Las Dantas panel at Cerro Azul, La Lindosa (arrow points to proposed giant sloth painting).
Credit: José Iriarte, et al/Royal Society B 2022

Did ancient Americans in the forests of South America see strange prehistoric mammals before they disappeared forever at the end of the Ice Age? Cave paintings discovered in a remote region of Colombia appear to depict giant ground sloths, elephant-like gomphotheres, ancient horses, and a car-sized armadillo relative called a glyptodont. The paintings provide a rare glimpse of a long-lost ecosystem, populated by giant animals known as megafauna, that few people had ever set eyes upon.

The paintings were discovered at Serranía de la Lindosa, a natural rock shelter on the banks of the Guayabero River in central Colombia. Although the cave paintings were known to the Indigenous people of the region, they were inaccessible to scientists due to the remote location and ongoing civil conflict in the area. However, scientists have been able to study the paintings in detail in recent expeditions. The images were created using red ochre, a natural mineral pigment commonly used in cave paintings throughout the world.

The cave paintings show several familiar South American animals, including capybaras and horses. The researchers believe the paintings depict native horses from the region before they became extinct about 10,000 years ago rather than modern horses that were introduced to South America by the Spanish in the 1500’s.

Other figures seem to show strange Ice Age megafauna that became extinct thousands of years ago. One intriguing image depicts a large, stocky animal with elongated forearms next to what appears to be its cub. Researchers believe this image depicts a giant ground sloth, an extinct relative of the modern sloth that was as large as an elephant. The researchers identified other possible Ice Age species in the paintings, including a gomphothere (a relative of modern elephants), a glyptodont, and a bizarre hoofed mammal called Litopterna, which resembled an antelope with a short trunk-like snout.

There is abundant evidence from cave paintings in Europe and Asia that humans coexisted with Ice Age megafauna before they went extinct. However, similar cave paintings are rare in the Americas. No people lived in the Americas before Indigenous people arrived. Most scientists think the first people came to the Americas from Asia at least 15,000 years ago. Many of the animals depicted went extinct soon after the arrival of humans in the region. By about 10,000 years ago, horses, mammoths, gomphotheres, ground sloths, and glyptodonts had disappeared. Scientists continue to debate the role of human hunters in the extinction of Ice Age megafauna in the Americas. Many scientists believe that other factors, such as climate change at the end of the Pleistocene Epoch may have had a larger role in the extinction of these great beasts.

June 12, 2019

A recent reexamination of an important fossil discovery shows that Denisovans, a mysterious group of prehistoric people in Asia, lived in the high-altitude environment of the Tibetan Plateau long before the ancestors of modern Tibetans and Nepalese arrived. The fossil, a Denisovan mandible (lower jawbone) fragment, proves that these ancient humans were the first hominids to settle in that harsh environment where altitude sickness is a constant danger. The scientists studying the fossil also believe that modern people living on the Tibetan Plateau owe their survival to these Denisovan ancestors.

This virtual reconstruction shows details of the Denisovan mandible found on the Tibetan Plateau in 1980. It is some 160,000 years old. Credit: © Jean-Jacques Hublin, MPI-EVA, Leipzig

Chinese scientists recently reexamined the mandible fossil, which was excavated in Tibet in 1980. The jawbone fragment containing a few teeth was unremarkable. However, the scientists were hoping to determine the age of the fossil and extract proteins and genetic material using techniques that were not yet invented in the early 1980′s. The scientists were surprised when dating methods showed the fossil was about 160,000 years old. Scientists had previously believed that the early human populations alive at the time could not survive the harsh environment of the Tibetan Plateau.

The Denisovan mandible was found in this Tibetan Plateau cave, a tourist site and Buddhist refuge, in 1980. Credit: © Dongju Zhang, Lanzhou University

Analysis of proteins extracted from the jawbone fossil showed that it belonged to the mysterious Denisovans, a population previously known only from a few skeletal remains found in the Altai Mountains of southern Siberia. Denisovan DNA has similarities to that of the modern indigenous (native) peoples of Australia, New Guinea, the southern Philippines, and other Pacific Islands. Denisovans contributed up to five percent of the genetic material of some people living in these regions today.

