Researchers Decode South Africa's Oldest Human DNA to Date

Experts from the University of Cape Town (UCT) in South Africa and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany recently conducted a comprehensive analysis of human remains from the Oakhurst rock shelter, which is situated near the town of George in the Western Cape province of South Africa.

According to a statement, the research team sequenced the genomes of 13 individuals who died between 1,300 and 10,000 years ago.

Prior to this, the oldest genomes from the region of southern Africa, specifically Botswana, South Africa and Zambia, dated back only about 2,000 years.

A key finding of the study was that the oldest genomes from the Oakhurst rock shelter are genetically quite similar to San and Khoekhoe groups living in the same region today.

"Similar studies from Europe have revealed a history of large-scale genetic changes due to human movements over the last 10,000 years. These new results from southernmost Africa are quite different, and suggest a long history of relative genetic stability," said Joscha Gretzinger, lead author of the study from the Max Planck Institute,

The study found that significant changes only occurred around 1,200 years ago, when newcomers arrived and introduced pastoralism, agriculture, and new languages to the region and began interacting with local hunter-gatherer groups.

Victoria Gibbon, professor of biological anthropology at UCT and co-senior author of the study, regarded Oakhurst rock shelter as an ideal site to study human history, as it contained more than 40 human graves and preserved layers of human artefacts, such as stone tools, going back 12,000 years.

"Sites like this are rare in South Africa, and Oakhurst has allowed for a better understanding of local population movements and relationships across the landscape over nearly 9,000 years," she said.

The study was published on Sept. 19 in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution.

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