DNA from ancient French cave remains shows European genetic links
Analysis of a 30,000-year-old woman's remains suggests Ice Age populations were not genetically isolated.
An international research team led by the University of Vienna has found evidence that people in eastern and western Europe were genetically connected more than 30,000 years ago, according to the Times of India.
The study examined DNA from a woman buried in the Isturitz Cave in southwestern France during the Gravettian period. While her lineage was primarily western European, she also shared genetic ties with populations from central and eastern Europe.
Researchers believe genetic exchange between these groups happened between 32,500 and 31,500 years ago. This finding challenges previous ideas that these Ice Age groups remained genetically separate.
Pere Gelabert, the study's first author from the University of Vienna's Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, said the results show eastern and western European populations were not as isolated as previously assumed.
The team also recovered human nuclear DNA from 22,000-year-old sediment at El Miron Cave in Spain. This allowed scientists to identify the ancestry of people even when bones or teeth were not available.
The researchers are now combining sedimentary DNA with proteomic analyses to study early human movements and interactions across Europe.