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Analysis of the Tibet jawbone shows that the Denisovans were well-suited to a high-altitude environment. They possessed a genetic adaptation that enabled them to withstand the physical effects of hypoxia (insufficient levels of oxygen in the blood) caused by high altitudes. Today, the indigenous people of Nepal and Tibet also possess this genetic adaptation. Scientists now believe that the modern inhabitants of the Tibetan Plateau inherited this adaptation from Denisovan ancestors of the distant past.

September 14, 2018

A fragment of bone discovered in a Siberian cave has recently revealed the first known hybrid between a Neandertal and a member of another prehistoric human group known as Denisovans. The fragment came from Denisova Cave on the Anuy River in the Altai Mountains of southern Siberia. Genetic material extracted from the bone fragment showed that a teenage girl who lived and died more than 50,000 years ago was the daughter of a Neandertal mother and Denisovan father. The finding confirms interbreeding between the prehistoric peoples that had been only hinted at in earlier genetic studies.

The bone fragment called Denisova 11 (seen here in different views) was found at Denisova Cave in 2012. DNA evidence recently showed that the bone came from the daughter of a Neandertal mother and a Denisovan father. Credit: © Thomas Higham, University of Oxford

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, examined a small bone fragment excavated at Denisova Cave in 2012. Proteins extracted from the bone fragment, called Denisova 11, indicated that it came from a human being. The fragment likely came from a shinbone or thighbone. The thickness of the bone suggested the fragment belonged to a female who was at least 13 years old when she died. Radiocarbon dating indicated the bone fragment was at least 50,000 years old. Analysis of the bone’s genetic material showed that Denisova 11 had approximately equal amounts of Neandertal and Denisovan ancestry.

Denisovans were prehistoric humans who lived in Asia. Scientists do not know what they looked like, because they are known only from a few skeletal remains. Scientists identified this population by analyzing ancient DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) recovered from the bones. The scientists were able to extract and sequence entire individual genomes. The term genome refers to all the genes on a cell’s threadlike structures called chromosomes. The discovery of Denisovans was the first time that scientists identified a prehistoric human population through DNA analysis alone.

The Neandertals were prehistoric people who lived in Europe and Asia. They are mainly known from thousands of fossils that date from about 150,000 to 39,000 years ago. Neandertals were very different from people today. Their skulls were huge, with a large, projecting face; a low, sloping forehead; and a prominent browridge, a raised strip of bone across the forehead above the eyes. By 2010, scientists had sequenced the entire Neandertal genome. The Neandertal genome differs markedly from that of the Denisovans, suggesting that the populations lived apart for many thousands of years.

The young girl was a hybrid of two very distinct groups of prehistoric people. Neandertals and Denisovans differed both culturally and physically. Meetings between the two groups and the creation of hybrid children were most likely rare events. The study of human genomes shows that both Neandertals and Denisovans also occasionally interacted and interbred with modern humans, whose era was beginning as the prehistoric humans were dying out. Among modern peoples of Europe, Asia, and the Pacific islands, between 1 and 4 percent of the population’s genome comes from Neandertals. Scientists have also found that Europeans, Asians, and some aboriginal peoples of Australia, New Guinea, and islands of the western Pacific have trace amounts of Denisovan DNA.

April 10, 2018

Last month, in March, scientists published results of a DNA study on an ancient, mysterious, and rather alien-looking skeleton found in the Atacama Desert of Chile. Some people claimed the well-preserved skeleton, only about 6 inches (15 centimeters) long with an an elongated skull and other unusual features, was proof that aliens exist and have visited Earth. The study, however, published in the journal Genome Research, showed that the skeleton (known as Ata for Atacama) was in fact that of an infant human. The unusual skeleton is quite real, however, and the study explained the skeleton’s extraterrestrial appearance.

