Ancient African genome reveals the complexity of human migration

The analysis of a genome from an ancient Ethiopian specimen was published today in Science. The DNA came from the inner ear bone of an ancient hunter gatherer man nicknamed Mota, who lived about 4,500 years ago in the Ethiopian highlands.

Comparison of 250 bp of his genome with other human sequences reveals that Mota is most similar to individuals of the Ari ethnic group. The sequences where Mota and the Ari differ, however, contain DNA shared with Europeans. This suggests that a large group of Middle Eastern farmers migrated into Africa about 3,000 to 3,500 years ago, where they passed on the DNA that links Europeans with living Africans.