An artist’s interpretation of the LRJ people, who lived across northern Europe about 45,000 years ago. DNA reveals they were closely related to all living non-Africans.Credit...Tom Björklund
The New York Times' Origins column has an article about a group of early humans. Around 45,000 years ago, a small group of people, likely fewer than 1,000, lived on the icy edges of Europe, hunting large game such as woolly rhinoceroses. This group is identified as the LRJ culture. They are believed to have migrated from Africa approximately 47,000 years ago, significantly later than other groups that had already dispersed to more distant regions like Asia and Australia. A recent study published in Nature analyzed the genomes of seven LRJ individuals from fossils discovered in Germany and the Czech Republic. These genomes are the oldest genetic samples of modern humans identified to date.
Dr. Prüfer and his colleagues found that the LRJ people lacked some key mutations found in living Europeans. They did not have the genes that produce pale skin, for example, which suggests that they had dark pigmentation, as their ancestors who emerged from Africa did.
The scientists also used the genomes to figure out where the LRJ people fit on the human family tree. Previous studies had established that human ancestors evolved for millions of years in Africa. About 600,000 years ago, the ancestors of Neanderthals split off on their own. They spread through the Middle East and established themselves across Europe and western Asia. Neanderthals endured for hundreds of thousands of years, disappearing from the fossil record about 40,000 years ago.
Modern humans remained longer in Africa before expanding to other continents. When they met Neanderthals, possibly in the Middle East, they interbred. Today, all humans around the world carry at least a trace of Neanderthal DNA.