Scientists identify 34,000-year-old Early East Asian of mixed Eurasian descent
科學家們確定了，屬混血之歐亞人後代，3萬4千年前的早期東亞人。
In a new study, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany and the Mongolian Academy of Sciences present an analysis of the genome of the oldest human fossil found in Mongolia to date.
在一項新研究中，德國馬克斯普朗克演化人類學研究所，及蒙古科學院的研究人員們提出了一項，迄今有關在蒙古發現之最古老人類化石的基因體分析。
They show that the 34,000-year-old female inherited around 25 percent of her DNA from western Eurasians, demonstrating that people moved across the Eurasian continent shortly after it had first been settled by the ancestors of present-day populations.
他們指出，這名3萬4千年前的女性，從西方歐亞人遺傳了大約25％其DNA。證實人們，在當今族群的祖先，首度定居歐亞大陸後不久，遷徙橫越了歐亞大陸。
The study also shows that this individual as well as a 40,000-year-old individual from China carried DNA from Denisovans, an extinct form of hominins that inhabited Asia before modern humans arrived.
該項研究也證實，除了來自中國一具4萬年前的個體之外，此個體也具有源自丹尼索瓦人的DNA。丹尼索瓦人是在現代人類到來之前，存在於亞洲之諸多人族中，一個已滅絕的人種。
圖1. 在蒙古東部索爾基特山谷所發現，屬於一具活在3萬4千年前的女性頭頂骨。分析顯示：她從西部的歐亞人遺傳了大約25％其DNA。 (圖援用自原)
In 2006, miners discovered a hominin skullcap with peculiar morphological features in the Salkhit Valley of the Norovlin county in eastern Mongolia. It was initially referred to as Mongolanthropus and thought to be a Neandertal or even a Homo erectus. The remains of the “Salkhit” individual represent the only Pleistocene hominin fossil found in the country.
於2006年，在蒙古東部，諾羅夫林縣的索爾基特山谷中，數名礦工發現了一個，具有獨特形態特徵的人族頭頂骨。最初被稱為Mongolanthropus(蒙古人種)，且被認為是尼安德塔人，甚至是直立人。此“薩爾基特”個體的遺骨代表了，在此地區被發現的唯一更新世人族化石。
Ancient DNA extracted from the skullcap shows that it belonged to a female modern human who lived 34,000 ago and was more related to Asians than to Europeans. Comparisons to the only other early East Asian individual genetically studied to date, a 40,000-year-old male from Tianyuan Cave outside Beijing (China), show that the two individuals are related to each other.
來自此頭頂骨的遠古DNA顯示，它屬於一具，活在3萬4千年前的現代人類女性，且與亞洲人比與歐洲人更有血緣關係。迄今諸多與僅有之另一具早期東亞個體(來自中國北京郊外天元洞穴，一具4萬年前的男性)的遺傳研究比較，顯示這兩個體彼此有血緣關係。
However, they differ insofar that a quarter of the ancestry of the Salkhit individual derived from western Eurasians, probably via admixture with ancient Siberians.
不過，她們不同到，索爾基特個體的血統，四分之一源自西方歐亞人的程度。這可能經由與遠古西伯利亞人的混血。
“This is direct evidence that modern human communities in East Asia were already quite cosmopolitan earlier than 34,000 years ago“, says Diyendo Massilani, lead author of the study and researcher at the Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. “This rare specimen shows that migration and interactions among populations across Eurasia happened frequently already some 35,000 years ago“.
該項研究首要撰文人，馬克斯普朗克演化人類學研究所研究員，Diyendo Massilani宣稱：「這是於東亞，現代人類群落早在3萬4千年前，已經十分廣布的直接證據。此罕見的樣本證實，大約3萬5千年前，諸多族群之間橫越歐亞的遷徙及互動，已經頻繁發生。」
The researchers used a new method developed at the Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology to find segments of DNA from extinct hominins in the Salkhit and Tianyuan genomes. They found that the two genomes contain not only Neandertal DNA but also DNA from Denisovans, an elusive Asian relative of Neandertals.
此些研究人員使用了，在馬克斯普朗克演化人類學研究所，開發的一種新方法，從在索爾基特山谷及天元洞穴，已經滅絕之人族基因體中，找尋DNA片段。他們發現，這兩基因體不僅具有尼安德塔人的DNA，而且具有來自丹尼索瓦人的DNA。丹尼索瓦人是尼安德塔人，於亞洲令人困惑的一個同族。
“It is fascinating to see that the ancestors of the oldest humans in East Asia from whom we have been able to obtain genetic data had already mixed with Denisovans, an extinct form of hominins that has contributed ancestry to present-day populations in Asia and Oceania”, says Byambaa Gunchinsuren, a researcher at the Institute of Archaeology of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences. “This is direct evidence that Denisovans and modern humans had met and mixed more than 40,000 years ago“.
蒙古科學院考古學研究所研究員，Byambaa Gunchinsuren宣稱：「從咱們已經能獲得遺傳數據的人中，發現於東亞最古老人類的祖先，已經與丹尼索瓦人(這是曾經將血統提供給，在亞洲及大洋洲之當今族群的一個已滅絕人種)混血，這是吸引人的。這是丹尼索瓦人與現代人類，4萬多年前已經相逢且混血的直接證明。」
“Interestingly, the Denisovan DNA fragments in these very old East Asians overlap with Denisovan DNA fragments in the genomes of present-day populations in East Asia but not with Denisovan DNA fragments in Oceanians. This supports a model of multiple independent mixture events between Denisovans and modern humans“, says Massilani.
Massilani宣稱：「引人好奇的是，在這些極古老東亞人中，丹尼索瓦人的DNA片段，與當今東亞族群基因體中，丹尼索瓦人的DNA片段重疊，而與大洋洲中，丹尼索瓦人的DNA片段卻沒有重疊。這支持了一種，在丹尼索瓦人與現代人類間，有多個獨立混血事件的模型。」
原文網址：https://www.mpg.de/15938812/1026-evan-019609-denisovan-dna-in-the-genome-of-early-east-asians
翻譯：許東榮
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