Ancient human genome from southern Africa throws light on our origins

A summary of the article:

The skeleton of a man who lived 2,330 years ago in the southernmost tip of Africa tells us about ourselves as humans, and throws some light on our earliest common genetic ancestry. The man's genome was sequenced and shown to be one of the 'earliest diverged' -- oldest in genetic terms -- found to-date in a region where modern humans are believed to have originated roughly 200,000 years ago.

Genome from 2,330 years ago

a reply to: Hanslune

Repetitive, but could he be the missing link? One of them?

originally posted by: TheToastmanCometh
a reply to: Hanslune

Repetitive, but could he be the missing link? One of them?

"missing link'? I think not this guys is way to 'young' it just demonstrates a connection back to the earliest HSS. If you meant the mythical 'missing link', certainly not.

Hey Hans,
This paper was discussed over at Dienekes anthro blog a few days ago, and there is a decent discussion going on about it.

Ancient mtDNA from southern Africa related to San

Genome Biol Evol (2014) doi: 10.1093/gbe/evu202 


First Ancient Mitochondrial Human Genome from a Pre-Pastoralist Southern African 


Alan G. Morris et al. 


The oldest contemporary human mitochondrial lineages arose in Africa. The earliest divergent extant maternal offshoot, namely haplogroup L0d, is represented by click-speaking forager peoples of Southern Africa. Broadly defined as Khoesan, contemporary Khoesan are today largely restricted to the semi-desert regions of Namibia and Botswana, while archeological, historical and genetic evidence promotes a once broader southerly dispersal of click-speaking peoples including southward migrating pastoralists and indigenous marine-foragers. Today extinct, no genetic data has been recovered from the indigenous peoples that once sustained life along the southern coastal waters of Africa pre-pastoral arrival. In this study we generate a complete mitochondrial genome from a 2,330 year old male skeleton, confirmed via osteological and archeological analysis as practicing a marine-based forager existence. The ancient mtDNA represents a new L0d2c lineage (L0d2c1c) that is today, unlike its Khoe-language based sister-clades (L0d2c1a and L0d2c1b) most closely related to contemporary indigenous San-speakers (specifically Ju). Providing the first genomic evidence that pre-pastoral Southern African marine foragers carried the earliest diverged maternal modern human lineages, this study emphasizes the significance of Southern African archeological remains in defining early modern human origins.

with apropos discussion on the subject.



dienekes.blogspot.com...


Discussion,

Grey Saturday, September 13, 2014 7:26:00 pm

This also shows the importance of the coast as an early vector of expansion. A population moving into a new inland ecosystem would have to adapt to it all at once to survive whereas a population adapted to maritime (or large river) foraging could move into a new ecosystem along those vectors because they had the sea or river food as a fail safe giving them time to adapt to the new ecosystem's other plants and animals.


I can imagine San like people spreading all around the coasts (both along the west coast up to Scandinavia and the east coast all the way to China) but then being mostly displaced by later expansions leaving larger or smaller traces of DNA in the various modern populations.



Reply


Grognard Saturday, September 13, 2014 10:10:00 pm

From 2300 years back it doesn't really prove much of anything.


Reply


RokusMonday, September 15, 2014 7:28:00 pm

'Providing the first genomic evidence that pre‐pastoral Southern African marine foragers carried the earliest diverged maternal modern human lineages, this study emphasizes the significance of Southern African archeological remains in defining early modern human origins.'


While it may be true that Southern Africa has some of the most divergent surviving strains of mtDNA, I am not so sure this new evidence attests this divergence to extend into the past. All the contrary, the pre-pastoral sample shows that the local mtDNA origin of immigrant pastoralist Khoe-speakers (and most current San) remains to be seen - thus suggesting that L0d2c1a and L0d2c1b of Khoe may originate from geographic distances that are difficult to reconcile with the genetic closeness of some surviving pre-pastoralist L0d2c1c still found in San. Actually, this study may cast an unexpected glimpse on an amazing degree of extinct mtDNA homozygosity that extended potentially between Tanzania and the west coast and south coast of Africa.


Reply


terryt Tuesday, September 16, 2014 12:30:00 am

"From 2300 years back it doesn't really prove much of anything". 


Certainly not the conclusions Grey jumps to: 


"This also shows the importance of the coast as an early vector of expansion". 


It perhaps shows the importance of the coast as a vector 2300 years ago but is hardly relevant to any early human expansions. 


"A population moving into a new inland ecosystem would have to adapt to it all at once to survive whereas a population adapted to maritime (or large river) foraging could move into a new ecosystem along those vectors because they had the sea or river food as a fail safe giving them time to adapt to the new ecosystem's other plants and animals". 


Not correct at all. Coastal environments are extremely varied 

whereas savannah environments are widespread and, certainly at times, connected. Adaptation to a grassland environment with clumps of trees scattered through it was probably the preferred early human environment anyway. On occasions such habitat would stretch all the way from much of Africa through much of Central Asia to Northern China. Further to that, from the abstract: 


"Khoesan are today largely restricted to the semi-desert regions of Namibia and Botswana, while archeological, historical and genetic evidence promotes a once broader southerly dispersal" 


A 'broader southerly dispersal' certainly does not at all imply 'coastal'. In fact a coastal population finishing up in semi-desert, inland regions is extremely unlikely.

Link to paper

m.gbe.oxfordjournals.org...

a reply to: punkinworks10

Thanks for the contribution. I get to that blog tomorrow or so.

a reply to: Hanslune
You are welcome Hans,
It's one of the best blogs on the web, all are peer reviewed and published papers. It is not unusual to find the authors chiming in on the discussions.