Oldest genome from Wallacea shows previously unknown ancient human
relations
International research team isolates DNA from modern human buried 7,000
years ago on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi

Date:
August 25, 2021
Source:
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Summary:
The oldest genome of a modern human from the Wallacea region -- the
islands between western Indonesia and Papua New Guinea -- indicates
a previously undescribed ancient human relationship. Researchers
were able to isolate sufficient genetic material from the skull of
an individual buried more than 7,000 years ago on the Indonesian
island of Sulawesi. It belonged to a hunter-gatherer society and
was interred at the site now called Leang Panninge ('Bat Cave'). A
large part of the genetic code matched that of today's Papua New
Guineans and Aboriginal Australians.

Yet portions of the genome did not match these groups. This brings
new surprises about the evolution of modern humans.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
The oldest genome of a modern human from the Wallacea region -- the
islands between western Indonesia and Papua New Guinea -- indicates a previously undescribed ancient human relationship. The international study
was accomplished through close collaboration with several researchers
and institutions from Indonesia. It was headed by Johannes Krause of the
Max Planck Institutes for Evolutionary Anthropology (Leipzig) and the
Science of Human History (Jena), Cosimo Posth of the Senckenberg Centre
for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment at the University of Tu"bingen,
and Adam Brumm of Griffith University, Australia.


==========================================================================
The international study was accomplished through close collaboration
with several researchers and institutions from Indonesia. It was
headed by Professor Johannes Krause of the Max Planck Institutes for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig and the Science of Human History
in Jena, Professor Cosimo Posth of the Senckenberg Centre for Human
Evolution and Palaeoenvironment at the University of Tu"bingen, and
Professor Adam Brumm of Griffith University, Australia. The study has
been published in the latest edition of Nature.

Almost completely preserved skeleton The Wallacean Islands formed stepping stones in the spread of the first modern humans from Eurasia to Oceania, probably more than 50,000 years ago.

Archaeological finds show that the ancestors of our species lived in
Wallacea as early as 47,000 years ago. Yet few human skeletons have been
found. One of the most distinctive archaeological discoveries in this
region is the Toalean technology complex, dated to a much more recent
period between 8,000 and 1,500 years ago. Among the objects manufactured
by the people of the Toalean culture are the characteristic stone
arrowheads known as Maros points. The Toalean culture has only been found
in a relatively small area on the southern peninsula of Sulawesi. "We were
able to assign the burial at Leang Panninge to that culture," says Adam
Brumm. "This is remarkable since it is the first largely complete and well preserved skeleton associated with the Toalean culture." Selina Carlhoff, doctoral candidate at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human
History and lead author of the study, isolated DNA from the petrous bone
of the skull. "It was a major challenge, as the remains had been strongly degraded by the tropical climate," she says. The analysis showed that
the Leang Panninge individual was related to the first modern humans to
spread to Oceania from Eurasia some 50,000 years ago. Like the genome of
the indigenous inhabitants of New Guinea and Australia, the Leang Panninge individual's genome contained traces of Denisovan DNA. The Denisovans are
an extinct group of archaic humans known primarily from finds in Siberia
and Tibet. "The fact that their genes are found in the hunter-gatherers
of Leang Panninge supports our earlier hypothesis that the Denisovans
occupied a far larger geographical area," says Johannes Krause.

Another piece in the great genetic puzzle A comparison with genomic data
of hunter-gatherers who lived west of Wallacea at about the same time as
the Leang Panninge individual provided further clues -- that data showed
no traces of Denisovan DNA. "The geographic distribution of Denisovans
and modern humans may have overlapped in the Wallacea region. It may well
be the key place where Denisova people and the ancestors of indigenous Australians and Papuans interbred," says Cosimo Posth.

However, the Leang Panninge individual also carries a large proportion of
its genome from an ancient Asian population. "That came as a surprise,
because we do know of the spread of modern humans from eastern Asia
into the Wallacea region -- but that took place far later, around 3,500
years ago. That was long after this individual was alive," Johannes
Krause reports. Furthermore, the research team has found no evidence
that the group Leang Panninge belonged to left descendants among today's population in Wallacea. It remains unclear what happened to the Toalean
culture and its people. "This new piece of the genetic puzzle from Leang Panninge illustrates above all just how little we know about the genetic history of modern humans in southeast Asia," Posth says.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Max_Planck_Institute_for_Evolutionary_Anthropology. Note: Content may
be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Selina Carlhoff, Akin Duli, Kathrin Na"gele, Muhammad Nur,
Laurits Skov,
Iwan Sumantri, Adhi Agus Oktaviana, Budianto Hakim, Basran Burhan,
Fardi Ali Syahdar, David P. McGahan, David Bulbeck, Yinika
L. Perston, Kim Newman, Andi Muhammad Saiful, Marlon Ririmasse,
Stephen Chia, Hasanuddin, Dwia Aries Tina Pulubuhu, Suryatman,
Supriadi, Choongwon Jeong, Benjamin M. Peter, Kay Pru"fer, Adam
Powell, Johannes Krause, Cosimo Posth & Adam Brumm. Genome of a
middle Holocene hunter-gatherer from Wallacea. Nature, August 2021
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03823-6 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210825113624.htm

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