Some populations may fall inside this range, some outside it; the analysis is an approximation of a complex signal, not a precise measurement of every individual genome.

The Ancient Genomes That Came After

The MA-1 publication in 2014 was not the end of the investigation into Ancient North Eurasian ancestry.

It was the beginning of a new phase of research in which additional ancient genomes from Siberia and adjacent regions were analyzed and compared against the MA-1 baseline.

The Afontova Gora site, also in Siberia and somewhat younger than Mal’ta at roughly 17,000 years before present, produced an ancient genome that showed a genetic profile closely related to MA-1.

This confirmation was significant: it demonstrated that the Ancient North Eurasian genetic signal was not unique to the individual at Mal’ta but was characteristic of a real and persistent population in the region.