A team of anthropologists from the Max Planck Institute analyzed DNA that had settled on a 20,000-year-old necklace from Siberia. The findings appeared in Nature, adding to the growing picture of ancient human diversity and movement.
In the Altai region, within the cave system known as Denisova Cave, evidence points to a little known archaic group living in the ice ages. Scientists have named this group the Denisovans. In 2019, researchers uncovered a deer tusk pendant inside the same cave where remains were later linked to this population. The pendant provided a unique opportunity to study genetic material without disturbing the artifacts themselves.
The central question was whether DNA could cling to objects long after their maker had vanished. The research team demonstrated that it is possible to retrieve genetic traces from the surface of such items by careful cleaning. The procedure involved washing the necklace at temperatures up to 90 degrees Celsius. The goal was to collect DNA fragments that had settled on the ornament over thousands of years while keeping the pendant intact for future study.
The scientists found a remarkable amount of human DNA on the necklace, suggesting that the object once touched or worn by a person. The team emphasized that the extraction did not damage the decoration, illustrating a new approach to studying ancient biology through artifacts that survive in museums and collections.
Genetic analysis of the recovered material pointed to a female individual. The X chromosome pattern indicated female ancestry, and the team estimated the wearer belonged to northern Eurasian populations that existed between roughly 17,000 and 24,000 years ago. The comparison with modern human genomes showed the closest similarity to genetic material found in Native American populations, highlighting deep connections across time and space among ancient peoples.
These results reinforce the idea that artifacts from the Ice Age can serve as gateways to understanding human origins and migrations. By turning ordinary objects into sources of ancient DNA, researchers can fill gaps in the genetic history of early hunter gatherers in Eurasia and the broader story of population exchanges that shaped the peopling of the northern continents. The study adds a compelling chapter to the ongoing exploration of how DNA can persist on everyday items and what those traces reveal about the lives of people who wore, used, or carried them many millennia ago. The research team continues to explore similar materials from other sites, seeking to build a more complete map of the genetic landscape of the ancient world, while respecting the integrity of cultural artifacts and the contexts in which they were found. [Nature, 2024]