Geneticists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences have uncovered traces of a previously unknown lineage of ancient humans in northern China, a group that eventually vanished and left almost no genetic legacy in modern populations, AzerNEWS reports.
The team analyzed the DNA of three individuals buried at the Donghulin archaeological site near Beijing. These people lived after the last glacial maximum, during a warming period when the region’s climate and ecosystems were rapidly changing.
The analysis revealed that one of the women belonged to a previously unknown genetic branch, not seen among other ancient East Asian populations studied so far. The closest genetic similarities were found in a person who lived around 19,000 years ago near the Amur River, suggesting the existence of an ancient northern population that persisted in the region for thousands of years.
However, roughly 2,000 years later, a young man with a completely different genetic background was buried at the same site. His DNA was closer to populations linked to the Mongolian Plateau, indicating that the region’s population composition was gradually changing over time.
Archaeological evidence, however, tells a story of remarkable cultural continuity. Stone tools, ceramics, and plant-processing techniques remained largely unchanged, and scientists discovered early signs of millet domestication, showing how communities adapted gradually to their environment.
Researchers believe that post-Ice Age climate changes played a key role in these developments, forcing ancient communities to find new ways to survive and utilize local resources.
‘Despite its long history, this ancient human lineage has almost completely disappeared from the genomes of modern East Asians. Today, its traces appear only sporadically, showing that even long-standing populations can eventually dissolve into others,’ the researchers concluded.