Reconstructed face of Neolithic woman reveals Gibraltar's earliest humans

[FfFfFfFF 58,118]

When Calpeia’s skull was found in 1996, it was impossible to glean much information from it. Gibratar’s humid climate leads to a rapid deterioration of DNA, and the possibilities of extracting useful genetic material seemed unlikely at the time. DNA analysis was in its infancy, and the damage to the skull made it difficult to study.

By 2019 the study of ancient DNA had made great strides. The journal Science published the genome analysis of 271 inhabitants of Spain, Gibraltar, and Portugal, including the 1996 skull. Under the coordination of Harvard Medical School, researchers were successfully able to extract viable samples of ancient DNA.

The results told the researchers a great deal: The skull belonged to a woman who lived around 5400 B.C.—many millennia after the Neanderthals of Gibraltar had become extinct. She was slightly built, light-skinned, with dark hair and eyes. She was also lactose intolerant (a common trait for that period).

Dated to 7,500 years ago, Calpeia’s life corresponds to the later Neolithic period. She lived at a time when agriculture and raising livestock were spreading across the Iberian Peninsula, displacing the old hunter-gatherer model. Her lactose intolerance indicates that dairy farming was most likely not part of her culture.

Calpeia’s age when she died cannot be determined precisely from the skull. Her cranial sutures—the fibrous joints connecting the bones of the skull—suggest that she was an adult, somewhere between 25 and 40 years of age. (Watch how researchers reconstructed the face of Avgi, a 9,000-year-old teenager.)

Researchers were most excited about what DNA revealed about Calpeia’s ancestry. Only 10 percent of Calpeia’s genome comes from the population found in the Iberian Peninsula, while the remaining 90 percent has its origin in Anatolia, modern-day Turkey.

Source: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/magazine/2020/05-06/face-7500-year-old-woman-reveals-gibraltar-earliest-humans/

[Guest Adarsh]

She’s serving 

[Alvaro Moreno Ullrich 1,554]

She would never imagined serving on gagadaily years later

[Chic 20,830]

It’s always interesting to learn more about our distant history! It’s amazing that we’re even able to figure this out.

[Chic 20,830]

1 minute ago, Alvaro Moreno Ullrich said:

She would never imagined serving on gagadaily years later

Ancient city style, no less!

[joannester 1,270]

Strut it out, walk a mile

Serve it Neolithic style. 

[Francesca Cipriani 1,668]

Queen! looking good even after thousands of years. If she has an instagram account, I'll follow her 

[vyniildisk 12,689]

So that was 7 400 years ago? Omg how crazy is that!!! 

[KarmaPolice 4,731]

55 minutes ago, FfFfFfFF said:

Lea Michele?

[BetrayedSTAN 1,839]

She looks like my homophobic aunt