Ancient DNA Yields New View on Sub-Saharan Stone Age

Multiple lines of genetic and archeological evidence suggest that there were major demographic changes in the terminal later Pleistocene epoch and early Holocene epoch of sub-Saharan Africa. Inferences about this period are hard to make because demographic shifts in the last 5,000 years have obscrued the structures of more ancient populations. Here we present genome-wide ancient DNA for six individuals from eastern and south-central Africa spanned the past 18,000 years, increase the data quality for 15 previously published ancient individuals and analyze these alongside data from 13 previoulsy published individuals.