April 15, 2025 | 03:24 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Two 7,000-year-old mummies unearthed in present-day Libya have led to the identification of a previously unknown human lineage, according to a new study published in Nature on April 2, 2025.
Researchers analyzed ancient DNA from two female bodies that lived during the time when the Sahara was still a lush and humid savannah, approximately 14,500 to 5,000 years ago.
This period is known as the 'Green Sahara' or African Humid Period, when the now arid region was inhabited by people who hunted and herded animals around rivers and lakes.
The DNA analysis results indicate that the two mummies come from different lineages and were isolated from the sub-Saharan African population at the same time.
These lineages are estimated to have diverged from the sub-Saharan African population around 50,000 years ago, and have ancestral traces from the Levant region, as well as small amounts of Neanderthal DNA.
"We were very fortunate to have samples preserved at this level," said Nada Salem, a paleogeneticist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, as quoted from Science magazine, cited from the Live Science report on Tuesday, April 15, 2025.
She added that the high temperatures in the Sahara usually make it difficult for DNA to be well-preserved.
The mummies are part of 15 bodies found between 2003 and 2006 at the Takarkori rock shelter in southwestern Libya. Two of the bodies underwent natural mummification processes, aiding in the preservation of their DNA.
Previously, a study in 2019 examined the mitochondrial DNA of these bodies, but the information obtained was limited as mitochondrial DNA is only inherited from the mother.
In the latest research, scientists examined whole-genome DNA and compared it to the genetic data of 800 modern individuals and 117 ancient genomes from Africa, the Near East, and Southern Europe.
The results indicate that the Green Sahara may not have served as a major migration corridor between North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. Nonetheless, researchers believe that cultural exchanges likely still took place.
"We know now that they were isolated in terms of genetics, but not in cultural terms," said Savino di Lernia, an archaeologist from Sapienza University in Rome to CNN.
"There's a lot of networks that we know from several parts of the continent, because we have pottery coming from sub-Saharan Africa. We have pottery coming from the Nile Valley and the like."
Researchers also suggest that the adoption of pastoralist practices in the region likely stemmed from contact with groups that had already domesticated animals, rather than from mass migrations.
While the original lineage has since disappeared, traces of its genetic legacy still persist in some modern populations in North Africa.
"By shedding light on the Sahara's deep past, we aim to increase our knowledge of human migrations, adaptations, and cultural evolution in this key region," said di Lernia.
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