Finding the skeleton of an Indonesian woman aged 7200 years!

 Archaeologists have discovered a 7,200-year-old skeleton of a woman in Indonesia that belongs to a human group that has never been spotted anywhere else, according to an article published in the journal Nature.

The skeleton, which was preserved in relatively good condition, belonged to a young woman between the ages of 17 and 18, buried in the fetal position inside the Liang Panengi Cave in South Sulawesi Island.

The skeleton was found among hand-made tools of a group of hunters and gatherers from this region, which dates back to the Quaternary era, and is the first skeleton discovered from this group.

DNA analysis of the hunter and gatherer showed that she belonged to a population related to Papuans and Aboriginal Australians.

But its genome is also linked to a human lineage that has never been known to exist anywhere else in the world.

The study, which was published in the journal Nature the day before yesterday, was developed in cooperation between international and Indonesian researchers, as a result of excavations that began in 2015.

The co-director of the research, archaeologist at the Australian Griffith University, Adam Broome, said today, "It is the first time that the discovery of ancient human DNA has been reported in the large islands region extending from the Asian continent to Australia."

He explained that this region, which scientists call "Walasia", includes the Indonesian islands located east of Borneo to northern New Guinea.

The researchers consider that what reinforces the uniqueness of this discovery is that ancient skeletons degrade rapidly in the humid tropical climate.

Adam Broome emphasized that "remains of ancient human DNA are very rare to be found in the tropics, and for this reason it is a particularly important discovery."

This study reconsiders what was previously believed about human settlement in the region.

"This discovery shows how limited we know about the history of early humans in the islands and Asia," the archaeologist said.

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