DNA reveals the face of ancient human man
Boffins have used the DNA from a human hair which was preserved in Greenland's permafrost to reveal what he looked like.After sequencing his genome the researcher say are able to know exactly what the man named Inuk looked like 4,000 years ago.
Professor Eske Willerslev of the University of Copenhagen says Inuk had brown eyes and thick dark hair, but would have been prone to baldness.
He was also found to suffer from dry earwax, have shovel-shaped front teeth and the blood type A+ … and bare an uncanny resemblance to Steven Segal.
Inuk belonged to the first culture to settle in the New World Arctic. But Prof Willerslev says he only discovered the existence of the hair tuft by accident.
"I was speaking with the Director of the Natural History Museum in Denmark, Dr. Morten Meldgaard, when we started discussing the early peopling of the Arctic," he said.
"Meldgaard who had participated in several excavations in Greenland told me about a large tuft of hair, which was found during an excavation in north-western Greenland in the 1980's and now stored at the National Museum in Denmark.
"After the Greenland National Museum and Archives granted permission, we analysed the hair for DNA using various techniques and found it to be from a human male.
"For several months, we were uncertain as to whether our efforts would be fruitful. However, through the hard work of a large international team, we finally managed to sequence the first complete genome of an extinct human."
LINKS
University of Copenhagen
"I was speaking with the Director of the Natural History Museum in Denmark, Dr. Morten Meldgaard, when we started discussing the early peopling of the Arctic," he said.
"Meldgaard who had participated in several excavations in Greenland told me about a large tuft of hair, which was found during an excavation in north-western Greenland in the 1980's and now stored at the National Museum in Denmark.
"After the Greenland National Museum and Archives granted permission, we analysed the hair for DNA using various techniques and found it to be from a human male.
"For several months, we were uncertain as to whether our efforts would be fruitful. However, through the hard work of a large international team, we finally managed to sequence the first complete genome of an extinct human."
LINKS
University of Copenhagen
