FirstDNA profiles of people who were in the region a long time ago

The deepest modern human outgroup lineage is higher than shared genetic drift between Epipalaeolithic and Early Neolithic groups of Saharan origin

Ancient DNA extracted from two women who died in what is now Libya around 7,000 years ago is now helping researchers to reconstruct the origins of these early Saharans. The African Humid Period saw the introduction of the first fully Saharan genomes, which were described in a study published on 2 April in Nature1.

To probe for shared genetic drift of Takarkori with other ancient and modern genomes, we computed outgroup f3 statistics30 of the form f3(Takarkori, X; South Africa 2,000 cal. bp), with X representing worldwide ancient and present-day test populations and South Africa 2,000 cal. bp as the deepest modern human outgroup lineage44. We found that the Takarkori individuals were the most genetic drift with other people. Specifically, we observed the highest level with an Epipalaeolithic individual from Ifri Ouberrid and similarly elevated shared drift with the 15,000-year-old foragers from Taforalt and the Early Neolithic individuals from Ifri n’Amr o’Moussa (). Fig. 3a, Extended Data Fig. 3 and Supplementary Fig. 2.12). Both Epipalaeolithic and Early Neolithic groups have been previously shown to maintain high genetic continuity with the much older Taforalt group8,9, explaining the similarly elevated shared drift statistics between all three groups and the Takarkori individuals.

There is a rock shelter in southwestern Libya called Takarkori. Between 2003 and 2007, archaeologists uncovered the remains of 15 people who were buried between 8,900 and 4,800 years ago at Takarkori. Two corpses were mummified thousands of years ago, one belonging to a woman who was between 7,000 and 6,000 years old.

“It is important to find sites that are protected from the elements,” says Salem, who works at the Max Plank Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

The Sahara Desert as a Landscape for Ancient Genomes: The High-Temperature Wind from the Mid-Atmosphere

The Sahara Desert has not always been the arid, inhospitable landscape we know today. Between 14,500 and 5,000 years ago, the area was unrecognizable, transformed into a lush savannah by an unusually wet interval called the African Humid Period. People roamed this green landscape for thousands of years before it was again lost to sand.

Ancient genomes from North Africa are hard to come by. Almost all palaeogenetic work is concentrated in Europe and Asia. In the desert, high temperature and strong UV light quickly degrade ancient genetic material in remains.