The 'Ghost' of an Unknown Extinct Human Has Been Found in DNA of Modern West Africans

[~Elizabeth~]

The gene pool of modern West Africans contains the 'ghost' of a mysterious hominin, unlike any we've detected so far. Similar to how humans and Neanderthals once mated, new research suggests this ancient long-lost species may have once mingled with our ancestors on the African continent.

Using whole-genome data from present-day West Africans, scientists have found a small portion of genetic material that appears to come from this mysterious lineage, which is thought to have split off from the human family tree even before Neanderthals.

Today, it's thought (although still being debated) that anatomically modern humans originated in Africa, and that once these populations migrated to Europe and Asia, they interbred with closely-related species like Neanderthals and Denosovans.

As such, modern West Africans, like populations in Yoruba and Mende, do not possess genes from either of these ancient species, but that doesn't mean there was no intermixing. In fact, recent evidence suggests the genetic past of West Africans may contain a similarly juicy narrative.

The idea is hard to confirm, because ancient human remains and DNA are scarce on the African continent and even harder to find in West Africa.

Fortunately there is one way to get an idea of how ancient humans mixed that doesn't involve studying remains: modern genomics. Researchers decided to compare 405 modern genomes from the Yoruba and Mende populations with genomes from Neanderthals and Denisovans.

To their surprise, they also found traces of another as-yet-unknown ancient hominin species in their genomes.

Similar to how modern humans outside of Africa still hold traces of Neanderthal genes, the authors found populations in West Africa derived between 2 and 19 percent of their genetic ancestry from this as-yet-undiscovered ancient hominin.

Interestingly, this isn't the first time 'ghost' species of unknown extinct ancestors have been found in modern DNA. Researchers looking at Eurasian DNA have previously found traces of at least three as-yet-undiscovered ancient hominins in modern human genomes. But this is a first for modern West African DNA.

The findings are supported by several other studies that suggest there have been multiple interbreeding events between archaic and modern human populations in Africa.

This is known as genetic introgression, but while it's become a popular theory, exactly where, when and to what extent this mixing occurred is unknown.

In the fossil record, modern humans show up around 200,000 years ago, but in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, a few fossils have been found with a mix of archaic and modern features that are only 35,000 years old.

"One interpretation of the recent time of introgression that we document is that archaic forms persisted in Africa until fairly recently," the authors of the new study suggest.

"Alternatively, the archaic population could have introgressed earlier."

In the end, neither is mutually exclusive, but the authors say we will need more analysis of African genomes across the continent before we can understand the true makeup of our ancestors.

The study was published in Science Advances.

https://www.sciencealert.com/the-ghost-of-an-unknown-extinct-hominid-has-been-found-in-a-modern-human-genome#:~:text=Researchers%20looking%20at%20Eurasi an%20DNA,was%20published%20in%20Science%20Advances .

[happycow]

negroes = homo erectus. they are a sub species.

[Bulkster]

Not really. More recent studies have showed that the 'ghost' population here are just basal Homo Sapiens into the general African population after the genetic split between them and East Africans aprox. around 60k years ago.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GkQccu_WAAEVDlr?format=jpg&name=large
https://genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13059-019-1684-5

If you actually read the study, it says that this 'ghost' group are also found in ethnic Han Chinese and North-West Europeans suggesting this 'ghost' lineage was shared before SSA and non-SSA groups split in East Africa:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GkVJY0oWUAA8FqJ?format=png&name=small
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GkVJc2VWAAAnVJ_?format=png&name=small

All humans have emerged from Homo Erectus btw. The people today with the most Neanderthal DNA are East Asians while the Negrito/Austroloid peoples of Australasia and SE Asia have the most Denisovan DNA who were close cousins to Neanderthals.

[villainchai]

What's even cooler is that Aborigines have even more Denisovan than previously thought. Seems like pretty much every race has some admixture from another species of humans

[~Elizabeth~]

Not really. More recent studies have showed that the 'ghost' population here are just basal Homo Sapiens into the general African population after the genetic split between them and East Africans aprox. around 60k years ago.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GkQccu_WAAEVDlr?format=jpg&name=large
https://genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13059-019-1684-5

If you actually read the study, it says that this 'ghost' group are also found in ethnic Han Chinese and North-West Europeans suggesting this 'ghost' lineage was shared before SSA and non-SSA groups split in East Africa:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GkVJY0oWUAA8FqJ?format=png&name=small
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GkVJc2VWAAAnVJ_?format=png&name=small

All humans have emerged from Homo Erectus btw. The people today with the most Neanderthal DNA are East Asians while the Negrito/Austroloid peoples of Australasia and SE Asia have the most Denisovan DNA who were close cousins to Neanderthals.



