I have read online that an analysis of the remains of the "Tianyuan Man", from China, dating back to 40,000 years ago, have revealed some unexpected findings.
I will quote Phys.org below: (I highlighted part of the text in bold)
"... With a close relationship to present-day Asians, they expected him to be similar to present-day Asian populations with respect to Europeans. It was a surprise when they found that a 35,000-year-old individual from Belgium, GoyetQ116-1, who in other ways seemed to be an ancient European, shared some genetic similarity to the Tianyuan individual that no other ancient Europeans shared.
...
A second unexpected result sheds some light on human genetic diversity in prehistoric East Asia. In 2015, a study comparing present-day populations in Asia, the Pacific and the Americas showed that some Native American populations from South America had an unusual connection to some populations south of mainland Asia, most notably the Melanesian Papuan and the Andamanese Onge. That study proposed that the population that crossed into the Americas around 20,000 years ago could not be thought of as a single unit. Instead, one or more related but distinct populations crossed at around the same time period, and at least one of these groups had additional ties to an Asian population that also contributed to the present-day Papuan and Onge.
No trace of this connection is observed in present-day East Asians and Siberians, but unlike them, the Tianyuan man also possesses genetic similarities to the same South Americans, in a pattern similar to that found for the Papuan and Onge. The new study directly confirms that the multiple ancestries represented in Native Americans were all from populations in mainland Asia. What is intriguing, however, is that the migration to the Americas occurred approximately 20,000 years ago, but the Tianyuan individual is twice that age. Thus, the population diversity represented in the Americas must have persisted in mainland Asia in two or more distinct populations since 40,000 years ago."
A simple answer for the "intriguing" finding is that either:
(a) The ancestors of Tianyuan man came from South American stock, crossed North America before it was peopled by later Siberian-origin humans, and entered Asia via Bering heading south and peopling China, Melanesia and the Andamans first, and then heading west into Europe where the ancestors of the GoyetQ116-1 remains picked up these genes.
(b) The Asian ancestors of South Americans entered America at least 40,000 years ago, before Siberian-Asians peopled North America. This eliminates the need for a persistance in Asia of "two or more distinct populations since 40,000 years ago".
According to Science:
"... Tianyuan Man inherited about as much Neandertal DNA—4% to 5%—as ancient Europeans and Asians of similar age. That’s a bit higher than the 1.8% to 2.6% of Neandertal DNA in living Europeans and Asians. The Tianyuan Man did not have any detectable DNA from Denisovans...
Native Americans living today in the Amazon of South America, such as the Karitiana and Surui peoples of Brazil and the Chane people of northern Argentina and southern Bolivia. They inherited about 9% to 15% of their DNA from an ancestral population in Asia that also gave rise to the Tianyuan Man. "
Or rather the Tianyuan man "inherited" this DNA from the American ancestors of the present Amerindian populations in South America.
The lack of Denisovan DNA is interesting and we should find out how come Melanesians which have a very high content of Denisovan DNA also have a very close link to Tianyuan man which has no Denisovan genes!
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