This mummified skeleton from the Atacama Desert in Chile had been described as “alien.” Genetic analysis showed that the skeleton was human and may have had a previously unknown bone disorder. Credit: © Emery Smith

Ata’s remains were discovered in 2003 at La Noria, an abandoned saltpeter-mining town in northern Chile. Ata eventually passed to a private collector. The tiny skeleton is remarkable in many ways. Ata has an unusual elongated, cone-shaped head and possesses only 10 pairs of ribs instead of the 12 pairs normally found in humans. The skeleton looked to be about the size of a human infant, yet the bones were remarkably well developed, more like those of a child perhaps 6 years old.

Ata’s shocking features fueled wild speculation about the skeleton’s origins. Some considered it an obvious fraud, perhaps the skeleton of a monkey that had been altered for a side show attraction. Historically, such hoaxes were created by circuses or side-shows to fool gullible patrons. Other people thought the skeleton belonged to a human child suffering from an unknown, perhaps genetic, malady. However, a few people pointed out physical similarities to reported alien visitors and suggested that the skeleton was evidence alien astronauts had visited that region of South America centuries ago.

Beginning in 2012, scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine in California conducted studies in an attempt to solve the mystery of Ata. They initially identified the skeleton as unquestionably human. The skeleton appeared ancient, although scientists could not determine exactly how old it was. Explaining the skeleton’s size and many unusual features proved more difficult. The scientists simply had never seen a skeleton quite like this before. Only after colleagues at the University of California in San Francisco examined Ata’s genetic material was the mystery solved.

The scientists were able to extract Ata’s complete genome from the bones. A genome is the entire set of genes that control heredity in a human being. The genetic material confirmed that Ata was a female and closely related to the native peoples of Chile—thus not an alien. The scientists also found that Ata suffered from a variety of genetic mutations that created her highly unusual features. The researchers identified at least seven mutated genes that are known to cause significant skeletal malformation in humans. Some of the genes are known to cause dwarfism and scoliosis, an abnormal curvature of the spine, as well as other, less common deformities.

The severity of the genetic mutations unfortunately meant that Ata most likely died soon after birth. Some of her mutated genes are involved in skeletal maturation, making her bones appear older than her actual age. When discovered, her remains were reportedly wrapped in a white cloth tied with a purple ribbon. Although her life was tragically short, Ata was cared for by her family and given a loving funeral.

After the genetic study was published, officials in Chile protested that the researchers had violated ethical guidelines concerning the treatment of human remains. The National Monuments Council of Chile began an investigation to determine if Ata’s remains were illegally exhumed (dug up) and exported from the country. In Chile, the government has passed laws intended to protect graves and human remains as well as other cultural items of importance to Native Americans. These laws are similar to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) in the United States. NAGPRA makes it illegal to buy, sell, or transport for sale any Native American human remains or other cultural items. Chilean officials claim that American researchers violated the law by conducting the study on Ata’s remains without proper permission.

August 4, 2017

New excavations conducted at Madjedbebe, a rock shelter in northern Australia, have provided evidence that humans first arrived there around 65,000 years ago. That date, based on sophisticated modern dating methods, pushes back the earliest physical evidence for human occupation in Australia by at least 15,000 years. The discovery is forcing scientists to reevaluate some common theories about the ancestors of today’s Aboriginal people of Australia.

The Madjedbebe rock shelter is the oldest-known site of human occupation in Australia. Credit: © Dominic O’Brien, Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation

The chronology of the peopling of Australia has been the subject of scientific debate for decades. Archaeologists have found prehistoric Aboriginal sites mainly in southern Australia. These sites—which date from 30,000 to 40,000 years ago—include locations at the Swan River in Western Australia and at Lake Mungo, Lake Tandou, and Talyawalka Creek in New South Wales. After Aboriginal people arrived in northern Australia, it could have taken them several thousand years to travel across the continent and learn to live in new environments. Scientists have therefore concluded that human beings must have arrived in northern Australia well before 40,000 years ago, the dates of the earliest Aboriginal sites in the south. Most archaeologists believed people first arrived in northern Australia in a single migration that occurred at least 50,000 years ago.

