An ancient human lineage roamed Europe's frozen tundra for nearly 80 generations. Then they died out.

[Judi Lynn]

byTibi Puiu December 17, 2024
Time: 5 mins read
Edited and reviewed by Zoe Gordon

Some 45,000 years ago, in the frigid reaches of Ice Age Europe, a small band of humans trudged across the tundra, their dark skin warmed by fur-lined cloaks. They hunted woolly rhinos, fashioned distinctive stone tools, and perhaps exchanged stories around fires in caves. A new discovery of ancient genomes brings these forgotten ancestors — and their fleeting presence — into clearer view.

Their story, revealed through fossilized remains unearthed in Germany and the Czech Republic, uncovers a surprising twist in the saga of human migration out of Africa.

These genomes are the oldest yet found of modern humans in Europe. Like any good research, these genomes lead to more questions than they answer, deepening the mystery of when, exactly, humans left Africa and how they mingled with our evolutionary cousins, the Neanderthals.

In the cave in Ranis, Germany, archaeologists recovered bone fragments belonging to six individuals — a family that included a mother, her daughter, and distant cousins. The remains, sequenced by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, date back 45,000 years. They are part of a cultural group known as the Lincombian-Ranisian-Jerzmanowician, or LRJ for short.

More:
https://www.zmescience.com/science/news-science/the-oldest-human-genomes-in-europe-show-how-an-entire-branch-of-humanity-disappeared/

[99MainSt]

1. Both a revelation and a mystery.

In this technological age of population explosion and dominance over the Natural World, it's hard to conceive of just how vulnerable prehistoric human species were to extinction.

[niyad]

2. KNR and bookmarking this fascinating find.

[brakester]

3. How wondrous is science!

This is SO fascinating!!!

[rubbersole]

4. Chuck Grassley is a direct decendant.

[IbogaProject]

5. This was after a setback

Around this time the magnetic field weakened and blanketed the earth in short acting radiation.

[Botany]

6. So the original Homo sapiens in Europe were black?

Thanks for posting.

Now does their DNA go back to the great rift valley in East Central Africa?

[Submariner]

8. That's not going to sit well with Meghan Kelly

After all, Jesus and Santa were both white, as she stated just before being fired and kicked off her network TV job for being a racist twit.

[Botany]

9. Don't tell her that everybody in the world (except one outlier in the Indian/Pacific Ocean) all have

… maternal mitochondria DNA that goes back to the great rift valley.

[H2O Man]

11. The time sequence

for human beings in Europe becoming "white" is interesting, and has become fairly well documented in recent times. All of the human of "modern" humans were dark-skinned when leaving Africa. Those who traveled into Europe some 40,000+ years ago were black, and the series of genetic changes -- described correctly as "patchwork" in the below article -- were the result of the amounts of sun light and some dietary factors.

All non-African humans did indeed go back to the great rift valley ...... indeed, a while back -- maybe a couple decades -- all modern humans outside of Africa could be traced to connections to one female in the valley. This mistakenly was considered "proof" of "Eve" by some at the time. Since then, of course, it's known that other fully modern humans rose in western Africa.

The beginnings of skin turning lighter appears to be a process that began around 10,000 years ago.

https://www.science.org/content/article/how-europeans-evolved-white-skin

[Botany]

12. This is a great book

I have always wondered where Neanderthals came from and when and how they interbred
with Homo sapiens when they didn’t leave Africa until after the Neanderthals had died out.
I wonder if the H. sapiens who had come from Western Africa had started from the rift valley.
I read that humans from the rift valley migrated to the coast on Western and Southern Africa
and the seafood there being rich in protein helped in their brain’s development.

[H2O Man]

13. The advances being made

in the understanding of the extended human family are fascinating. I've been hooked ever since watching the National Georgraphic specials on ABC in the mid-1960s, of Louis and Mary Leakey's discoveries at Olduvai Gorge. Now, decades later, I have the 40-piece collection from a late friend who worked with the Leakeys about three feet away from me as I write this. The evolution of the brain is an amazing thing. I've been watching a few documentaries in the past 48 hours, that suggest that our understanding will continue to expand in the years to come.

[Martin68]

7. The more we learn about our stone age ancestors, the more interesting they turn out to be. Long past time to give up

the stupid stereotype of knuckle-dragging, club-wielding "cavemen."

[mwmisses4289]

10. Or that they wore barely any clothes in a harsh environment.