Fossils prove that early native inhabitants of North America have DNA links that hail from ancient southern China. The genome of the fossils from the Late Pleistocene in southern China showed that this unknown hominin could be ascendants of Native Americans, based on the study.
Ancient Chinese DNA
Bing Su, one of the researchers, describes ancient DNA as a valuable tool. Despite their remarkable morphological traits, it suggests the Red Deer Cave people were modern humans rather than an archaic species like Neanderthals or Denisovans, citing Phys. Org.
The genomes of these fossils were compared to those of humans from all across the world by the influence of ancient southern China hominins.
Science Daily reported that the bones belonged to an individual with DNA linked to early native Inhabitants of North America with East Asian ancestors.
When paired with previous research findings, the researchers hypothesized that tens of thousands of years ago, some southern East Asian people traveled north along the coastline of present-day eastern China, across Japan, and into Siberia.
The Red Deer Cave
These people crossed the Bering Strait dividing Asia and North America, and were the first to live in the New World. It took thirty years after archeologists in China had discovered bones in the Maludong or Red Deer Cave. The cave is found in southern China's Yunnan Province.
Read Also: Ancient Oceans Not Susceptible to Climate Change; Human Activities Have Done Many Damages
Carbon dating revealed that the fossils date back to the Late Pleistocene epoch, approximately 14,000 years ago, when modern humans had spread throughout the globe, per New Scientist.
Researchers discovered a hominin skull cap in the cave with characteristics of both modern and ancient humans. The head, for example, appeared to be smaller than that of contemporary humans, and the brain seemed smaller than that of Neanderthals.
As a result, some anthropologists thought the skull belonged to a previously undiscovered archaic human species or to a society that was a mix of the two.
In 2018, Bing Su of the Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and his colleagues successfully extracted ancient DNA from the skull in collaboration with archaeologist Xueping Ji of Yunnan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology.
He asserts that some early people who first lived in southeastern Asia eventually migrated to the north. He described it as comprehension of early human movement.
The team's next step is to sequence more ancient human DNA using fossils from southern East Asia, particularly those that predate the Red Deer Cave people.
Su went on to say that the data will not only help us build a complete picture of how our ancestors migrated, but it will also reveal important details about how humans change their physical appearance over time by adjusting to local environments, such as variations in skin color in response to changes in sunlight exposure.
These early native inhabitants from North America, whose DNA links to ancient southern China, reveal how humanity migrated, which led to modern man.
Related Article: Carbon Dating of Hominin Fossils Found in South Africa Reveals Human Ancestors Are a Million Years Older
