8 years ago
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DNA Reveals These Red-Haired Chinese Mummies Come From Europe And Asia
Within a nondescript Bronze Age cemetery first discovered by Swedish archaeologists in 1934 and rediscovered by the Xinjiang Archaeological Institute in 2000, researchers have found the oldest and best-preserved mummies in the Tarim Basin area of China. Their skeletal remains, along with unprecedented artifacts, are helping solve the longstanding question of the origins of human settlement in a politically contested area of China.
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Mitochondrial haplogroups are very helpful for identifying genetic history because the mtDNA sequences are conserved between mother and offspring. These DNA sequences are not the same as your main genetic code--mitochondria were actually separate single-cell organisms that our early cells 'ate' and adopted them into our cell structure. Consequently, the mtDNA does not change from generation to generation as the majority of your DNA does. Therefore we can track the mitochondrial of large areas of peoples with a fairly good accuracy.