Researcher Elspeth Hayes, left, discusses the sampling of stone tool residue with Mark Djandjomerr, center, and May Nango, right, of the Mirarr Clan, the traditional owners of Madjedbebe. Credit: © Vincent Lamberti, Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation

Madjedbebe, a prehistoric rock shelter about 180 miles (300 kilometers) east of Darwin in Australia’s Northern Territory, was first investigated by archaeologists in the 1970’s. The scientists discovered hundreds of stone tools at the site and many pieces of red ocher, a soft mineral often used as a pigment (coloring agent). Determining the age of the site, however, proved difficult. Beginning in 2012, archaeologists obtained permission from local Aboriginals to reenter Madjedbebe. The archaeologists then recovered more stone tools and huge amounts of red ocher. The tools included advanced ground-edge stone axes, grindstones for processing seeds, finely made stone spearpoints, and flakes of shiny mica that may have been added to ocher like glitter.

This ancient ground-edge stone axe was recently recovered from Madjedbebe. Credit: © Chris Clarkson, Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation

The scientists at Madjedbebe used a state-of-the-art dating technique called optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) to date the stone tool-bearing sediments. This method determines how long sediments have been buried based on the amount of electrons given off by radioactive elements that become trapped in sediment crystals. The new tests determined the sediments were between 60,000 to 70,000 years old.

Although many archaeologists were excited about the new ancient dates for this site, other scientists raised questions that had not been considered before. In an earlier study, scientists analyzing genetic material from living Aboriginal people suggested that the first humans arrived about 50,000 years ago. The genetic data suggest that the people who inhabited Madjedbebe may have been part of an early migration that was overwhelmed by later arrivals. These later migrants, they argue, are the ancestors to today’s Aboriginal people of Australia, and the earlier arrivals may have died out.

June 1, 2017

Recent studies show that Homo naledi, an intriguing species of prehistoric humans, may have lived far more recently than previously believed. Paleoanthropologists (scientists who study human evolution) say that H. naledi, a primitive hominin (human ancestor) known from a collection of fossils discovered at the Rising Star cave system in South Africa, may have lived at the same time and in the same region as more advanced prehistoric humans. Other new evidence shows that H. naledi may have had remarkably modern cultural practices that are seen among living people today, including funeral customs.

This nearly complete adult Homo naledi skull was found in the Rising Star cave system in South Africa. Credit: © John Hawks, Wits University

Between 2013 and 2017, an international team of excavators recovered more than 1,500 fossilized bones from the Rising Star cave site about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northwest of Johannesburg. The fossils were discovered in two deep cave chambers called Dinaledi and Lesedi (meaning stars and light in the local Lesotho language). Scientists quickly recognized the fossils as belonging to a previously unknown hominin that they named H. naledi. The anatomy of H. naledi shows a brain case less than half the size of that of modern people. The anatomy of the hands and shoulders suggests H. naledi was adept at climbing trees. These primitive characteristics suggest H. naledi lived perhaps 2 million years ago, when the first humanlike creatures appeared in Africa.

The fossilized remains of this Homo naledi skeleton suggest a stature of about 5 feet tall (150 centimeters). Credit: © John Hawks, Wits University

This May, researchers led by geoscientist Paul Dirks of James Cook University in Australia determined the age of the Rising Star cave fossils and their surrounding sediments using a combination of dating techniques. The fossils and sediments were determined to be between about 335,00 and 236,000 years old. These dates are much more recent than most scientists thought possible for such a primitive-appearing hominin.

The scientists who examined the fossils also suggest that the hominins called H. naledi may have intentionally placed their dead at the site—a remarkable behavior not seen among most ancient human ancestors. They point out that the Dinaledi and Lesedi chambers are deep underground and cannot be easily reached from the surface. By studying the sediments in the chambers, scientists could see that the bones had not been washed into the site by floodwaters.

Through studies of the fossil record, scientists know that other hominins lived in Africa and elsewhere at the same time as H. naledi. These archaic humans include Homo heidelbergensis, who were physically different from modern people, yet far more advanced than H. naledi, with larger brains and sophisticated stone tool cultures. However, evidence of intentional burial or other funeral customs is completely unknown from the fossil record of these early hominins.

