How Technology Unraveled 9,000 Years Of Human History Hidden In African DNA

Reconstructing ancient DNA is no easy task, but a team of researchers from South Africa and Germany has pulled off an incredible feat. They’ve managed to reconstruct the oldest human genomes ever found in South Africa, dating back an astonishing 10,000 years! This breakthrough is helping scientists understand more about how people lived and moved in the region thousands of years ago.

So, what exactly did they find? The DNA was recovered from the remains of a man and a woman who lived near the coastal town of George, at a site known as the Oakhurst rock shelter. These two individuals were part of a larger study involving 13 people who lived between 1,300 and 10,000 years ago. Before this discovery, the oldest genomes from the region were only about 2,000 years old—so this find is a huge deal!

But why is this so important? According to one of the researchers, Victoria Gibbon, a biological anthropology professor at the University of Cape Town, this discovery gives us a brand-ne...