Researchers have made a groundbreaking discovery by reconstructing the oldest human genomes ever found in South Africa.
These genomes, which date back approximately 10,000 years, were reconstructed from the remains of a man and a woman found in a rock shelter near the coastal town of George, around 370 kilometers east of Cape Town.
This finding offers significant insights into the population history of the region, enabling scientists to understand how it was populated over thousands of years.
The DNA sequences from these ancient individuals were part of a study involving 13 genomes from people who lived between 1,300 and 10,000 years ago.
Before this, the oldest genomes reconstructed in southern Africa were only around 2,000 years old.
A surprising aspect of the Oakhurst study was the genetic similarity between the ancient genomes and the present-day San and Khoekhoe groups inhabiting the same region.
University of Cape Town (UCT) biological anthropology professor Victoria Gibbon noted that similar studies in Europe have shown significant genetic changes due to human movements over the last 10,000 years.
However, the findings from southernmost Africa suggest a long history of relative genetic stability.
Lead author Joscha Gretzinger, from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, highlighted that this relative stability only altered around 1,200 years ago.
This was the time newcomers introduced pastoralism, agriculture, and new languages to the region, which led to interactions with local hunter-gatherer groups.
Southern Africa is known for some of the earliest evidence of modern humans, but the evidence tends to be poorly preserved due to various factors.
The recent advancements in technology have enabled researchers to obtain and analyze DNA from these ancient remains, providing a clearer picture of the region’s population history.
Despite having fewer than two dozen ancient genomes recovered from southern Africa, specifically from South Africa, Botswana, and Zambia, these findings are pivotal.
Sites like Oakhurst are rare and have significantly contributed to a better understanding of local population movements and relationships across the landscape over nearly nine millennia.
This discovery was made possible through a collaborative effort between researchers from the University of Cape Town and the Max Planck Institute.
The study not only sheds light on the genetic history of southern Africa but also underscores the region’s importance in the broader context of human evolution.