Researchers have reconstructed the oldest human genomes ever discovered in South Africa from two individuals who lived approximately 10,000 years ago, providing new insights into the region's early population history, according to a study author.
The genetic sequences were derived from a man and a woman whose remains were unearthed at a rock shelter near the southern coastal town of George, roughly 370 kilometers east of Cape Town, said Victoria Gibbon, a professor of biological anthropology at the University of Cape Town (UCT).
These sequences were among 13 reconstructed from individuals whose remains were found at the Oakhurst shelter and lived between 1,300 and 10,000 years ago. Prior to these findings, the oldest genomes from the region dated back about 2,000 years.
A notable discovery from the Oakhurst study was that the oldest genomes were genetically akin to those of the San and Khoekhoe groups currently residing in the same region, UCT stated.
Lead author Joscha Gretzinger, from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, noted that while similar studies in Europe have shown extensive genetic changes due to human migrations over the past 10,000 years, the findings from southernmost Africa suggest a more stable genetic history.
DNA data indicates that significant changes only occurred around 1,200 years ago when newcomers introduced pastoralism, agriculture, new languages, and began interacting with local hunter-gatherer groups.
Despite southern Africa being home to some of the earliest evidence of modern humans, genetic material tends to be poorly preserved, Gibbon explained. Advances in technology have now made it possible to retrieve this DNA.
Unlike in Europe and Asia, where thousands of ancient genomes have been reconstructed, fewer than two dozen have been recovered from southern Africa, specifically from Botswana, South Africa, and Zambia.
Gibbon emphasized that sites like Oakhurst are rare in South Africa and have significantly contributed to understanding local population movements and relationships across the landscape over nearly 9,000 years.
