6,000-Year-Old Skeletons With Mysterious DNA May Change What We Know About Human History

Archaeologists have made an incredible discovery—skeletons that are 6,000 years old, containing DNA so unique it might completely shift how we understand human history.

It’s not often that something comes along which could force scientists to rethink long-held beliefs about where we came from and how ancient civilizations lived.

But that’s exactly what this new finding could do.

According to a group of researchers, skeletal remains from ancient hunter-gatherers found in Checua, Colombia, contain DNA that doesn’t match any known Indigenous population in that part of the world today.

This preceramic archaeological site holds human remains that show evidence of a completely extinct lineage. Scientists believe this could be a vital clue in figuring out how some of the earliest humans moved into South America.

The DNA studied, which comes from the Bogotá Altiplano population, dates back between 6,000 and 500 years ago. Thanks to the 21 individuals examined, scientists were able to map out a unique and rare genetic timeline.

Researchers found early humans at the ancient preceramic site of Checua Jordi Salas / Getty

By extracting DNA from the teeth and bones of these remains, the team discovered that the oldest individuals at the Checua site carried an ancestral DNA pattern that doesn’t seem to exist in the world anymore.

Lead author Kim-Louise Krettek, a PhD student at the Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution in Germany, explained: "This area is key to understanding how the Americas were populated."

"It was the land bridge between North and South America and the meeting point of three major cultural regions: Mesoamerica, Amazonia, and the Andes."

The genetic breakdown shows that these early people from the region had no close ties to other ancient populations in South America or North America.

Krettek elaborated on this by saying: "Our results show that the Checua individuals derive from the earliest population that spread and differentiated across South America very rapidly."

She continued: "We couldn't find descendants of these early hunter-gatherers of the Colombian high plains, the genes were not passed on."

"That means in the area around Bogotá there was a complete exchange of the population."

The study also found that roughly 2,000 years ago, something changed dramatically in the Bogotá highlands.

A shift in the DNA suggests that the Checua people may have disappeared and were later replaced by a new population entirely.

The Checua people share no DNA with anyone else Ana Maria Groot/Universidad Nacional de Colombia

This newer group showed strong genetic similarities to ancient populations in Panama, as well as with modern Chibchan-speaking communities in Costa Rica and Panama. However, what caused the disappearance of the original Checua group is still a mystery.

Krettek suggested they may have interbred or migrated elsewhere, which may have diluted their genetic identity. There’s no evidence of war or violent displacement that would explain the complete disappearance.

Co-author Andrea Casas-Vargas from Universidad Nacional de Colombia added: "In addition to technological developments such as ceramics, the people of this second migration probably also brought the Chibchan languages into what is present-day Colombia. Branches of this language family are still spoken in Central America today."

"That genetic traces of the original population disappear completely is unusual, especially in South America." Casas-Vargas emphasized.

However, since regions like western Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador have not been studied genetically yet, researchers still lack a full picture of how these early populations may have moved or evolved.

Krettek added: "Ancient DNA from those areas will be crucial in understanding how humans migrated into South America."

This fascinating research, which was just published in the journal Science Advances, examined genetic material from five separate archaeological sites. And what they found is groundbreaking.

Senior study author Professor Cosimo Posth from the University of Tübingen shared with Phys Org: "These are the first ancient human genomes from Colombia ever to be published."