6,000-Year-Old Skeletons Have Distinctive DNA With No Link To Modern Humans

In a major archaeological breakthrough, scientists revealed that ancient human remains, unearthed in the Bogota Altiplano in central Colombia, do not match any indigenous human population in the region. The skeletons are 6,000 to 500 years old, and the study revealed that some of the individuals belonged to a previously unknown population. A team of researchers studied the genetic data of 21 individuals and published findings in the journal Science Advances in May.

Earlier studies have revealed that two lineages existed - northern Native American and southern Native American. It developed when people started to move south after first arriving on the continent from Siberia. The southern Native American is further divided into at least three sub-lineages.

However, scientists have yet to find the exact time and other details when the first people would have moved from Central America to South America.

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"We show that the hunter-gatherer population from the Altiplano dated to around 6000 yr B.P. lack the genetic ancestry related to the Clovis-associated Anzick-1 genome and to ancient California Channel Island individuals," the study noted.

"The analysed Preceramic individuals from Colombia do not share distinct affinity with any ancient or modern-day population from Central and South America studied to date," the study added.

"Colombia_Checua_6000BP can thus be modeled as a previously undescribed distinct lineage deriving from the radiation event that gave rise to multiple populations across South America during its initial settlement," it mentioned.

The study author, Andrea Casas Vargas, a researcher at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, told CNN on Wednesday (June 11) that the research team was "very surprised" with the findings.

"We did not expect to find a lineage that had not been reported in other populations," Vargas added.

Kim-Louise Krettek, lead author and a PhD student at the Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution in Germany, said, as quoted by Express UK, that this area is key to understanding "how the Americas were populated".

"It was the land bridge between North and South America and the meeting point of three major cultural regions: Mesoamerica, Amazonia, and the Andes." Krettek added.

The study is very important, Vargas said, adding that it is the first to sequence complete genomes in ancient samples from Colombia.

Vargas said that the results raise questions "as to where they came from and why they disappeared.

"We are not certain what happened at that time that caused their disappearance, whether it was due to environmental changes, or if they were replaced by other population groups," she said, further adding that more research will provide some answers, hopefully.