GEORGE, SOUTH AFRICA—According to a report in The Conversation, Victoria Gibbon of the University of Cape Town, and Joscha Gretzinger and Stephan Schiffels of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, analyzed DNA recovered from the poorly preserved remains of 13 of the 46 people unearthed at the Oakhurst rock shelter, which is located on the southern coast of South Africa. Archaeological excavation of the rock shelter, where rock art, tools, and ceramics have also been unearthed, has shown that it was occupied over a period of 12,000 years. All of the individuals in the study were adults, including five women and eight men. Radiocarbon dating of bone or tooth collagen showed that two of the genomes came from people who lived about 10,000 years ago; four individuals lived between 5,000 and 6,000 years ago; five individuals lived between 4,000 and 5,000 years ago; and two of the individuals lived between 1,000 and 1,500 years ago. Genetic continuity among all of these people suggests that they had been part of the same population. Indeed, comparison of the ancient DNA with living people found similarities to the San and Khoekhoe people who live in the region today. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Nature Ecology & Evolution. To read about food waste that hunter-gatherers left behind in South African rock shelters, go to “Our Coastal Origins.”
Same Population Used Rock Shelter in South Africa for 9,000 Years, DNA Study Suggests
News October 8, 2024
Recommended Articles
Top 10 Discoveries of the Decade January/February 2021
Neanderthal Genome
Vindija Cave, Croatia, 2010
Top 10 Discoveries of 2020 January/February 2021
Largest Viking DNA Study
Northern Europe and Greenland
Digs & Discoveries March/April 2023
Closely Knit
-
Features September/October 2024
Hunting for the Lost Temple of Artemis
After a century of searching, a chance discovery led archaeologists to one of the most important sanctuaries in the ancient Greek world
Courtesy Swiss School of Archaeology in Greece -
Digs & Discoveries September/October 2024
A Taíno Idol’s Origin Story
Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography Turin -
Digs & Discoveries September/October 2024
Toothy Grin
© SHM/Lisa Hartzell SHM 2007-06-13 (CC BY 2.5 SE) -
Digs & Discoveries September/October 2024
Seahenge Sings
Homer Sykes/Alamy Stock Photo