TY - JOUR
T1 - Southern African ancient genomes estimate modern human divergence to 350,000 to 260,000 years ago
AU - Schlebusch, Carina M.
AU - Malmström, Helena
AU - Günther, Torsten
AU - Sjödin, Per
AU - Coutinho, Alexandra
AU - Edlund, Hanna
AU - Munters, Arielle R.
AU - Vicente, Mário
AU - Steyn, Maryna
AU - Soodyall, Himla
AU - Lombard, Marlize
AU - Jakobsson, Mattias
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017, American Association for the Advancement of Science. All rights reserved.
PY - 2017/11/3
Y1 - 2017/11/3
N2 - Southern Africa is consistently placed as a potential region for the evolution of Homo sapiens. We present genome sequences, up to 13x coverage, from seven ancient individuals from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The remains of three Stone Age hunter-gatherers (about 2000 years old) were genetically similar to current-day southern San groups, and those of four Iron Age farmers (300 to 500 years old) were genetically similar to present-day Bantu-language speakers. We estimate that all modern-day Khoe-San groups have been influenced by 9 to 30% genetic admixture from East Africans/Eurasians. Using traditional and new approaches, we estimate the first modern human population divergence time to between 350,000 and 260,000 years ago. This estimate increases the deepest divergence among modern humans, coinciding with anatomical developments of archaic humans into modern humans, as represented in the local fossil record.
AB - Southern Africa is consistently placed as a potential region for the evolution of Homo sapiens. We present genome sequences, up to 13x coverage, from seven ancient individuals from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The remains of three Stone Age hunter-gatherers (about 2000 years old) were genetically similar to current-day southern San groups, and those of four Iron Age farmers (300 to 500 years old) were genetically similar to present-day Bantu-language speakers. We estimate that all modern-day Khoe-San groups have been influenced by 9 to 30% genetic admixture from East Africans/Eurasians. Using traditional and new approaches, we estimate the first modern human population divergence time to between 350,000 and 260,000 years ago. This estimate increases the deepest divergence among modern humans, coinciding with anatomical developments of archaic humans into modern humans, as represented in the local fossil record.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85030570904&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1126/science.aao6266
DO - 10.1126/science.aao6266
M3 - Article
C2 - 28971970
AN - SCOPUS:85030570904
SN - 0036-8075
VL - 358
SP - 652
EP - 655
JO - Science
JF - Science
IS - 6363
ER -