Scientists contend the discovery of more H. naledi bones in another difficult-to-access part of the cave system supports their hypothesis that these hominins deliberately placed their dead in these locales. Such mortuary behavior was thought to be exclusive to larger-brained Homo sapiens.

In 2017, more H. naledi fossils were excavated from the recently found Lesedi chamber of the Rising Star cave system. The Lesedi chamber has no direct connection to the Dinaledi chamber. The fossil remains of at least three individuals were recovered from Lesedi. The remains include the well-preserved skeleton of a child and an adult male with a nearly complete skull.

Scientists are puzzled by how the remains came to be in the Lesedi part of the cave. The chamber contains almost no other ancient remains. Many of the hominin fossils were discovered undamaged with no evidence of being bitten or chewed by predators. Here too there was no evidence that the bones were washed into the site by floodwaters. If the remains were not intentionally placed there, as the evidence suggests, another possibility is that the hominins somehow became trapped in the cave and died together. If the hominins known as H. naledi did indeed practice funeral customs, they would be the earliest known hominins to do so.

December 28, 2016

On Monday, December 19, U.S. President Barack Obama signed a bill ordering the return of an ancient human skeleton known as Kennewick Man to representatives of local Native American groups for reburial. The order signaled the end of a lengthy legal tug-of-war between archaeologists and Native American groups over the handling of prehistoric graves discovered in the United States.

The exceptionally well-preserved skeleton of Kennewick Man is represented by nearly 300 bones and bone fragments. Credit: © Chip Clark, Smithsonian Institution

Kennewick Man is the name given to an ancient, nearly complete skeleton that was found by two college students on the banks of the Columbia River in south-central Washington in 1996. (Local Native Americans call the skeleton Ancient One.) Thinking it might be the remains of a recent missing person, the students reported their find to law enforcement authorities. Scientists called in to examine the skeleton quickly ended the possibility of a modern murder mystery: they found a stone spearpoint in the skeleton’s right hip. Guessing they were working with an ancient skeleton, the scientists sent a bone sample to a radiocarbon laboratory for dating. The lab results determined that Kennewick Man lived between 8,500 and 9,500 years ago. Armed with these results, the scientists determined that the skeleton was that of a Paleo-Indian. Paleo-Indians were among the earliest people to inhabit the Western Hemisphere.

This clay facial reconstruction of Kennewick Man was sculpted around the features of his skull. The reconstruction lends a deeper understanding of how the Ancient One may have looked some 9,000 years ago. (Sculpted bust of Kennewick Man by StudioEIS based on forensic facial reconstruction by sculptor Amanda Danning.) Credit: © Brittney Tatchell, Smithsonian Institution

Several Native American groups from the area where the skeleton was discovered, including the Yakama, Wanapum, Umatilla, Colville, and Nez Perce peoples, requested that the skeleton be returned for proper reburial. Many Native Americans believe the excavation of burials and analysis of remains to be disrespectful, and that doing so disrupts the spirits of the dead. The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 requires institutions receiving federal money to return human remains and grave items to Native American groups if the groups can prove their “cultural affiliation” to the remains.

For such an ancient skeleton, demonstrating cultural affiliation is difficult. No tools, weapons, clothing, or other artifacts that might help identify Kennewick Man were found with the skeleton. Because the remains were found on federal land, the U.S. Department of the Interior had to decide what to do with them. In 2000, the department determined that Kennewick Man was a Native American and would be returned without further study to the Indian groups that claimed him. A group of archaeologists, however, challenged this decision in court. In 2002, a federal court ruled that the skeleton should not be returned and could be further studied. In 2004, Native American groups ended all attempts to appeal the ruling, allowing scientists to keep the skeleton.

In 2015, however, new genetic evidence proved that Kennewick Man was, in fact, closely related to Native Americans in the Washington region. In 2016, officials from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers acknowledged the cultural affiliation of Kennewick Man. The bill signed by President Obama in December orders the skeleton to be transferred to state archaeologists in Washington. They will work with local Native American nations, who will rebury the remains according to traditional customs within 90 days. The Ancient One will soon finally rest in peace at home.

