Anthropologists from the Max Planck Institute analyzed DNA isolated from the jewels of a woman who lived in Siberia about 20,000 years ago. The research was published in the journal Nature.
On the territory of modern Russia, in ancient times, a special species lived in the Denisova Cave (Altai Territory). homo sapiens. This species is called Denisovans. In 2019, an ornament was found in the cave where his remains were found – a deer tusk pendant. Scientists have suggested that the DNA of the person wearing the tooth could be found on it.
The authors of the new study were able to extract the DNA that had accumulated on the necklace. But they did not harm the decoration itself.
“By washing the artifacts at temperatures up to 90°C, we can extract DNA from the washes while keeping the artifacts intact. The amount of human DNA we extracted from the necklace was extraordinary – as if we had just taken a sample of a human tooth,” the scientists explained.
The number of X chromosomes in the DNA suggests that the owner of the necklace is a woman. Scientists suggest that it came from one of the northern Eurasian populations and lived 17-24 thousand years ago. Among modern humans, the genetic material of Native Americans is most similar to a woman’s DNA.