An international consortium of geneticists has completed the sequencing of the oldest known human genome from the Altai Mountains, dating back 18,000 years. The results, published in Science, reveal a previously unknown 'ghost lineage' that represents the earliest genetic divergence of hunter-gatherers following the Last Glacial Maximum.
This discovery provides critical evidence for how early human populations survived in isolated glacial refugia before expanding across Eurasia. The lineage identified shares unique genetic markers with later North Asian populations, rewriting the map of human migration and the timing of the populating of the Americas.