November 16, 2016

A brief call of nature recently led an Aboriginal man to discover a site preserving some of the oldest known evidence of human settlement in Australia. Clifford Coulthard, an Adnyamathanha elder, stumbled across a rock shelter during a brief bathroom break while surveying in the northern Flinders Range with archaeologist Giles Hamm of La Trobe University in Melbourne. The Adnyamathanha are the Aboriginal people of Australia native to the Flinders Range of South Australia. Subsequent excavations at the rock shelter, called Warratyi, unearthed ancient tools, bones, and other artifacts that are dated to about 49,000 years ago–only about 1,000 years after the first humans arrived in Australia.

The Warratyi rock shelter lies in the desert landscape of South Australia’s Flinders Range. Credit: © Giles Hamm, La Trobe University

Warratyi sits above a desert landscape crossed with deep gorges about 340 miles (550 kilometers) north of Adelaide. In prehistoric times, the rock shelter offered protection from the wind, heat, and cold, as well as a commanding view of the once-stream-filled landscape below. Archaeologists excavated some 4,300 stone artifacts and hundreds of animal bones, emu egg shells, and other materials from layers deep within the site. They estimate that people occupied Warratyi on and off for about 40,000 years, finally abandoning the site about 10,000 years ago when conditions became impossibly dry.

One sharpened bone tool from Warratyi, called a uni point, was used to hunt big game. Archaeologists also excavated bones from a Diprotodon—a prehistoric giant wombat that was the largest marsupial that ever lived. Many archaeologists believe these animals and other Australian megafauna (giant animals) became extinct because of hunting by early humans. Some tools bore tiny bits of feathers as well as red ocher and white gypsum, two common minerals that were used as pigments (coloring materials) by Aboriginal people. Archaeologists believe the tools were decorated and perhaps used for ceremonial purposes.

Archaeologists know that the ancestors of today’s Aboriginal people arrived in Australia at least 50,000 years ago. Scientists believe that these first people came by boat from Southeast Asia, the closest land that was inhabited by human beings at that time. Archaeologists have long thought that the first people to arrive likely lived along the forested and well-watered coast where resources were abundant. Archaeologists believed the dry southern interior of Australia was too inhospitable for these early people. They thought the people of 50,000 years ago could not have survived in regions such as the Flinders Range because they did not yet have the technology to survive the challenging environment. The Warratyi rock shelter, however, proves that Australia’s earliest humans were capable explorers who could quickly adapt even to the harsh conditions of the continent’s arid interior.

September 12, 2014

Recent studies done at Stonehenge uncovered buried features of which modern scholars had been unaware. (© Bryan Busovicki, Shutterstock)

European researchers have been using ground-penetrating radar and other advanced imaging techniques to “see” underground and map the landscape surrounding Stonehenge in unprecedented detail. This work has revealed long-buried features showing that the iconic megalithic monument (structure made of large stones by prehistoric people) was part of a much larger ceremonial center. The investigation, led by scientists from universities in the United Kingdom and Austria, revealed hidden features belonging to as many as 60 other prehistoric structures surrounding the site. These features include 17 small henge-like shrines, 20 burial pits, and 4 burial mounds over an area of more than 4.5 square miles (11.6 square kilometers). The new findings from the four-year survey will allow researchers to reconstruct how Stonehenge, built in 3100 B.C., was used by ancient peoples for the next 1,500 years; the site was abandoned in about 1600 B.C.

Stonehenge was probably used as a ceremonial gathering place and a religious center. It was built and used between about 3100 and 1600 B.C. The drawing shows what scholars believe was the original arrangement of the monument’s huge stones. (Aerofilms)

Stonehenge, on the Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, southwestern England, consists of huge, rough-cut stones set in a circle. A huge circle of dark volcanic bluestones, weighing up to 4 tons (3.6 metric tons), is surrounded by a ring of huge gray sandstones, weighing up to 25 tons (23 metric tons) and standing up to 13¹/2 feet (4.1 meters) tall. The outer circle surrounding the bluestones measures 108 feet (33 meters) in diameter. Its center contained five archlike stone settings, called trilithons (two large stone posts set vertically, with a horizontal stone set across the top.) There was also a large altar stone at the center. A paved avenue once connected the site to the nearby Avon River. A similar avenue runs from the river to Durrington Walls, a large monument about 2 miles (3 kilometers) from Stonehenge.

