DNA is present in every living thing, including humans. It carries our genetic information, passing our traits onto the next generation. It also allows us to trace our origins down to our earliest ancestors.

It also works the other way. By analyzing the DNA of ancient humans and prehumans and comparing it with ours, we are able to discover more accurate information about our origins. The following are but some of the many things science has learned from studying ancient DNA.

10 Humans Are Descended From A Single Man And Woman

According to the Holy Bible, every human is a descendant of Adam and Eve, the first humans to ever live on Earth. Science partly backs this theory, albeit with some interesting differences. First, the scientific versions of Adam and Eve were not the first humans ever. Second, we’re not their direct offspring. Instead, every man is descended from the man, and every woman is descended from the woman.

Scientists call the man “Y-chromosome Adam” and the woman “mitochondrial Eve.” Y-chromosome Adam lived in Africa sometime between 125,000 and 156,000 years ago. Mitochondrial Eve lived in East Africa sometime between 99,000 and 148,000 years ago. Unlike the biblical Adam and Eve, it is unlikely that Y chromosome Adam and mitochondrial Eve ever met, although they could have been alive at the same time.

Scientists concluded that Y-chromosome Adam was the ancestor of all men after sequencing the Y chromosome of 69 men from seven different ethnic groups. For mitochondrial Eve, they tested the mitochondrial DNA from the 69 men as well as 24 other women. However, the timeline for Y-chromosome Adam is debated, since other studies have concluded that he could have lived between 180,000 and 200,000 years ago or even from 237,000 to 581,000 years ago.^[1]

9 Different Species Of Early Humans Interbred

In 2012, archaeologists unearthed a bone fragment from Denisova Cave in Siberia. The bone was part of the shin or thigh of an ancient human they named Denisova 11. DNA tests subsquently revealed that Denisova 11 was female, lived around 50,000 years ago, and was over 13 years old at the time she died. She was also a hybrid of two species of early humans: the Neanderthal and the Denisovan.

Denisova 11’s father was a Denisovan, and her mother was a Neanderthal. Interestingly, Denisova 11’s father was also a descendant of a Neanderthal-Denisovan hybrid. However, unlike his daughter, who was a direct descendant, his hybrid ancestor lived between 300 and 600 generations before him.

Scientists know Denisovans and Neanderthals separated 390,000 years ago. However, they never knew they interbred prior to this discovery. DNA tests also indicated that Denisova 11’s Neanderthal mother was more closely related to Western European Neanderthals than to a Neanderthal that had lived in Denisova Cave at an earlier point in prehistory.^[2]

8 Tibetans Are Descendants Of The Denisovans

Speaking of interbreeding, DNA tests have proven that Tibetans are descendants of the Denisovans. This does not mean Tibetans are Denisovans; they are Homo sapiens. One of their Homo sapien ancestors just happened to mate with a Denisovan.

Scientists discovered this when they compared the genomes extracted from Denisova 11 with the genomes of 40 Tibetans. They discovered that the Tibetan EPAS1 gene was similar to Denisova 11’s EPAS1 gene. The EPAS1 is found in all humans. It is responsible for managing our body’s natural response in low-oxygen environments.

Our bodies naturally produce more hemoglobin to transport oxygen to our tissues when there is not enough oxygen. While this ensures our survival, it also puts us at risk of heart problems. However, Tibetans have a mutated EPAS1 gene. Their bodies do not produce more hemoglobin when short of oxygen. This is why they are able to live at high altitudes, where oxygen is low.

Scientists suspect the ancestors of the Tibetans got the gene when one of them mated with a Denisovan between 30,000 and 40,000 years ago. However, scientists have not confirmed whether the mutated EPAS1 gene also allowed the Denisovans to cope at high altitudes as it does for the Tibetans.^[3]

7 The First Brits Were Black

In 1903, scientists uncovered the 10,000-year-old remains of a British man in a cave in Cheddar Gorge, Somerset, England. A 2018 DNA analysis of the man, who they call the Cheddar man, revealed that he had either dark brown or black skin, with curly black hair and blue eyes.

Considering that he is the oldest complete human skeleton ever found in Britain, this means the earliest Brits were black. Interestingly, in the 1990s, Professor Brian Sykes of Oxford University tested 20 people in Cheddar village and compared their DNA with that of Cheddar man. He discovered that two people were descendants of Cheddar Man.^[4]

6 King Richard III Of England Was A Hunchback

In 2012, archaeologists from the University of Leicester started digging at a car park in Leicester. The parking lot was the site of the former church of the Greyfriars, where King Richard III was supposedly buried. They found the remains of the monarch there, making Richard III famous for being the king whose remains were found under a car park.

