In another study, in the American Journal of Human Genetics, researchers found that when these ancestors of Aboriginals crossed through Asia, they may have interbred with Siberian people known as the Denisovans.
For that study, DNA was extracted from a finger bone excavated in the freezing temperatures of Siberia to analyse the migration of people to tropical parts of Asia and Australia more than 40,000 years ago.
Examining DNA from the finger, researchers from the Harvard Medical School in the US and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany concluded that the Denisovans – a primitive group of humans descended from Neanderthals – migrated from Siberia to tropical parts of Asia. They contributed DNA to Aborigines along with present-day New Guineans and an indigenous tribe in the Philippines known as Mamanwa.
To make the link between the Denisovans and indigenous Australians, the study looked at two Aboriginal populations, one of which was from the Northern Territory. The researchers concluded that Denisovans interbred with modern humans in South-East Asia 44,000 years ago, before Australia separated from Papua New Guinea.
“This paper helped fill in some empty pieces in the evolutionary puzzle that began after early humans left Africa, and reinforces the view that humans have intermixed throughout history,” say the scientists behind the research in a summary of the findings.
“The study also confirms controversial claims that the ancestors of all living Eurasians interbred with the Neandertals, while past Asians/Oceanians also mated with the mysterious ancient humans from Denisova cave[s] in Siberia,” comments Darren from UNSW. “This is clear and independent validation of DNA work on both these extinct humans [the Neanderthals and the Denisovans], confirming today’s other big announcement about their deep connections to Australians and other indigenous people in our region.”
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