Scientists found a previously unidentified genetic lineage among ancient hunter-gatherers from Colombia’s Bogotá Altiplano. The study does not prove that no living person shares ancestry with those people: “no known living population” means the lineage was not identified in the ancient and present-day populations included in the researchers’ comparisons.
What did the study find?
A 2025 study in Science Advances reports genome-wide data from 21 people who lived in Colombia’s Bogotá Altiplano over a span of roughly 6,000 to 500 years ago. In the oldest samples, associated with preceramic hunter-gatherers, the authors identified what they describe as a previously unknown basal lineage deriving from the initial South American radiation.
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In the authors’ words, “We reveal that preceramic hunter-gatherers represent a previously unknown basal lineage that derives from the initial South American radiation.” Here, “basal” describes the lineage’s position in the genetic relationships inferred by the study. It does not mean the people were a different human species, nor does it mean they were the direct ancestors of every later population in the region. Read the paper in Science Advances.
Where were the oldest remains found?
The oldest sampled group is associated with Checua, an archaeological site near Nemocón in Colombia’s Cundinamarca department. The National University of Colombia’s account identifies Nemocón as the municipality where the site is located. Read the university’s research account.
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What does “no known living population share their DNA” mean?
It is a statement about the comparison available to researchers, not an absolute verdict about every person alive today. The ancient genomes did not match a known living population as a distinct lineage in the comparisons reported by the authors. The finding does not show that no living person carries any ancestry related to the ancient group.
That distinction matters because genetic studies compare sampled remains with reference datasets. A lineage can be absent as a separately recognizable signal in those comparisons even if related ancestry persists in a population that has not been sampled, or has been mixed into other groups over generations. The available reporting does not establish whether descendants of this lineage are present among unsampled living populations.
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Does the lineage’s apparent disappearance tell us what happened to the people?
No. A lineage that is no longer detectable as a distinct group in the available comparisons does not, by itself, explain the fate of the people who carried it. The Associated Press reported that researchers are unsure whether they mixed into another group or were displaced. Outside archaeologist Andre Luiz Campelo dos Santos, who was not involved in the study, called the result “unexpected.” He said additional genetic data from South America could help test whether descendants are present elsewhere. Read the Associated Press report.
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What the finding does—and does not—establish
- Established: The study reports genome-wide data from 21 people in the Bogotá Altiplano spanning approximately 6,000 to 500 years ago, and identifies a previously unknown basal lineage among preceramic hunter-gatherers in its analyses.
- Not established: That the ancient people belonged to a separate species, that all their descendants vanished, or that no living person has any ancestry connected to them.
- Still unresolved: Whether the group mixed with other populations, was displaced, or left descendants whose ancestry is not yet identifiable in the populations studied.
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