🏹 A three-way ancestry map in ancient African foragers

Ancient DNA from eastern and south-central Africa (about 18,000–5,000 years ago) shows a stable mix of three lineages: an East African stream (Mota-related), a southern African forager stream, and a central African rainforest forager stream.

Long-range migrations were limited, so ancestry formed regional clines. For example, individuals from Malawi/Zambia are typically ~60–70% southern-forager, ~20–30% East African, and ~5–10% central African.

In Kenya/Tanzania, people often carry about half East African ancestry, with a small central African share and the remainder southern-forager.

Takeaway: Late Pleistocene and early Holocene Africa had deep, regionally structured forager ancestries that mixed locally and stayed remarkably stable over time.

Source: Lipson et al., 2022. Ancient DNA and deep population structure in sub-Saharan African foragers.