The one you posted was from 2019. The study I posted was from 2020, a year later.

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aax5097

[Bulkster]

The one you posted was from 2019. The study I posted was from 2020, a year later.

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aax5097

The study I had provided talks about this one:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GkO2oKDW4AAtFvf?format=png&name=large

GoogleAI:

"Ghost lineage" in West Africans refers to genetic material from an unknown, archaic human population that interbred with modern human ancestors in the region. This "ghost DNA" is evidence of a prehistoric population that left no fossil record, similar to how Neanderthals and Denisovans interbred with early modern humans elsewhere. The interbreeding occurred tens of thousands of years ago and has resulted in modern West Africans carrying genetic markers that influence functions like tumor suppression and hormone regulation.
You can watch this video to learn more about ghost populations and their origins:
Related video thumbnail
1m


Arise News
YouTube • 4 Mar 2020
Evidence of an unknown ancestor: Scientists have found a genetic signature in the genomes of modern West Africans that doesn't match any known human ancestor. They call this "ghost DNA" because it suggests the existence of a previously undiscovered hominin group.
Interbreeding with modern humans: This ghost population interbred with the ancestors of modern West Africans, a process that is comparable to the interbreeding of ancient Europeans with Neanderthals. This event happened at least 50,000 years ago, though some estimates place it as far back as 124,000 years ago.
Genetic impact: The DNA from this ghost lineage is present in modern West African populations and can be as much as 2% to 19% of their total genome. This genetic legacy is associated with important biological functions, including tumor suppression and hormone regulation.
Implications for human history: The discovery complicates the story of human origins and highlights the genetic diversity that existed within Africa. It suggests that other unknown archaic groups may have contributed to the human genome, and further research into both modern and ancient African genomes is needed to understand this complex history.

So, no. Having archaic ancestors does not make them "less human"

No, the "ghost lineage" found in some West Africans does not make them less human; the term refers to unknown ancient DNA that complicates the story of human evolution. This genetic material comes from an as-yet-unidentified hominin group that split from other ancestors of modern humans, and it is a testament to the complex and diverse evolutionary history of all humans.
The "ghost lineage" is genetic material from a group that likely separated from our ancestors before the split that led to Neanderthals.
The DNA does not come from known archaic human groups like Neanderthals or Denisovans.
The findings highlight the complex path of human evolution and that genetic diversity is not a measure of humanity, but a natural part of it.
The discovery of this DNA underscores that all human populations have unique genetic histories and contribute to a richer understanding of our shared past.

[~Elizabeth~]

I got the original story from ChatGPT and it did not tell me the 'ghost' hominin was in non-Africans too. It omitted that, so it made a mistake.

I asked ChatGPT again, adding what you wrote.

Tell me about the 'ghost' hominin in West Africans. Is it in Europeans and Asians too?

Yes, modern West Africans carry DNA from an as-yet-undiscovered "ghost" hominin (an extinct, ancient relative of humans), and traces of this same genetic material have also been identified in people of European and Asian descent, though it is less pronounced in non-African populations.
The "Ghost" Hominin in West Africans
Undiscovered Species: The "ghost" DNA comes from an unknown archaic human species that has not been found in the fossil record or had its genome sequenced yet.
Interbreeding: The ancestors of modern West Africans interbred with this "ghost" population, much like how ancient Europeans interbred with Neanderthals and ancient Asians/Oceanic populations with Denisovans.
Genetic Contribution: The genetic contribution from this ghost hominin in modern West Africans (specifically the Yoruba and Mende peoples studied) is estimated to be significant, ranging from 2% to 19%.
Divergence Time: This archaic population is estimated to have diverged from the ancestors of modern humans, Neanderthals, and Denisovans between 360,000 and 1.02 million years ago. The interbreeding event itself likely occurred within Africa around 50,000 years ago.
Presence in Europeans and Asians
Traces of this same ghost ancestry have been detected in the genomes of other populations, including:
Individuals of Northern and Western European ancestry (specifically, Utah residents in the study).
Individuals of Han Chinese descent in Beijing.
This suggests that the interbreeding event may have occurred in a common ancestor population before the major "Out-of-Africa" migration, or involved complex back-migrations and subsequent mixing.
Why "Ghost"?
The term "ghost" is used because scientists have identified the genetic signature using computational and statistical methods comparing modern human genomes, but lack physical fossil evidence or reference DNA from the ancient population itself. The hot and humid climate in much of Africa makes DNA recovery from ancient fossils challenging, which has hindered the ability to get a definitive DNA match.

