Two 7,000-Year-Old Mummies Found — And They Don’t Share DNA With Modern Humans

When we hear the word Mummies, we think of ancient human remains, but what if we discovered them and none of their DNA matches with us? Because that is exactly what happened with these two 7,000-year-old Mummies found in the Sahara Desert, whose DNA is completely different from modern humans.

Discovery in the Green Sahara

Approximately 7000 years ago, known as the African Humid Period in the Sahara Desert, the land was brimming with life. The dry and harsh place we know today was a lush savannah full of plants and greenery, and it was a home to humans in that generation.

That is the place where scientists found these two female mummified skeletons. In the Takarkori rock shelter located in southwestern Libya, their remains have been preserved by the climate, and were immediately put under scientific investigations and experimentation to understand more about them and who they are.

Source: The Sun

A Distinct Genetic Lineage

DNA of Mummies From When the Sahara Was GREEN Reveal a Mysterious New Human Lineage!

Experts say that their DNA does not match modern humans, and they most probably have been isolated from the rest of the population during that time. DNA analysis of these ancient remains also revealed a previously unknown North African genetic lineage.

Their lineage has been hypothesized to diverge from sub-Saharan African populations around 50,000 years ago, along with minimal matches from Neanderthal DNA, which suggests that they have not come into close contact with other human groups.

Source: Discovery Future YouTube Channel

Cultural Exchange Without Genetic Mixing

Despite practicing animal husbandry, an agricultural practice for managing and breeding livestock to acquire meat, eggs, and milk, the Takarkori people have shown no significant genetic matches with their neighbors, like sub-Saharan, Near Eastern, or European populations.

That agricultural practice was believed to have originated outside of Africa, so if these people started doing it, with no sign of others’ DNA in them, it challenges the current belief about human migration, or even the idea of animal husbandry originating from outside Africa.

It might also be that, rather than actual population movement or migration, the exchange of ideas spread instead, influencing their lifestyle choices.

Source: Reuters

Implications for Human History

The discovery of this isolated lineage whose DNA does not match any modern humans challenges previous assumptions about how northern ancient Africa was a hub of genetic exchange due to migration.

It basically suggests that even during its green phase, where the area is full of life rather than a dry desert, there were not a lot of significant exchanges of DNA through mixing of population in the area.

These findings also highlight the complexity of human ancestry due to constant movement, mixing, or isolation of different groups to survive and find a better life.

Source: Max Planck Gesellschaft

Scientists Just Discovered 7,000-Year-Old Mummies That Don’t Share DNA With Modern Humans

Author's Final Thoughts

The Takarkori mummies found in the Sahara Desert offer a rare glimpse of lost human history. It tells us that we have a lot of missing information about our origins and how we evolved to be who we are today.

The existence of DNA from mummies that do not match any of us alive right now showcases the diversity of ancient human populations. That, yes, we are the ones who survived and propagated, but there might have been a lot more humans who once walked this Earth, with different genes, different stories, and different ends.

Their disappearance and uniqueness remind us that history is not only the things we remember, but also the things we have lost.

Read more: Dogs Are Evolving Again — And Humans Might Be the Reason Why

References & Further Reading

Salem, N., et al. (2025). Ancient DNA from the Green Sahara reveals ancestral North African lineage. Nature. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08793-7

Vai, S., et al. (2019). Ancestral mitochondrial N lineage from the Neolithic ‘green’ Sahara. Scientific Reports. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-39802-1

Cremaschi, M., et al. (2014). Takarkori rock shelter (SW Libya): An archive of Holocene climate and environmental changes in the central Sahara. Quaternary Science Reviews. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2014.07.004

Van Neer, W., et al. (2020). Aquatic fauna from the Takarkori rock shelter reveals the Holocene central Saharan climate and palaeohydrography. PLOS ONE. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0228588

Dunne, J., et al. (2012). First dairying in green Saharan Africa in the fifth millennium BC. Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11186