallacea region. It may well be the key place where Denisova people and the ancestors of indigenous Australians and Papuans interbred,” says Cosimo Posth.
However, the Leang Panninge individual also carries a large proportion of its genome from an ancient Asian population. “That came as a surprise, because we do know of the spread of modern humans from eastern Asia into the Wallacea region – but that took place far later, around 3,500 years ago. That was long after this individual was alive,” Johannes Krause reports.
Furthermore, the research team has found no evidence that the group Leang Panninge belonged to left descendants among today’s population in Wallacea. It remains unclear what happened to the Toalean culture and its people. “This new piece of the genetic puzzle from Leang Panninge illustrates above all just how little we know about the genetic history of modern humans in southeast Asia,” Posth says.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/...sland.html
EXCERPTS: A 7,200-year-old skeleton of a young female discovered on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi has been identified as a 'new type of ancient human' from a group called the Toaleans, who only died out 1,500 years ago. An international research team isolated DNA from the ancient homo sapien, who was found in a cave called Leang Panninge ('Bat Cave') on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.
Christened Bessé, she is the first known skeleton from an early foraging culture called the Toaleans – 'seafaring hunter-gatherers' who lived in South Sulawesi from 8,000 to 1,500 years ago. Bessé, who was found buried in a foetal position and partially covered by rocks, was somewhere between 17 to 18 years old at time of death, researchers think.
Stone tools and red ochre – iron-rich rock used to make pigment – were found in her grave, along with bones of hunted wild animals. Bessé is a rare 'genetic fossil', and shares about half of her genetic makeup with present-day Indigenous Australians and people in New Guinea and the Western Pacific islands.
This includes DNA inherited from the now-extinct species of humans called Denisovans – the distant cousins of Neanderthals whose fossils have only been found in Siberia and Tibet. It remains unclear what happened to the Toalean culture and its people.
[...] The new study, published in the latest edition of Nature, marks the first time ancient human DNA has been reported from Wallacea.
[...] 'The discovery of Bessé and the implications of her genetic ancestry show just how little we understand about the early human story in our region, and how much more there is left to uncover,' Professor Brumm said.
Like the genome of the indigenous inhabitants of New Guinea and Australia, Bessé's genome contained traces of Denisovan DNA. The Denisovans are an extinct group of archaic humans known primarily from finds in Siberia and Tibet.
'The fact that their genes are found in the hunter-gatherers of Leang Panninge supports our earlier hypothesis that the Denisovans occupied a far larger geographical area,' said study author Professor Johannes Krause of the Max Planck Institutes for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.
It's possible Denisovans and the first modern humans (ancestors of today's indigenous Australians and Papuans) bred in Wallacea. These ancestors likely entered Wallacea some 65,000 years ago after spreading from Eurasia towards Oceania. The Wallace Islands were 'stepping stones' in this journey prior to them reaching Oceania around 50,000 years ago.
[...] 'It may well be the key place where Denisova people and the ancestors of indigenous Australians and Papuans interbred.'
Analyses also revealed something unexpected in the genome of Bessé – a deep ancestral signature from an early modern human population of Asian origin.
[...] Toalean foragers were the earliest inhabitants of Sahul, the supercontinent that emerged during the Ice Age when global sea levels fell, which exposed a land bridge between Australia and New Guinea.
'To reach Sahul, these pioneering humans made ocean crossings through Wallacea, but little about their journeys is known,' Professor Brumm said.
Ancestors of Bessé were among the first modern humans to reach Wallacea, but instead of island hopping eastward to Sahul they must have just remained in Sulawesi... (MORE - missing details)
Oldest genome from Wallacea shows previously unknown ancient human relations
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/926134
RELEASE: The international study was accomplished through close collaboration with several researchers and institutions from Indonesia. It was headed by Professor Johannes Krause of the Max Planck Institutes for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig and the Science of Human History in Jena, Professor Cosimo Posth of the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment at the University of Tübingen, and Professor Adam Brumm of Griffith University, Australia. The study has been published in the latest edition of Nature.
The Wallacean Islands formed stepping stones in the spread of the first modern humans from Eurasia to Oceania, probably more than 50,000 years ago. Archaeological finds show that the ancestors of our species lived in Wallacea as early as 47,000 years ago. Yet few human skeletons have been found.
One of the most distinctive archaeological discoveries in this region is the Toalean technology complex, dated to a much more recent period between 8,000 and 1,500 years ago. Among the objects manufactured by the people of the Toalean culture are the characteristic stone arrowheads known as Maros points. The Toalean culture has only been found in a relatively small area on the southern peninsula of Sulawesi.
“We were able to assign the burial at Leang Panninge to that culture,” says Adam Brumm. “This is remarkable since it is the first largely complete and well preserved skeleton associated with the Toalean culture.”
Selina Carlhoff, doctoral candidate at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History and lead author of the study, isolated DNA from the petrous bone of the skull. “It was a major challenge, as the remains had been strongly degraded by the tropical climate,” she says.
The analysis showed that the Leang Panninge individual was related to the first modern humans to spread to Oceania from Eurasia some 50,000 years ago. Like the genome of the indigenous inhabitants of New Guinea and Australia, the Leang Panninge individual’s genome contained traces of Denisovan DNA.
The Denisovans are an extinct group of archaic humans known primarily from finds in Siberia and Tibet. “The fact that their genes are found in the hunter-gatherers of Leang Panninge supports our earlier hypothesis that the Denisovans occupied a far larger geographical area,” says Johannes Krause.
Another piece in the great genetic puzzle. A comparison with genomic data of hunter-gatherers who lived west of Wallacea at about the same time as the Leang Panninge individual provided further clues – that data showed no traces of Denisovan DNA. “The geographic distribution of Denisovans and modern humans may have overlapped in the Wallacea region. It may well be the key place where Denisova people and the ancestors of indigenous Australians and Papuans interbred,” says Cosimo Posth.
However, the Leang Panninge individual also carries a large proportion of its genome from an ancient Asian population. “That came as a surprise, because we do know of the spread of modern humans from eastern Asia into the Wallacea region – but that took place far later, around 3,500 years ago. That was long after this individual was alive,” Johannes Krause reports.
Furthermore, the research team has found no evidence that the group Leang Panninge belonged to left descendants among today’s population in Wallacea. It remains unclear what happened to the Toalean culture and its people. “This new piece of the genetic puzzle from Leang Panninge illustrates above all just how little we know about the genetic history of modern humans in southeast Asia,” Posth says.