A team of South African and German researchers has reconstructed the oldest human genomes ever found in South Africa, dating back around 10,000 years.
This breakthrough provides new insights into how the region was populated, according to study co-author Victoria Gibbon, a biological anthropology professor at the University of Cape Town.
The genetic sequences were retrieved from the remains of a man and a woman found at the Oakhurst rock shelter, near the coastal town of George. These two individuals were part of a larger study involving 13 people who lived between 1,300 and 10,000 years ago. Prior to this discovery, the oldest genomes from the region were only about 2,000 years old.
The research revealed an unexpected continuity between the ancient genomes and the genetic makeup of modern-day San and Khoekhoe groups in the same area.
“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,” Joscha Gretzinger, lead author of the study, said.
This genetic stability persisted until around 1,200 years ago, when newcomers introduced agriculture, pastoralism, and new languages to the region, leading to interactions with the local hunter-gatherer communities.
Despite the significance of Southern Africa in early human history, DNA from the region has been challenging to preserve. Advances in technology, however, have allowed scientists to recover this valuable data, shedding light on population movements and relationships over nearly 9,000 years.