Scientists decode "previously undocumented" human, wolf ancestry from Georgian archaeology site findings
International expeditions at the site between 2012-2017 unearthed material examined by the group of authors of the latest study. Photo via Georgian National Museum.
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An international team of scientists has successfully sequenced genome data of three mammals including a human from skeletal remains discovered in Georgia's west, revealing "previously undocumented" ancestral lineages.
Unearthed from the Satsurblia Cave in the Tskaltubo Municipality between 2012-2017, the remains had been subjected to long studies that eventually yielded data using "shotgun" method of sequencing, giving the professionals information on Pleistocene-era sediments.
Among the key findings is a pre-Last Glacial Maximum lineage of humans - "an ancestral component of West Eurasia" - from around 25,000 years ago. The studies have also pointed to a wolf genome "basal to extant Eurasian wolves and dogs" and also previously unknown to scientists.
⛏️????⚗️ The year 2021 is being a fantastic soil and environmental DNA year in paleogenomics!. I am so excited to have contributed to this story!
— Pere Gelabert (@peregx9) July 12, 2021
checkout our new publication about Satsurblia cave genomics! ????????????????https://t.co/DVbLl8N06n
Finally, a genome of a "European bison" that served as a basis for present-day populations of the animal was also retrieved in the work that highlighted the capacity of the shotgun sequencing to "yield genome-wide data informative of ancestry and phylogenetic relationships".
Our results provide new insights into the Late Pleistocene genetic histories of these three species
- authors of the study
The results were identified from six samples of soil extracted by the professionals with a prospect of finding genomic traces. The resulting discoveries showed fragmented data that was combined to eventually present a full picture on the subjects.
Published in Current Biology journal last week, the study is submitted by a group of authors including Georgia's David Lordkipanidze, Nino Jakeli and Tengiz Meshveliani, the latter the head of the five-year interdisciplinary expedition on the site exploring Stone Age materials in present-day Tskaltubo.
The karstic Satsurblia Cave was discovered in Georgia in 1975. Located 270 metres above sea level, the 130 metre-long cave features a base of 1950 square metres, with over 320 skeletal pieces recovered from its soil.