Archaeologists have successfully extracted DNA from the skeleton of a teenage girl who lived 7,200 years ago.
The young woman's body was discovered during excavations started in 2015 on the island of Sulawesi (Indonesia).
The researchers are satisfied because the climatic conditions in Southeast Asia are not conducive to the conservation of human genetic elements, they explained in a study published in
Nature on
Wednesday.
To the knowledge of specialists, the discovery constitutes the first discovery of prehistoric human DNA in the Wallacea region.
A 17 or 18 year old teenager
The sample was taken from a temporal bone of the teenager's skeleton, called Bessé by scientists, reports
The Guardian
.
She was 17 or 18 years old when she was buried.
The young girl was a Toalean, hunter-gatherers who lived in the region between 1,500 and 8,000 years ago.
Sequencing of the extracted genetic material revealed a unique ancestral genealogical history that has not been found in any individual since.
About half of Bessé's genetic profile, however, is similar to that of present-day Australian Aborigines and inhabitants of New Guinea and the Western Pacific Islands.
Assumptions called into question
The DNA study has given experts new insight into ancient migrations.
Genetic elements linked to the Far East have led archaeologists to question their knowledge.
Scientists initially estimated that individuals of Asian descent arrived in Wallacea 3,000 or 4,000 years ago.
They now envisage the existence of much earlier population movements.
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Indonesia
DNA
Archeology
Genetic
Science