Ancient Human DNA Provides New Look at African History

Genomic information from four children who lived thousands of years ago in what is now Cameroon could shed light on the spread of the Bantu languages and on the history of present-day African populations.

Written byJef Akst

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ABOVE: Excavation of two boys who lived ~8,000 years and were buried at the Shum Laka rock shelter in Cameroon
PHOTO BY ISABELLE RIBOT, JANUARY 1994

Two pairs of children, who were buried in an ancient rock shelter known as Shum Laka in northwestern Cameroon some 3,000 and 8,000 years ago, have yielded the first ancient human genomic data from the region, where the hot and humid climate has limited the amount of ancient DNA that has survived to see modern sequencers. The results, published today (January 22) in Nature, generated several unexpected conclusions. For one, traditional hunter-gatherer people known as pygmies likely had an expansive range before the explosion of Bantu-speaking groups 3,000 years ago, and for another, modern African groups represent one of the most ancient surviving lineages, dating back to nearly a quarter of a million years ago.

Using samples taken from the inner ear bones of the ...

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Meet the Author

Jef Akst
Jef (an unusual nickname for Jennifer) got her master’s degree from Indiana University in April 2009 studying the mating behavior of seahorses. After four years of diving off the Gulf Coast of Tampa and performing behavioral experiments at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, she left research to pursue a career in science writing. As The Scientist's managing editor, Jef edited features and oversaw the production of the TS Digest and quarterly print magazine. In 2022, her feature on uterus transplantation earned first place in the trade category of the Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. She is a member of the National Association of Science Writers.
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