Early humans left behind clues – footprints, chiseled rocks, genetic material and more – that our species survived and spread to Earth. These ancient people were not so different from us; They traveled far and wide, sailing with each other and mining for natural resources (even in this case, the red ocher ocher). Here in 2020 we learned 10 things about our human ancestors.
1. Mystery lover
Early humans (Homo sapiens) Just didn’t sleep with each other. About 1 million years ago, H. Sapiens There were many recipes with other mysterious species, and our species still has some of these genes today, a study in the journal PLOS Heredity Found.
It is possible that this was a mysterious species Homo erectus, But because we can never know for sure H. Erectus It became extinct about 110,000 years ago, and scientists have no DNA for this species.
read more: Mystery ancestor mated with ancient humans. And his ‘nested’ DNA was just found.
2. The most ancient known human DNA belongs to the human race
The most ancient known is related to human DNA Homo predecessor, A species in which atheism may have been practiced. And 800,000 years old, it’s a record breaker.
Scientists found six fossils H. antacessor Individuals in Spain in 1994, but it wasn’t until this year that a team of researchers discovered DNA from one of the man’s teeth, using a protein found in enamel to determine its fraction. DNA That coded them. The team then compared this DNA sequence with recent human tooth samples, and determined H. antacessor Ga is not a close relationship. .Lata, it was probably a sister species of ancestors that led to modern humans.
read more: The world’s oldest human DNA was found in the 800,000-year-old tooth of a man-eater
Ly. Early men left stone “breadcrumbs”
When modern humans (Homo sapiens) Leaving the Horn of Africa about 130,000 years ago, they trekked along the Arabian Peninsula. But which path did they take? Scientists now have an idea after discovering a sharp, man-made luster in Israel’s Negev desert, according to ongoing research by the Israel Antiquities Authority.
read more: Ancient stone ‘breadcrumbs’ reveals early human migration outside of Africa
So where did the men go on the Arabian Peninsula? Scientists know at least a few specific places. Researchers have found 120,000-year-old human footprints of other ancient animals preserved in an ancient lake in Saudi Arabia’s Nefud desert. The signs of this move are its earliest evidence Homo sapiens On the Arabian Peninsula, the researchers said. During that time, the Arabian Peninsula was lush with greenery and was a fertile ground for human migration.
read more: Prehistoric desert footprints are ancient evidence for humans on the Arabian Peninsula
5. The first Americans came 30,000 years ago
The first people to set foot in the United States came 2,000,000 years ago, two new studies have found. It’s much earlier than researchers previously thought, with some scientists historically saying that the first Americans showed up late 13,000 years ago.
In one study, published in the journal Nature, Man-made stone tools were found 31,500 years ago in a remote cave excavation in northwestern Mexico. Has also been published in another study Nature, Scientists took pre-published data about early human activity in Beringia (the area that connected Russia to America during the last ice age), and inserted them into a human-dispersing equation. The model showed that early humans are likely to have arrived in North America at least 26,000 years ago.
However, America was sparsely populated a long time ago. Population growth was not seen until 14,700 years ago, when the last ice age began to end, a later study found.
read more: The first Americans may have arrived on the continent 30,000 years ago
6. Ancient diversity
Thousands of years ago, America was a diverse place like today. An analysis of four ancient skulls found in water caves in Quintana Room, Mexico, shows that these individuals did not look alike: one skull looked like the people of the Arctic, another had European characteristics, a third resembled a South American, and the last did not resemble a single population.
In the same way that the last ice age was coming to an end, the date of the skull is 13,000 to 9,000 years ago, according to a study published in the journal. Plus One.
read more: The skulls of the ancient North Americans signaled many migratory waves
7. Civilized miners
The same Mexican caves, now underwater, hide another secret, scientists learned in 2020. Over the years, divers have found the skeletons of ancient people, including the skulls mentioned above. He asked the question: What did the ancients do there in the first place?
Now, new evidence suggests that some of these ancient people were miners. About 12,000 to 10,000 years ago, the ancients dug caves for red mineral lesions and left traces of their work, such as fire, stone tools and stone traces, so that they would not get lost in the Peach Black Maze. Ocher was used for rituals and everyday activities, possibly involving insect repellent or sunscreen.
read more: Ice Age mining camp found ‘underwater’ in Mexican cave
8. Toddlers are always squirming
More than 10,000 years ago, a woman took a toddler, arranged the baby down, decorated it, and picked up the baby again, as she now continues her journey in Playa, New Mexico.
Researchers found the woman’s footprints and squirrel toddler in White Sands National Park. 0.9 miles (1.5 kilometers) long, this is the longest end of the trackway Pleistocene Era double human trackway on record.
read more: 10,000 year old footprints show the journey of a squirrel toddler and caregiver
9. ‘Ghost’ populations found in the genes of Stone Age children
Of the four children who died young, 1,000 years ago, there are now secrets in Cameroon’s DNA. After analyzing the DNA from the remains of these ancient children, scientists were surprised to find that the previously unknown “ghost” population of humans contributed to the genome of these children.
Researchers have found that about one-third of the children’s DNA originated from ancestors that were closely related to well-known hunter-gatherers in West Central Africa. But the other two-thirds cited ancient sources in West Africa, including the “long-lost ghost population of modern humans,” which was not yet known, scientists said in a study published in the Journal. Nature.
10. Polynesians and Native Americans attacked
Nowadays, dating apps can help people find partners. But 800 years ago, Polynesians and Indigenous people in Colombia didn’t have apps – they had boats, and apparently one of these groups boats and flips the other.
When researchers looked at Polynesian DNA, They realized that some indigenous Colombians carry the same genetic signature. It is not clear whether the Polynesians went to Colombia and then returned to Polynesia (with their Colombian-Polynesian children), or whether the Colombians went to Polynesia, the researchers said.
“We can’t say for sure who contacted,” Alexander Ionanides, chief researcher at Stanford University’s post-doctoral research fellow in biomedical data science, told LiveScience.
read more: Polynesians and Native Americans paired 800 years ago, DNA reveals
Published on Original Living Science.
