A massive paleogenomic study led by the Max Planck Institute has analyzed the genomes of 45 individuals from the Mesolithic Dnieper-Donets culture in modern-day Ukraine. The research, appearing in Cell Reports, identifies a previously unknown 'ghost lineage' that contributed significant genetic material to the early hunter-gatherer populations of the Pontic Steppe before the arrival of Neolithic farmers.
This distinct genetic signature suggests that the region served as a Pleistocene refugium for a population that survived the Last Glacial Maximum in isolation. The discovery reshapes the understanding of European genetic diversity, proving that the ancestral makeup of the continent was shaped by multiple, deeply divergent hunter-gatherer groups long before the more famous Yamnaya expansions of the Bronze Age.