Ancient DNA unlocks new understanding of migrations in the first millennium AD. Twigstats allows us to see what we couldn’t before, in this case migrations all across Europe originating in the north of Europe in the Iron Age, and then back into Scandinavia before the Viking Age

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#AncientDNA #Migrations #IronAge #Twigstats #VikingAge

Ancient DNA shows Stone Age Europeans voyaged by sea to Africa. The discovery is the first direct evidence of trans-Mediterranean sea voyaging during this time, although archaeological finds have hinted at cultural exchange between European and North African hunter-gatherers.

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#AncientDNA #StoneAgeVoyages #TransMediterranean #CulturalExchange #ArchaeologicalDiscovery

Ancient DNA from the Green Sahara reveals ancestral North African lineage

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#AncientDNA #GreenSahara #NorthAfricanAncestry #Archaeology #GeneticResearch

6,000-Year-Old DNA Analysis 🧬 Reveals Colombia’s First Hunter-Gatherers 🏹 Completely Disappeared 🌍

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#AncientDNA #ColombiaHistory #HunterGatherers #Archaeology #GeneticResearch

Ancient DNA reveals West African ancestry in early medieval England 🌍🧬. Results emphasise the cosmopolitan nature of England in the early medieval period, pointing to a diverse population with far-flung connections who were, nonetheless, fully integrated into the fabric of daily life. 🏰🤝

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#AncientDNA #WestAfricanAncestry #MedievalEngland #DiverseHistory #CulturalConnections

Ancient DNA reveals a two-clanned matrilineal community in Neolithic China 🧬👩‍👧‍👧🏺🌏

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#AncientDNA #NeolithicChina #MatrilinealSociety #Archaeology #CulturalHeritage

Tracing 2500 years of human betaherpesvirus 6A and 6B diversity through ancient DNA 🦠📜🔬 - Science Advances

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#HumanHerpesvirus #AncientDNA #ScientificResearch #VirusDiversity #ScienceAdvances

Scientists sequence a woolly rhino genome from a 14,400-year-old wolf’s stomach 🐺🦏 | Genome Shows no Recent Inbreeding in Near-Extinction Woolly Rhinoceros Sample Found in Ancient Wolf's Stomach 🧬🦏

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#WoollyRhinoceros #AncientDNA #Genomics #Paleontology #WildlifeConservation

Mosquitos began biting humans more than a million years ago | An analysis of 38 modern mosquitoes’ DNA suggests an ancestral mosquito species developed a preference for feeding on early humans between 2.9 and 1.6 million years ago,

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#MosquitoEvolution #AncientDNA #HumanHistory #VectorBiology #ScienceDiscovery

Southernmost occurrence of Purgatorius sheds light on the biogeographic history and diversification of the earliest primate relatives

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#PrimateOrigins #Purgatorius #Biogeography #AncientDNA #PrimateDiversification

Genetic evidence of a population collapse in France 5,000 years ago

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#Genetics #AncientDNA #FranceHistory

Massive Ancient-DNA Study Reveals Natural Selection Has Accelerated in Recent Human Evolution. Many of the identified gene variants have known links to complex physical, psychological, and social traits, including risk for type 2 diabetes and schizophrenia

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#AncientDNA #HumanEvolution #GeneticVariants

🧬 Ancient DNA Study Reveals Hundreds of Genes Shaped by Natural Selection: A massive analysis of nearly 16,000 ancient West Eurasian genomes shows natural selection has influenced hundreds of genes over the last 10,000 years, significantly more than previously understood.

🧬 Disease Risk and Traits Linked to Selected Genes: Over half of the identified gene variants have known connections to current disease risks and human traits, although their specific advantages in prehistoric times are not yet clear.

🧬 Selection Accelerated with Farming: The study found that natural selection intensified after humans transitioned to farming, indicating that traits became advantageous in agricultural environments.

#AncientDNA #Genetics #HumanEvolution

🍞 Scientists discovered four types of yeast that survived thousands of years in Oetzi the Iceman's remains. These yeasts, previously found only in extreme cold environments like Antarctica, are believed to have entered Oetzi's body after his death over 5,300 years ago.

🍞 Researchers successfully used the ancient yeast to bake a "very, very good sourdough" bread after reproducing it in a lab.

🍞 The ancient yeast has a potential practical application: it can consume phenol, a chemical used to preserve the mummy, suggesting it could be used to break down harmful chemicals in contaminated environments in the future.

#OetziTheIceman #AncientDNA #ScienceNews

Ancient DNA found on cave walls: Human DNA can survive on cave walls for thousands of years – shedding light on prehistoric human activity even where bones, sediments or artifacts are absent

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#AncientDNA #CaveDNA #PrehistoricHumans

* 📜 **Ancient DNA Found on Cave Walls:** Researchers have successfully recovered ancient human DNA from cave walls in Spain and Portugal, proving that these surfaces can preserve biological traces for thousands of years, even without bones or artifacts.

* 🚶‍♀️ **Direct Human Interaction Detected:** In Escoural Cave, Portugal, human DNA was found on a pigmented calcite crust with no animal DNA, suggesting direct deposition from human contact, such as saliva or sweat.

* 🌍 **New Window into Prehistory:** This discovery opens up a new frontier in studying prehistoric human activity, potentially revealing information about cave occupation, movement, and behavior, even when skeletal remains are absent.

#AncientDNA #Archaeology #HumanOrigins

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First Ancient DNA Analysis of the Iron Age Golden Man Suggests Elite Status Was Passed Down Through Family Lines

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#AncientDNA #IronAge #GeneticInheritance

Chilean mummies reveal a lost lineage of smallpox. Centuries-old DNA that was found in these mummies belongs to an extinct viral lineage of smallpox that was brought across the Atlantic during European colonization of the Americas

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#Smallpox #AncientDNA #NewWorldGermlines

* 🦠 DNA from two ancient mummies in northern Chile has revealed the first known ancient smallpox genomes in the Americas.
* 📜 The near-identical genomes, from individuals living between 1492 and 1631, suggest they were infected during the same outbreak, providing rare molecular evidence of smallpox spread by European colonization.
* 🧬 This discovery fills a gap in smallpox's evolutionary history and supports historical accounts, anchoring a specific strain in colonial Chile where historical records are scarce.

#AncientDNA #Smallpox #History

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Researchers have digitally reconstructed the face of the oldest known Homo sapiens from a 315,000-year-old skull, revealing a 1,364 mL brain volume that is remarkably similar to modern humans today

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#AncientDNA #HomoSapiens #HumanEvolution