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La Brana 1
La Brana, Spain (~7,000 years ago)
hunter found
Remains of a 7,000 year old Hunter-Gatherer, dubbed La Brana 1, were discovered in a cave in Northern Spain. Through analysis of DNA extracted from a tooth, La Brana 1’s remains have since shed some much needed light on the Mesolithic inhabitants of ancient Europe. DNA analysis has concluded that La Brana 1 carried genes that are associated with disease resistance, thus challenging the existing belief that the emergence of these genes coincided with the arrival of later farming communities. Analysis also suggests that this Hunter-Gatherer is more closely related to modern-day Northern Europeans than to Southern Europeans who have shown greater similarity with Hunter-Gatherer remains from regions in Sweden and Siberia.