Dual Ancestries Found from UK's Oldest Human DNA

Dual ancestries from two separate ancient human groups were found from fossils in the United Kingdom, according to a new study led by the University College London (UCL). The human remains belong from Late Glacial Paleolithic populations, becoming the UK's oldest human DNA. The fossils indicate that some of the early humans migrated into Great Britain by the end of the last ice age period.

The findings are considered to be the UK's first genetic data from Paleolithic human individuals, who were likely part of a group who migrated into Northwest Europe when climate warming and glacial melting occurred. Through carbon dating technology, DNA sequencing, and DNA sequencing, the study was able to prove that even some the UK's oldest human skeletal material can be a source of genetic information.

For hundreds of thousands of years, scientists believed early humans entered and left the UK in a recurrent manner due to extreme environmental and climate changes. As adaptive hunter-gatherers, evidence from the new research shows our ancestors in the land of what is now the British Isles, which consists of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, and other islands.

UK's Oldest Human DNA

(Photo : Photo by TOLGA AKMEN/AFP via Getty Images)

Findings about the UK's oldest human DNA was published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution on Monday, October 24. In contrast to the notion of a linear or singular British ancestors, the UCL researchers, along with the Francis Crick Institute and the Natural History Museum (NHM), indirectly debunked this idea. This comes following the growing evidence of the UK's dual ancestries.

The study's research team explored the UK's oldest genetic data from an individual remains from Gough's Cave in Somerset and from a second individual from Kendrick's Cave in North Wales. Both individuals lived over 13,500 years ago. Skeletons of this magnitude are very few in Brain, with only a total of a dozen across six sites, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) cites.

Also Read: What Makes Us Human? This Often Overlooked DNA May Provide Answers

First Britons

Prior to the UCL paper, scientists and scholars believe the presence of our ancestors in the UK came longer than previously thought. In fact, the first Britons arrived in the group of islands nearly one million years ago as newcomers. However, their arrival was met with a dramatically changing environment as a challenge for their survival, according to the NHM.

Located between the Atlantic Ocean and continental Europe, ancient Britain contained traces left behind by its earliest inhabitants and are believed to be scattered across the landscape, according to investigations conducted by the Ancient Human Occupation of Britain (AHOB). This was made possible by combining evidence coming from animal fossils and plant fossils, as well as tools and artefacts.

The investigations were conducted by AHOB in collaboration with the NHM and other research institutions, which concluded there were at least 10 separate waves of occupation in ancient UK. Furthermore, the presence of modern humans in Britain had been continuous over the past 12,000 years.