Ancient human DNA from a South African rock shelter sheds light on 10,000 years of history

By Victoria Gibbon, Professor in Biological Anthropology, Division of Clinical Anatomy and Biological Anthropology, University of Cape Town
Joscha Gretzinger, Postdoctoral researcher, Genetic History Group, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Stephan Schiffels, Group Leader Population Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

Oakhurst rock shelter is an archaeological site near the town of George on the southern coast of South Africa. It is set into a sandstone cliff above a stream in a valley forested by towering old yellowwood trees.

Archaeologists first started excavating Oakhurst in the 1930s. What makes the site special is the record of human occupation there, which spans 12,000 years. Not only have rock art, stone tools and ceramic fragments…

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