Let’s start the year with a revelation. If you don’t follow scientific breakthroughs or genetics you may not have picked up something groundbreaking that happened in 2024.
The DNA of West Cork People
Mark Grace is a genetic genealogist and family historian at Ballynoe House, Ardfield, Co. Cork
Many readers will know that modern humans are hybrids from earlier forms of hominid. Most Europeans contain some Neanderthal DNA (my DNA count is about two per cent of my total genome), because they interbred when modern humans when arriving in Europe from Africa. The Neanderthals had already settled much earlier. Neanderthals eventually went extinct. The Neanderthals also bred with another hominid species in Asia where their territories overlapped, now known as Denisovans. They have also gone extinct. The modern Asian genome contains both Neanderthal and Denisovan DNA, the most noted being the Tibetans who have inherited a Denisovan gene that allows them to adapt to altitude. I have written about this previously.
Scientists investigating the modern human genome have mapped out the progenitor hominids and noted that there is a third unknown ancient species indicated but has never been seen in ancient remains. It remains a mystery. If nothing else, it shows our genetic ancestry is much more complicated than initially thought. Not exactly linear as very often portrayed.
Most native cultures have stories of large hairy apes or forest men still living in various parts of the world. Not only have anthropologists considered these legacy stories worth recording, but there are people today (tribes and modern residents, particularly in North America) who report interactions with them. You will commonly know them as Sasquatch, Bigfoot or Yeti, to name three. It is a difficult subject for serious study, as there is a lot of public and scientific ridicule for what is considered a ‘woo’ topic and can prove to be a career wrecker. This is also highly insulting towards the native cultures who have hundreds of generations of stories and interactions with these ‘mythical’ creatures. Non-native Americans also interact in secret. Forget the cable channel documentaries, the big question is whether Bigfoot and associated sightings indicate something real.
So, kudos to US geneticist and forensic scientist Dr. Melba Ketchum and her colleagues who stepped up to the plate and did a proper forensic genetic study of remains that are reported to be from Bigfoot. The results are quite extraordinary and have been published and independently verified by several other forensic labs in the US under blind test conditions. Needless to say, Dr. Ketchum’s career in forensics has ended due to the stigma associated with this topic. Nevertheless, she continues to work on more samples and deeper genetic analysis in pursuit of the truth.
The Y-chromosome (male line) of Bigfoot samples (all known mammals genomes having been eliminated) turns out to be a previously undocumented hominid. Whether this is the missing third ancient hominid, which is still living, or an entirely new one remains to be seen. What is controversial and the reason this has not reached the mainstream is that the female line (mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA) progenitor is modern human, which supports many stories of native Americans. When the hybridisation of modern Bigfoot occurred is yet to be revealed as the female line will have to be compared to native American female genomes, but probably many thousands of years ago. If hybridisation was acceptable to geneticists for the interbreeding of modern humans with Neanderthals and Denisovans, what is the real issue here?
If interested, you’ll find a radio interview with Dr. Ketchum and some of her support team on Youtube.
Closed minds will never discover something new. I look forward to new results with great interest. If this becomes mainstream (old paradigms are proving hard to shift, which is a great problem in science these days (archaeology and physics as other examples)). Woo is becoming wow. What else will we find out? The truth is out there!