Scientists confirmed that the skeleton truly belonged to the king when they tested its DNA against that of a living relative. The skull also had damage which matched fatal head injuries King Richard III sustained during the Battle of Bosworth. They also found something else. His spine was curved. This meant that the king truly was a hunchback—a fact historians had deliberated on for years.^[5]

5 King Tut’s Parents Were Siblings

King Tutankhamun remains one of the most famous pharaohs to rule over Egypt. He started ruling when he was just ten and died around 1324 BC, when he was just 19. Archaeologists excavated his tomb in 1922. Surprisingly, they found it intact—complete with precious stones including gold.

Physical analysis of King Tut’s remains showed that the king did not enjoy his short life. His left leg was deformed, forcing him to walk around with a cane. In fact, 130 canes were found in his tomb. Further DNA analysis showed that his deformed leg was the result of inbreeding. He also suffered from a bout of malaria, which would have stopped the deformed leg from healing.

DNA tests revealed that King Tut’s father was Akhenaten, the son of Amenhotep III (King Tut’s grandfather). DNA tests also showed that King Tut’s mother was also a daughter of Amenhotep III. This would make King Tut’s father and mother siblings. Some historians believe his mother was Queen Nefertiti, although this has been challenged because she was not related to Akhenaten.^[6]

4 The Clovis People Were Not The First To Settle In America

The Clovis people are believed to be the first settlers of America. They reached North America 13,000 years ago, moved to South America 11,000 years ago, and disappeared 9,000 years ago. However, in 2018, DNA tests on ancient humans revealed that the Clovis culture were not the first people to settle in the the Americas.

While DNA from ancient humans found in North America proves that the Clovis people lived in North America 12,800 years ago, it is a different story in South America. DNA tests conducted on the remains of 49 ancient South American people show that the Clovis people first appeared in South America 11,000 years ago.

Interestingly, archaeologists already have evidence that some unidentified culture lived in Monte Verde, Chile, 14,500 years ago. A 12,800-year-old set of human remains found in South America is believed to have belonged to this tribe, since it does not share DNA with Clovis people.

The oldest DNA evidence scientists have to prove that the Clovis people ever settled in South America was taken from an 11,000-year-old human. Scientists are unsure about the relationship between the Clovis people and this strange tribe. However, they are sure the unidentified tribe really existed, because today’s South Americans do not share DNA with the Clovis people.^[7]

3 Columbus Did Not Introduce Tuberculosis To The Americas

It is often said that Christopher Columbus’s voyage introduced several deadly diseases, including tuberculosis, to the Americas in the late 15th century. These diseases ended up killing 90 percent of the Native American population. However, DNA tests tell otherwise. Seals introduced tuberculosis to the Americas long before Columbus arrived.

Scientists made this discovery when they analyzed three sets of human remains from Peru. The people are believed to have died 1,000 years ago—500 years before the arrival of Columbus. DNA tests revealed the strain of TB they had is closest to the strain found in infected seals and sea lions.

Europe, Asia, and Africa were experiencing deadly tuberculosis epidemics at the time the Peruvians died. Scientists suspect seals and sea lions somehow got infected during one of the epidemics in Africa and unwittingly took it along when they migrated to the Americas. The Peruvian natives contracted the mutated strain of tuberculosis when they hunted the seals and sea lions for food.

This does not mean that Columbus and his men were completely innocent, however. For all we know, they probably still introduced the deadlier European tuberculosis to the Americas. The tuberculosis in America today is of European origin.^[8]

2 Descendants Of The Vikings Are At Risk Of Emphysema

A 2016 paper by researchers led by the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine revealed that Viking descendants have a higher-than-usual risk of developing a serious lung problem called emphysema. Normally, smokers are the likeliest to suffer from emphysema.

Analysis of a Viking-era latrine in Denmark showed that the Vikings suffered from worms so much that their alpha-1-antitrypsin (A1AT) inhibitor gene mutated to stop the enzymes of the worms. The human body naturally produces inhibitors (including A1AT) to stop powerful enzymes secreted in our bodies from digesting our organs.

However, for the Vikings and their descendants, the A1AT inhibitor’s increased ability to deal with the enzymes secreted by the worms also decreased its ability to stop the enzymes secreted in their bodies from digesting their organs.

