'Oldest' Human DNA Reveals Mystery

Man’s evolutionary timeline just a lot more complicated. The oldest known human DNA found yet shows there may have been another, formerly unknown, human ancestor. Scientists found the 400,000-year-old DNA in the fossilized thighbone of an early hominid from the “bone pit” at Sima de los Huesos, a unique cave site in Northern Spain. The DNA is four times older than previously discovered samples. This particular sample’s DNA, mitochondria or mtDNA, a small part of the genome that is...

© La Voix de l'Amérique - jeudi 5 décembre 2013