Evidence unearthed at the Donghulin archaeological site in Beijing suggests that there may have been a previously unknown human lineage that called northern East Asia home. This unsung offshoot of humanity was discovered after researchers analyzed ancient DNA from individuals who lived through the end of the last ice age and in a slowly defined world. The research was published in Current Biology.
One of those individuals was a woman who lived around 11,000 years ago. She was a part of this previously unknown lineage that had split from other populations around 19,000 years ago. They weren’t exactly newcomers adapting to a changing climate, but were long-established societies that managed to survive it.
They thrived for thousands of years in some of the harshest environments the Earth has experienced over the time humans have been around. They lived to tell us what life was like as the world shifted from a gigantic tundra to a more habitable home.
Scientists Say a Lost Human Line Survived the Ice Age
A second individual, a man who lived about 9,500 years ago, had a genetic profile aligned more closely with later Neolithic farming populations in northern China. By that point, migration and cultural exchange were well underway.
Together, this ancient pair suggests that northern East Asia didn’t experience a sudden population replacement like parts of Europe did. Instead, it went through a prolonged transition in which older lineages coexisted with groups on the rise, adopting new tools, diets, and, eventually, agriculture.
The site contains a mix of features, such as pottery, durable housing, and early signs of millet farming, suggesting that these lost lineages weren’t exclusively hunter-gatherers. It clutters the timeline a bit while also clearing things up, as it presents a variety of overlapping humans who were making important discoveries at different rates.
It makes sense because, as you’ve probably heard from your favorite sports team’s coach in a postgame press conference, progress isn’t linear. It’s just as true in basketball as it is in the development of the human race over thousands of years.
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