DNA from 7,000-year-old skeleton of girl in Indonesia found remarkably preserved
- Scientists found and excavated the partially-preserved skeleton from a limestone cave on the island of Sulawesi
- They were able to extract DNA from an ear bone, and analysis revealed the skeleton belonged to a female who was around 17-18 years old
A new peer-reviewed study published in the journal Nature analyses the first ancient human genome from Wallacea, an island region between the Sunda Shelf (which includes mainland Southeast Asia and the islands of western Indonesia) and the Australia-New Guinea region.
Scientists found and excavated the partially-preserved skeleton in 2015 from a limestone cave on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. They were able to extract DNA from the petrous bone, a thick inner ear bone, and analysis revealed that the skeleton belonged to a female who was around 17 to 18 years old.
According to the study, recovering intact human remains from this region is uncommon because the tropical temperatures usually cause them to break down, making delicate structures like DNA unsalvageable.
Adam Brumm, an archaeologist who co-wrote the study and a professor of archaeology at Griffith University, said the scientists were able to reconstruct about 2 per cent of the genome, which he said is a remarkable amount.
He said the researchers have theories, but they are unsure exactly why the woman’s DNA was preserved.