After carrying out the first sequencing of ancient genomes taken from human remains, which dates back to the Late Upper Palaeolithic period over 13,000 years, the researchers have revealed about the fourth strand of ancient European ancestry, earlier unknown.

The research carried out by international team of researchers has unveiled that the new ancestry has roots back from populations of hunter gatherers, who had split from western hunter-gatherers after expansions. They then moved on to settle in the Caucasus area.

Even when the ice age was coming to an end, these hunter-gatherers stayed there and waited for time when they could move. This is how they came into contact with other populations. As per the scientists, the movement and mixing led to a genetic mix resulting into the Yamnaya culture.

Study’s co-author Dr Andrea Manica, from Cambridge’s Department of Zoology was of the view that before this, it was a big mystery as from where the Yamnaya has actually come from. According to the researchers, the Caucasus pocket is the fourth major strand of the European ancestry.

The hunter-gatherer populations that migrated north-west were the ones that colonized a majority of Europe from Spain to Hungary. Around 5,000 years back, the Yamnaya formed. The researchers have come to know about the background of the Yamnaya by assessing the DNA extracted from the molar teeth of a skeleton dating from 10,000 years ago. It was found in the Kotias Klde rockshelter in Western Georgia.