Scientists have uncovered a link between the genome of the very first Homo sapiens, who arrived in Europe 45,000 years ago and were thought to have had no genetic inheritance, and the genome of much later Paleolithic populations known for their Venus statuettes .
• Also read: Half a million year old wooden structure discovered
• Also read: Mysterious human bones from 300,000 years ago found in China
The discovery was made using skull fragments from the Buran-Kaya III archaeological site on the Crimean peninsula in the northern Black Sea, which was excavated more than a decade ago.
According to a study published this week in Nature Ecology & Evolution, these are bones of two individuals from -36,000 and -37,000 years ago, whose genomes were recently extracted using new techniques.
An international team of researchers compared their genomes with data from DNA banks and, in particular, with the oldest anatomically modern human genome in Europe, sequenced from a woman’s skull about 45,000 years ago (found in what is now the Czech Republic).
A time when the very first Homo sapiens from Africa landed on the Eurasian continent, where population occurred in successive waves. Part of this pioneer population established itself sustainably in Asia because it also left a genetic legacy in today’s populations.
The story was more chaotic for the European branch, for which no genetic fingerprint has yet been found, suggesting that it has disappeared. A few thousand years later, it will be “completely replaced” by a new wave of migration that will also include the people of Buran-Kaya III, who are genetically close to us, explains Eva-Maria Geigl, research director, to AFP. to the French scientific organization CNRS and co-author of the study.
Climate crisis
The origin of this decline: a cooling of the climate and a drying that occurred -45,000 to -40,000 years ago and was exacerbated by a gigantic eruption of the Phlegraean Fields volcano (Italy), which covered part of Europe with a cloud of ash.
This ecological crisis would have been “severe enough to lead to the disappearance of these very first sapiens and perhaps also of Neanderthals,” another human species that went extinct at the same time, the geneticist continued.
But the discovery of their traces in the human genome from the Crimean site suggests that part of this pioneer population ultimately survived the catastrophe. “It was hard for everyone, but there must have been a few individuals left because they left part of their genes behind,” explains Thierry Grange, research director at CNRS and co-author.
Their descendants then “mixed with the newcomers after the climate became warmer and wetter,” adds Eva-Maria Geigl.
Another discovery: The two people from the Crimean site, which were also compared with more recent genomes, are genetically linked to Western European populations associated with the Gravettian culture and are between -31,000 and -23,000 years old. A culture known for producing female statuettes called Venus or Lady of Brassempouy, an ivory figurine depicting a human head.
Quite similar objects were discovered in the excavations of Buran Kaya III (stone tools, mammoth ivory tablet), but the connection with the Gravettian to the west has been debated among archaeologists. “The two productions were too far apart geographically and there was a gap of more than 5,000 years,” emphasizes Thierry Grange.
His work provides genetic evidence confirming that the Gravettian culture originated in the East. And finally, that our ancestors migrated from Eastern Europe to the West and “contributed to the genome of today’s Europeans,” concludes Eva-Maria Geigl.