Today, the mutated A1AT inhibitor is useless, since we now have drugs to deal with worms. But DNA tests show that the descendants of the Vikings still have the mutated inhibitor. This means the descendants of the Vikings are left to cope with their bodies’ inability to deal with their own enzymes, leading to lung diseases.^[9]

1 Malaria Contributed To The Fall Of Ancient Rome

Researchers have always suspected that malaria contributed to the fall of ancient Rome. However, they have now confirmed that malaria did indeed plague ancient Rome and contributed to its demise. Scientists made this discovery in 2011 when they analyzed the remains of 47 babies and toddlers excavated from an ancient Roman villa in Lugnano, Italy.

The oldest of the children of Lugnano, as they are called, was just three years old. All died and were buried around the same time. More than half died before they were born. They were victims of one of a series of malaria plagues that ravaged ancient Rome and stopped farmers from going to their farms. However, the worst-hit was the army, which couldn’t mass enough soldiers to repel foreign invaders.^[10]

The first and last royal family of Russia was the Romanovs. Tsar Nicholas II had four daughters and one son. His daughters were Anastasia Nikolaevna, Olga Nikolaevna, Tatiana Nikolaevna, and Maria Nikolaevna. His son was Alexei Nikolaevich.

The absolute rulers of Russia took the throne in 1613 and left the throne in 1917. Since this powerful family ruled for three centuries, this time in history is now called the Romanov dynasty.

The imperial family had an extensive line of relatives who could take control of the throne. In 1918, after the Bolsheviks killed off the Romanovs, speculations began to rise. People started spreading rumors that not all the relatives had been executed that night in Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains.

Today, there are strong beliefs throughout the world that two Romanov kids escaped and that descendants from the Romanov bloodline may be living in the present day.

10 Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova

Anastasia Romanova was the youngest of Tsar Nicholas II’s four daughters. In 1918, when the Bolsheviks murdered the Romanovs, rumors started spreading that Anastasia might have escaped because they could not find her remains buried with the rest of her family.

Throughout the world, many people changed their identities to act like Anastasia. One famous impostor was Anna Anderson. Some people believed that she was Polish.

Anderson acted like Anastasia, which started rumors that Anastasia was alive. Many people also changed their identities to act like her brother or even her sister. This caused speculation to rise all over the world, especially among the Russian people.

Many people believed that siblings Anastasia, Maria, and Alexei—as well as the rest of Anastasia’s family—were still alive. After many years, several people discovered gravesites. Initially, it could not be confirmed whether Anastasia’s remains were in there. Many historians never knew for sure if the Bolsheviks killed Anastasia.

When discovered, Anastasia’s body was found in a hidden grave. Researchers and scientists needed to conduct tests to find out if these bones were, in fact, Anastasia’s. Forensic scientists then proved that Anastasia died like the rest of her family in 1918. Anastasia was properly reburied in 1998.

9 DNA

All around the world, there have been theories that the Bolsheviks buried two Romanov family members in a different area in Yekaterinburg. There is also speculation that the two children of the tsar’s family tried to escape the terror.

People have theorized that Prince Alexei and Princess Maria were the two relatives who could have escaped the flames and bullets. In 1976, a spot was found which contained the remains of the Romanovs. In 1991, after communism ended, researchers received permission from the government to reopen the burial site where the remains of the Romanovs had been left by the Bolshevik firing squad.

Scientists needed to do a DNA analysis for confirmation. They asked Prince Philip and Prince Michael of Kent for a sample of their DNA to compare against the DNA of the remains. Forensic scientists concluded that the DNA did come from the tsar’s family. The tests proved that the Bolsheviks buried Prince Alexei and Princess Maria at a different site, apart from their family.

8 Discovered Bones

In 2007, Sergei Plotnikov, a builder who belonged to an amateur history group, made an unexpected discovery. The amateur history group would constantly try to find any remains or other evidence that would link back to the royal family.

When Sergei had free time, he would look for bones in the areas where members of the Romanov family had previously been found. One day, Sergei came upon something hard, so he decided to dig beneath the ground to see if anything was there.

To Sergei’s surprise, he found several bone fragments, including one pelvis fragment and one skull fragment. By looking at the two fragments, forensic scientists and archaeologists hypothesized that these two pieces came from children.

7 Evidence Of Violence

After archaeologists examined the bone fragments from Alexei and Maria, the researchers explained that the bones had lots of damage on them. However, the damage on the tsar’s bones was different than the damage on the bones of these children.

Archaeologists had found a bullet hole on Tsar Nicholas’s II bones, which means that the Bolshevik firing squad did not use their guns to kill these two kids. The rest of Nicholas’s family suffered another way.

