World’s Oldest Genome Sequence Decoded Reconstructs Face of Woman ‘Zlati Kuni’
More than 70 years after a severed skull was found buried in two pieces deep in a cave in the Czech Republic, scientists sequenced the genome to determine that it was the skull of the same person. It was. Now, the genome sequencing has made it possible for the first time to reconstruct the face of “Zlati Kouni,” the “first modern woman” whose remains have been discovered.
Eurasia’s oldest genome sequenced woman
Popularly known as “Zlatý kůň” or “Golden Horse” (so named after the mountain where she was found), she was one of the earliest Homo sapiens to settle in Eurasia after the human exodus from Africa. Her genome contains about 3 percent Neanderthal ancestry.
An international team of researchers from Brazil, Australia, and Italy has revived the dark features of this long-ago woman whose fossils were discovered in the Czech Republic in 1950. Unfortunately, only part of the skull was found, suggesting that she may have been preyed upon by animals after her death. They published their wonderfully detailed study online last month.
“In 2018, a multinational team of researchers worked with a group of 31 skulls consisting of 15 males and 15 active females scanned by computed tomography at the University Hospital Center (CHU) in Bordeaux, France, and 13,100 BPs found in Slovakia and dated to Moča. The statistical data extracted from the skulls were used to proceed with a three-dimensional reconstruction of the missing sites,” the study authors write in their paper.
The interesting information about this skull is that it was gnawed on postmortem by an animal,” study co-author Cicero Moraes, a Brazilian graphics specialist, told Live Science. The animal could have been a wolf or a hyena (both of which were present in the fauna at the time).”
Recreating Zlaticnu: A Digital Deep Dive and the Results
Even though the researchers could not directly touch the ancient skull, they cleverly used existing measurements and reference images. Cicero Moraes also participated in the reconstruction. Moraes says, “What we paid most attention to was the (facial) structure, especially the robustness of the mandible.” When [archaeologists] found the skull, the first expert to analyze it thought it was male. It is easy to understand why. The skull has features that are very compatible with the male gender of the present population. It turns out that the jaw structure of Zlati Cuni tends to conform more to Neanderthals,” he added.
This group, known as the present humans, showed a much larger brain compared to earlier humans dating back to ape-like ancestors. The method employed in this attempt is called face approximation, which is commonly used in forensic studies. It predicts a face from the skull without knowing in advance what the individual actually looked like during her lifetime.
World’s Oldest Genome Sequence Decoded Reconstructs Face of Woman ‘Zlati Kuni’
The results showed that the intracranial volume (the cavity in which the brain is housed) of this ancient woman was larger than that of modern humans in the database. Moraes attributes this interesting brain size difference to the “higher structural affinity between Zlati Cuni and Neanderthals than between her and modern humans.” Moraes revealed that the research team utilized statistical data collected in 2018. By combining this data with two CT scans of modern humans (one male and one female), they were able to create a digital representation of Zlaticnyu’s face, the Daily Mail reports.
‘Once we had the basic face, we created a more objective, scientific image. ‘We then created a speculative version with pigmented skin, open eyes, fur and hair, with the second objective being to provide the public with a more recognizable face.’
The Discovery of Zlati Cuni and the Early Stages of Genome Sequencing
In 2021, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Germany made a major announcement regarding Zlati Kuni: a study published in Nature revealed that this ancient human lived approximately 2,000 years after the first interaction between Homo sapiens and Neanderthals. This marks a significant point in human history. Surprisingly, the DNA from Zlati Kouni and its population is not found in the genetic makeup of the extant humans of Asia and Europe, where Homo sapiens later established settlement. This finding sets Zlatni Cuni apart from other candidates as the oldest European human fossil, they found.
The evidence the researchers have gathered strongly suggests that this individual is much older than the other candidates, solidifying its place as a key figure in the story of early human migration and interaction with Neanderthals. While the genetic data obtained from Zlati Kouni cannot reveal anything definitive about her facial features, the morphological data does provide a reasonable idea of her head and face shape. This could provide future clues for this team and other researchers studying her.
Source: World’s Oldest Genome Sequence Decoded Reconstructs Face of Woman ‘Zlati Kuni’
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World’s Oldest Genome Sequence Decoded Reconstructs Face of Woman ‘Zlati Kuni’