Scientists Find 14,300-Year-Old Human DNA

Dennis Jenkins in his university of Oregon lab, displays a drawer full of
artifacts, including ropage and threads, found in the Paisley Caves.

EUGENE, Oregon, U.S. (kptv) -- Researchers at University of Oregon found the oldest human DNA in the New World in Oregon's Paisley Caves.The DNA was found in dried excrement that was dated to 14,300 years ago, 1,200 years before Clovis culture.

The Clovis culture was an early Native American culture that existed about 13,000 years ago and is best known for the early tools and weapons, including arrowheads, which were created during it.

"The Paisley Cave material represents, to the best of my knowledge, the oldest human DNA obtained from the Americas," said Eske Willerslev, director of the Centre for Ancient Genetics at Denmark's University of Copenhagen.

He said other sites have been found that scientists believe are from about the same time period but no human DNA was recovered from any of those sites.The scientists said another interesting piece to the discovery is the apparent genetic tie to Siberia or Asia that were discovered in the DNA by an international team of 13 scientists. full story