The Ancient North Eurasians

The population that the Mal’ta boy represented has been given a name by researchers: Ancient North Eurasians, or ANE.

This label refers not to a specific culture or a specific geographic location but to a genetic heritage — a distinctive combination of genetic markers that is found at its clearest expression in the Mal’ta genome and in a handful of other ancient individuals from Siberia and adjacent regions.

The Ancient North Eurasian population was real.