DNA

Altamura Man, surrounded by limestone deposits in the Grotta di Lamalunga

4 April, 2015 - 20:02 aprilholloway

Calcified remains of Altamura Man yield oldest ever Neanderthal DNA sample

Just over two decades ago in the Grotta di Lamalunga, near the city of Altamura in Italy, a team of scientists discovered the remains of a prehistoric hominid branded ‘Altamura Man’. For years, the...

The Roman conquerors are waited for by the men of Albion.

20 March, 2015 - 02:11 Mark Miller

Waves of invaders came to Britain but left few genes, new study says

People who came from prehistoric Germany, Belgium and France beginning about 11,000 years ago seem to have contributed the most genetic material to modern Caucasian Britons, according to a new study...

A painting depicting the nomadic Xiongnu people of Mongolia.

11 March, 2015 - 00:52 lizleafloor

The Prolific Legacies of Ancient Conquerors, 11 Men Shaped Asian Genetics

Mongolian conqueror Genghis Khan was renowned for his domination of ancient Asia, and genetic studies have indicated that his powerful reach extends into modern times, as his DNA is thought to be...

A traditional yurt in the Eurasian Steppe. The Yamnaya culture used yurts as their temporary dwellings as they moved across the steppe.

16 February, 2015 - 00:08 Mark Miller

Europeans share more language and genes with Asia than previously thought

Scholars have long tried to ascertain the birthplace of the mother tongue of the Indo-European languages of parts of Europe, the Mideast and western and central Asia. This family of modern languages...

31 December, 2014 - 00:58 aprilholloway

New study refutes theory that a volcano wiped out the Neanderthals

A new study presented at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco refutes a previous theory that Neanderthals became extinct due to a massive volcanic eruption about 40,...

16 December, 2014 - 22:14 Mark Miller

Ancient DNA on parchments reveal hidden stories

Parchment documents--ancient writings on animal skins--record an immense wealth of information about the history of humanity and past civilizations. However, new research has shown that within these...

8 November, 2014 - 00:02 aprilholloway

37,000-year-old bone reveals surprising connection between Ancient and Modern Europeans

A genetic analysis of a 37,000-year-old human bone from Russia has revealed a surprising genetic connection between ancient and modern Europeans. The DNA revealed close ancestry with the 24,000-year-...

26 October, 2014 - 01:22 aprilholloway

Oldest-known Human genome sequence sheds light on interbreeding with Neanderthals

A new study published in the journal Nature has revealed the DNA results from a 45,000-year-old leg bone from Siberia, producing the oldest genome sequence ever carried out for Homo sapiens – nearly...

This skull was unearthed from a lake bed in central Sweden

19 September, 2014 - 02:04 aprilholloway

New study reveals third group of ancient ancestors of modern Europeans

It has long been thought that modern Europeans descended from both indigenous hunters and Middle Eastern farmers. However, a new study published in the journal Nature , shows that a third population...

Mural artwork about Hopi emergence and migration

17 August, 2014 - 00:25 garydavid

Gene Flow and Counter Current—Hopi Sea Voyages From the Lost Continent of Mu

To the layperson genetics can seem like a foreign language. Phylogenetic trees look somewhat like schematics for electronic circuit boards. I can read neither. However, if one can manage to decipher...

19 July, 2014 - 00:15 aprilholloway

Otzi's non-human DNA: Opportunistic pathogen discovered in ancient Iceman

Ötzi the iceman, as he has come to be known, is a 5,300-year-old mummy who was discovered by some German tourists in the Alps in 1991. He was originally believed to be the frozen corpse of a...

16 May, 2014 - 00:17 aprilholloway

Underwater discovery in submerged Mexican cave provides glimpse of First Americans

The oldest complete Ice Age skeleton found in an underwater cave in Mexico may help solve a long-standing mystery regarding the identity of the earliest inhabitants of America and how they are...

30 April, 2014 - 03:53 aprilholloway

New study suggests Neanderthals never went extinct

Scientific debate regarding the demise of the Neanderthals has been ongoing for decades with many experts proposing factors such as climate change, competition for resources, of lack of intelligence...

26 April, 2014 - 22:47 aprilholloway

Neolithic farmers assimilated local hunter-gatherers

A new study published in the journal Science has revealed that Neolithic farmers assimilated local hunter-gatherers into their communities in Scandinavia, according to a new report in Phys Org . The...

26 April, 2014 - 00:18 aprilholloway

DNA test on bloody gourd reveals it is not from decapitated King Louis XVI

A new study published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports has cast doubt on a centuries-old belief that the blood contained in a decorated gourd (container made from a hard-shelled fruit)...

19 April, 2014 - 13:55 aprilholloway

Neanderthals and Humans are 99.84 percent genetically identical – so where are the differences?

Research has shown that modern-day humans and their extinct Neanderthal cousins differ by only a fraction of a percent. So what accounts for the differences that are known to exist between the two?...

10 April, 2014 - 03:19 aprilholloway

New study leaves little room for doubt – Neanderthals and humans interbred

In recent months, numerous DNA studies of ancient humans have all converged on one conclusion – Neanderthals and Homo sapiens interbred. While for many this may seem unsurprising or even obvious, we...

31 March, 2014 - 23:05 aprilholloway

Study of Black Death skeletons reveals plague may have been airborne

An analysis carried out on 25 skeletons of plague victims discovered by railway engineers beneath London last year, has revealed that the Black Death was even more lethal than previously thought...

20 March, 2014 - 01:13 aprilholloway

New study suggests that the Philippines is the ancestral homeland of Polynesians

Research into the origins and dispersal of Polynesian chickens has helped scientists reconstruct the early migrations of the Polynesians and the animals they carried with them. The results revealed...

8 February, 2014 - 00:13 ancient-origins

Interview with Brien Foerster – Unravelling the Genetics of Elongated Skulls

In this revealing interview, Brien Foerster sheds lights on DNA testing undertaken on one of the Paracas elongated skulls. More than 300 of these elongated skulls have already been found and physical...