Fourth European Ancestral Tribe Remains Discovered

Geneticists have detected a fourth ancestral "tribe" which contributed to the modern European gene pool.

16:45 17 November 2015

Previous research shows Europeans are a mixture of three major ancestral populations - indigenous hunters, Middle Eastern farmers and a population that arrived from the East in the Bronze Age.

 

However, a DNA from ancient remains revealed the fourth European ancestral tribe.

 

Researchers are now using scientific advances to retrieve and analyse genomes from ancient burials. This process has helped us understand that present-day genetic patterns are poor guides to ancient ones.

 

Based on the evidence, the indigenous hunter-gatherers were the first to settle in Europe. They were swept up in a migration of people from the Middle East who introduced farming to Europe.

 

Yamnaya, the herders, entered Europe about 5,000 years ago. The decline of their population had researchers asking if their passage west was due to the spread of disease.

 

Researchers analysed genomes from two hunter-gatherers and they concluded that these Caucasus hunters were probably the source of the farmer-like DNA in the Yamnaya.

 

"The question of where the Yamnaya comes from has been something of a mystery up to now," said co-author Dr Andrea Manica, from the University of Cambridge.

 

"We can now answer that as we've found that their genetic make-up is a mix of Eastern European hunter-gatherers and a population from this pocket of Caucasus hunter-gatherers who weathered much of the last Ice Age in apparent isolation."