SCIENCE IN THE NEWS DAILY

Ancient Iceman Has No Modern Kin

from the Scientist (Registration Required)

The 5,000-year-old mummy Öetzi, found in a glacier in the European alps 17 years ago and believed to be an ancestor of modern Europeans, actually belonged to a different genetic family and may have no living descendants, researchers report in Current Biology.

The researchers sequenced mitochondrial DNA extracted from Öetzi's intestines, offering the oldest complete mtDNA sequence of modern humans.

"We sort of assume when we look at populations today we see representations of [ancient populations] as well," Joanna Mountain an anthropological geneticist at Stanford University who was not involved in the study, told The Scientist. The current study, she said, "counters that thinking."