New species of ancient humans found in Indonesia

The remains of a teenage girl found in a cave on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia in 2015 belong to a group of previously unknown species of ancient people, Report informs.

DNA studies of the remains were carried out by archaeologists from Griffith University, and the results were published in Nature magazine.

“We have discovered the first ancient human DNA in an island region between Asia and Australia. This gives us new data on the genetic diversity and history of early modern humans in the Wallace islands, in this little-studied part of the world,” the researchers noted.

They found out that the girl died at the age of 18, and belonged to a tribe of hunter-gatherers who lived on the island more than 7,000 years ago. Judging by the DNA, people from this group were related to the Toaleans, an ancient people who had their own culture and lived only on the island of Sulawesi. The girl also has common genes with a previously unknown group of people.

According to scientists, the mysterious group, originating from Asia, has no connection with the natives of Australia and New Guinea. In addition, no modern human shares genetic ties with this previously unknown group of ancient people.

The remains of the girl were found back in 2015, but it took scientists seven years to study them.