University of California researchers identify unknown archaic human DNA

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have identified traces of an unknown archaic human lineage within modern DNA. A study published in Science, analyzing 503 genomes, revealed that individuals from five diverse groups—including British, Han Chinese, Telugu from India, Yoruba from West Africa, and Luhya from East Africa—carry between 0.49% and 1.1% of DNA that does not match Neanderthals or Denisovans.

Because no fossil remains or ancient genomes exist for this mysterious population, researchers could not use direct comparison. Instead, they developed a method called TRACE (Tracking Archaic Contributions via ARG Estimation). This technique reconstructs genealogical relationships across the genome to identify unusually ancient segments resulting from interbreeding. The findings suggest this unknown population encountered and reproduced with the ancestors of Homo sapiens in Africa prior to the major human expansion out of the continent.