From the amount of kerosene found on the children’s bones, archaeologists concluded that these two kids were covered in acid and burned to death. Prince Alexei and Princess Maria were apart from the rest of the family, but they suffered the same amount of pain as their family members.

6 Results From Remains

Archaeologists found nine skeletons, teeth, bullets of different calibers, fabric from a dress, and a wire from a wooden box. Archaeologists concluded that the remains belonged to a boy and a woman. The ages varied from 10 to 23.

The possibility that the boy could have been Prince Alexei and that the woman could have been Princess Maria is very high. There have been theories that the government found the gravesite where the bones of the Romanovs were stored. People have passed down reports that the remains were originally found in 1979 and that the government kept the information a secret.

5 Lack Of Money

In 1990, another team of archaeologists decided to dig beneath the ground. The team had hoped that they would find something that could lead to the remains of the Romanovs.

After multiple days or even weeks, they dug up an area almost as big as a football field. Then they left. They could not finish the search due to a lack of money. Surprisingly, Sergei Plotnikov found the bone fragments exactly in that area.

4 Doubt

The Russian Orthodox Church did not believe that the remains were from the Romanovs. The church asked for more examinations and more information indicating that these remains did in fact come from the murdered royal family in Yekaterinburg.

The descendants of the Romanov bloodline agreed. The descendants believed that there should have been extra examinations and caution taken when finding out if the bones really belonged to the dead tsar and his children.

There were many delays with the reburial because the Russian Orthodox Church constantly had doubts that the DNA was wrong or that the remains did not belong to Nicholas II and his family. The church asked forensic scientists to conduct more tests. After the scientists finally convinced the church members that the remains were from the Romanovs, the Russian Orthodox Church scheduled a reburial.

3 Living Descendants

Today, there are people in the world who are part of the bloodline of the Romanovs. One of the main descendants who helped to identify the Romanovs’ remains through extraction of DNA was Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Prince Philip is the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, the grandnephew of Tsarina Alexandra, and the great-great-grandson of Nicholas I.

Another relative who helped identify the remains of the royal family was Prince Michael of Kent. His grandmother was the first cousin of Nicholas II. Prince Michael of Kent also contributed to identifying the remains of the family using his DNA.

The other eight relatives were Hugh Grosvenor, King Constantine II of Greece, Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna, Grand Duke George Mikhailovich, Olga Andreevna Romanoff, Francis-Alexander Mathew, Nicoletta Romanoff, and Prince Rostislav Romanov. Those eight relatives did not give their DNA to identify the remains because Prince Philip and Prince Michael of Kent were the closest of all the relatives to have their DNA used as a sample.

2 Bolsheviks Attempted To Get Rid Of The Evidence

The Bolsheviks executed the family in Yekaterinburg. However, the Bolshevik firing squad needed to find a way to destroy the evidence that would show that they did, in fact, kill the Romanovs.

There are two theories as to how the Bolsheviks killed the children. According to the first theory, the Bolsheviks shot Nicholas II and then put his four daughters in an abandoned mine. The Bolsheviks tried to blow up the mine but failed. Instead, they put acid on the children and burned them.

The second theory is that the Bolsheviks decided to take the remains of Prince Alexei and Princess Maria and cremate them. After many tests and examinations, researchers and forensic scientists concluded that the cremation process did not work properly.

To cremate a body, you need to stay in a very hot area. The Bolsheviks did not have that advantage when they were in the woods. Despite their attempt to cremate the bodies, they ultimately buried two bodies in one grave and the rest of the bodies in another grave.

Burying the bodies in two different graves explains why they were a couple of miles apart from each other. It also proves that the theories about the supposed escape of Prince Alexei and Princess Maria or Anastasia are false.

1 Three-Day Funeral

The mystery of the murdered imperial family has been laid to rest in Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral in Saint Petersburg. After the remains were studied, many researchers concluded that this was Nicholas II and his family.

The last burial ceremony was held in an Orthodox church. The ceremony took three days to complete, with the burial of the family as the last stage. When the funeral took place, many Russians still doubted that the remains were those of the tsar’s family. But scientists have said that the bones are a 97 percent match to the members of the tsar’s family.

The ceremony played a very big part in Russia. Worldwide, 50 countries and the Romanov relatives watched as the family was laid to rest. Over 80 years had to pass for the mystery of the Romanovs to come to an end. During the burial, Russians remembered the past and closed this violent and tragic chapter in their lives.

Angela is a high school student. She is interested in fitness, maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and learning something new every day.