A massive study examined the DNA of ice age hunter-gatherers from Europe and discovered a previously unknown lineage.
Examining the DNA of Ice Age Hunter-Gatherers
According to Live Science, the lineage has been dubbed Fournol. They lived through the coldest times of the Ice Age and ended up vanishing when Europe underwent a spell of warmth that started around 15,000 years ago.
Such a discovery was reportedly made in the biggest study to date that has examined the genetics of Ice Age hunter-gatherers from Europe. It can be found in the Nature journal.
Throughout most of the past century, many regions in Europe were covered by glaciers. Around 45,000 years ago, hunter-gatherers from Africa started moving to Europe by passing through the East. They braved the Last Glacial Maximum, which is considered the coldest time of the Ice Age.
Archaeologists get a glimpse of early modern humans across Europe through the artifacts they find. However, there are only a few human fossils that date back to earlier times. Hence, only minimal information is known regarding the migration and relations of these ancient humans.
Hence, to learn more about this prehistoric period, researchers have gathered the largest known database that covers the genomes of ancient European hunter-gatherers. They looked into the genomes of 356 hunter-gatherers who lived from 35,000 to 5,000 years ago across 34 present-day Eurasian countries. Such analysis covered new data regarding 116 individuals.
Previously Unknown Lineage of Ice Age Hunter-Gatherers From Europe
They were able to learn more about the widespread Gravettian culture. According to the New York Times, the Gravettian culture arose in Europe around 33,000 years ago. The researchers surprisingly found out that the culture covered two groups of people that were genetically distinct, even if they had similar art and weapons. Paleogeneticist Cosimo Posth from the University of Tübingen says that the groups were remarkably distinct and that this difference was quite a surprise for them.
Dr. Posth and the team then dubbed the group Fournols, while the other is called Věstonice.
The New York Times reports that they also discovered a genetic connection between the Fournols and Aurignacian remains in Belgium that are 35,000 years old. More specifically, the Fournols descended from Aurignacians.
This was in contrast to the Věstonice, who were from the Sunghir and Kostenki groups.
The two lineages have cultural differences. For one, the fournols kept the deceased inside caves, while some of them also ritually cut the bones of the dead. The Věstonice, on the other hand, kept the deceased with ornaments, red mineral ochre, and funeral goods in caves or open-air areas.
The study suggests that those from the Věstonice and Fournol lineages may have had darker eye color and skin compared to their succeeding lineages. However, the exact eye and skin color of these people is impossible to know, given how there are other genes that may impact such characteristics.
While the genetic signature of the Fournols lasted through the Last Glacial Maximum, the Věstonice dissipated. The findings reveal that the Věstonice could not be genetically detected after this period of extremely low temperatures.
The research goes even further to shed light on Epugravettians that descended from groups in the Balkans. However, overall, it considerably expands current understanding of prehistoric genomic variations in ancient Europe, according to Ludovic Orlando, a molecular archaeologist from Paul Sabatier University. It reveals vital genetic makeup alterations across certain regions that followed after drastic climate changes.
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