[Bulkster]

I got the original story from ChatGPT and it did not tell me the 'ghost' hominin was in non-Africans too. It omitted that, so it made a mistake.

I asked ChatGPT again, adding what you wrote.

Tell me about the 'ghost' hominin in West Africans. Is it in Europeans and Asians too?

Yes, modern West Africans carry DNA from an as-yet-undiscovered "ghost" hominin (an extinct, ancient relative of humans), and traces of this same genetic material have also been identified in people of European and Asian descent, though it is less pronounced in non-African populations.
The "Ghost" Hominin in West Africans
Undiscovered Species: The "ghost" DNA comes from an unknown archaic human species that has not been found in the fossil record or had its genome sequenced yet.
Interbreeding: The ancestors of modern West Africans interbred with this "ghost" population, much like how ancient Europeans interbred with Neanderthals and ancient Asians/Oceanic populations with Denisovans.
Genetic Contribution: The genetic contribution from this ghost hominin in modern West Africans (specifically the Yoruba and Mende peoples studied) is estimated to be significant, ranging from 2% to 19%.
Divergence Time: This archaic population is estimated to have diverged from the ancestors of modern humans, Neanderthals, and Denisovans between 360,000 and 1.02 million years ago. The interbreeding event itself likely occurred within Africa around 50,000 years ago.
Presence in Europeans and Asians
Traces of this same ghost ancestry have been detected in the genomes of other populations, including:
Individuals of Northern and Western European ancestry (specifically, Utah residents in the study).
Individuals of Han Chinese descent in Beijing.
This suggests that the interbreeding event may have occurred in a common ancestor population before the major "Out-of-Africa" migration, or involved complex back-migrations and subsequent mixing.
Why "Ghost"?
The term "ghost" is used because scientists have identified the genetic signature using computational and statistical methods comparing modern human genomes, but lack physical fossil evidence or reference DNA from the ancient population itself. The hot and humid climate in much of Africa makes DNA recovery from ancient fossils challenging, which has hindered the ability to get a definitive DNA match.

The study I had provided - as you say - was from 2019, not 2020 and recent. My bad. Africans do indeed have archaic 'ghost' lineage not found in Eurasians. As what Grok says:

Yes, West Africans — like virtually all modern human populations — carry small amounts of DNA from archaic hominins, often referred to as "ghost" archaic ancestry because the source population is extinct and not directly sampled (unlike Neanderthals or Denisovans).Key points from recent genomic research (2020–2025):West African populations (e.g., Yoruba, Esan, Mende, Gambians) have 2–19% ancestry from an unidentified archaic hominin lineage that diverged from the modern human–Neanderthal–Denisovan common ancestor roughly 0.9–1.4 million years ago (Durvasula & Sankararaman 2020; Mondal et al. 2022; Plagnol & Wall 2006 re-analyses). This is sometimes called the "West African ghost archaic" introgression.
The highest levels are found in Yoruba and related groups (~6–8% on average, up to ~15–19% in some genomic regions).

For comparison: Non-Africans have ~1–4% Neanderthal DNA.
Some East Asians and Oceanians have up to ~5–6% Denisovan.
Many other African populations (e.g., Southern Africans like Khoisan, Eastern Africans like Maasai) also show evidence of different ghost archaic introgressions, just from distinct source populations.

So West Africans are not unique in having archaic ancestry; they simply have a different flavor of it than Eurasians do.Does this make them "less human"?No.
All living humans — regardless of region — are Homo sapiens with >99.7% identical genomes. The archaic contribution is tiny (a few percent at most), and the archaic hominins themselves were extremely close relatives of modern humans (closer than chimpanzees are to bonobos). Having a small amount of archaic DNA is a normal part of recent human evolution and is found in every major population studied so far. It does not affect species membership, cognitive capacity, or any meaningful definition of "humanity." In fact, some of these archaic alleles are beneficial and were retained by natural selection (e.g., immune-system genes).In short: Yes, West Africans have ghost archaic DNA (as do Europeans, East Asians, etc.).
No, it does not make them less human. It just reflects the complex, multi-lineage history of our species.
https://x.com/i/grok/share/6jmUwpVdWWH8i8j9g9TIJ2ILW

Having archaic human ancestors does not make them less human much less that Neanderthals and Denisovans in Eurasians doesn't make them less human either.