The Oldest Modern Human DNA Found In 7,000 Year Old Cavemen Bones

The skeleton of an ancient caveman dubbed Brana 1
yielded the oldest DNA found in a modern human.

Scientists have recently extracted the oldest human genome fragments from remains found in a cavern located in the Cantabrian Mountain Range in northern Spain. Until this discovery, Otzi the Iceman was the oldest at 5,300 years but the Cantabrian skeletons clocked in at 7,000 years old. An even more fascinating discovery is that they appear to not be related to people currently living in the region:

Analyses revealed that current populations of the Iberian Peninsula, which includes Spain, Portugal and Andorra, are not genetically linked with these ancient hunter-gatherers. Instead, these cavemen were closer genetically to the current populations of northern Europe.

The remains of two cavemen, yielding the oldest DNA yet of modern humans, were discovered at La Brana Aritero site in Leon, Spain.

Though older remains have been found with mitochondrial DNA, this finding is still significant because this is dealing with nuclear DNA, which is from both parents rather than just the mother. Read more about this find here.