DNA has been discovered on a 4,500-year-old human skeleton in Ethiopia — and it may hold significant answers to how human civilization came to be as we know it. 

The findings, which were published by the scientific journal Science in an article titled "Ancient Ethiopian genome reveals extensive Eurasian admixture throughout the African continent," might shake up the timeframe for humanoid migratory patterns in history. To wit: the human migration from Africa — the great migratory boost that sent humanoids out of the African continent and into Eurasia — occurred roughly 60,000 years ago; after thousands of ensuing years, some populations moved back to Africa. It's the latter migration that might need a bit of timeline tweaking.

In fact, the skeleton — which scientists have named Mota and that has no trace of Eurasian DNA to speak of — seems to suggest that the return migration clocks in at only 3,000 years old, meaning that it could have occurred much later than first hypothesized. 

"Roughly speaking, the wave of West Eurasian migration back into the Horn of Africa could have been as much as 30 percent of the population that already lived there — and that, to me, is mind-blowing," said Andrea Manica, one of the leading contributors for the article and a professor at the University of Cambridge Department of Zoology.

Via: Slash Gear

Photo: Mishara Ajay | Flickr