The survey discovered underground traces of some 60 huge stones pillars up to 9-feet (3-meters) long beneath the mounds at Durrington Walls. These stones were arranged into an enormous henge (circle) nearly 1 mile (1.5 kilometers) in diameter. This “super henge” dwarfs the stone circle at Stonehenge and is the largest megalithic monument of its kind in the world. Ground-penetrating radar images of one of the mounds at Stonehenge revealed remains of a timber building over 100-feet (33-meters) long that was probably used for funeral rites.

The modern underground survey and mapping techniques demonstrate that scholars still have much to learn about Stonehenge and surrounding ancient sites. Scientists think that the Stonehenge and Durrington Walls formed a huge complex of temples, shrines, burial sites, and processional walkways that were used together for religious ceremonies.

Additional World Book articles:

• Funeral customs
• Prehistoric people

September 2, 2014

Present-day Inuit people have virtually no genetic relationship with the earliest populations to inhabit the region, a surprising study of genetic material from prehistoric and modern Arctic peoples have shown. The analysis was conducted by scientists at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. Archaeologists use the term Paleo-Eskimo to describe the earliest Arctic peoples who migrated into Arctic North America about 4,000 years ago. Many scientists assumed that these Paleo-Eskimos contributed to the ancestry of modern Inuit people as they were assimilated into Inuit society through intermarriage. However, genetic and archaeological evidence now strongly indicates that although Inuit ancestors and Pale-Eskimos shared the territory for a time, intermarriage and interbreeding was rare if it occurred at all.

The earliest Paleo-Eskimo people are called the Saqqaqs by archaeologists. They lived in small bands that hunted seal and caribou in the region beginning more than 4,000 years ago. The Tuniit people followed the Saqqaqs into Arctic North America in a series of migrations from across the Bering Strait. The Inuit refer to  the people who inhabited the Arctic before they arrived as the Tunitt. Archaeologists refer to the Tuniit as the Dorset culture. The Tuniit/Dorset people hunted seals, walruses, and narwhals. They spread across Canada to Greenland by about 500 B.C. But the Tuniit/Dorset people disappeared soon after another new culture called the Thule spread across the region about 1,000 years ago. The Thule people lived in villages. Whaling was the cornerstone of their culture. They also hunted on land with dog sleds and bow and arrow. By about 1700, the Thule culture had become the modern Inuit culture.

An Inuk fisher uses a pronged spear called a leister to catch his fish. Recent studies have revealed that modern Inuit are not related to the earliest inhabitants of Arctic North America. © Bryan & Cherry Alexander, Photo Researchers

In their study, the University of Copenhagen scientists collected bone, teeth, and hair samples from the preserved bodies of 169 ancient Paleo-Eskimo bodies from North America. The scientists isolated DNA from these samples and compared it to genomes sequenced from living Inuit and other Native American peoples. Native American groups are often reluctant to provide biological samples for genetic studies, but special tribal permission was given for this study.

The scientists found that the Paleo-Eskimo DNA samples were remarkably similar to each other yet genetically distinct from modern Inuit. The high degree of similarity in Paleo-Eskimo DNA suggests their populations were quite small. Over thousands of years, Paleo-Eskimo groups, each perhaps no more than 50 related individuals, spread out across the vast Arctic expanse. However, they apparently did not  interact with the Thule once they migrated into the region. The Paleo-Eskimos disappear from the archaeological record within a period of perhaps decades after the first Thule arrival. The abrupt disappearance of the Tuniit/Dorset people soon after this event remains mysterious. Archaeologists have not found any evidence of violent conflicts between Tuniit and the newly-arrived Thule. Some researchers suspect that the technologically advanced Thule may simply have out-competed the Paleo-Eskimo cultures in the rugged environment and pushed them towards extinction.