The ancient remains of a human species found in Taichung City more than five years ago may be genetically linked to people in north Asia, revealing new possibilities about this little-known group of humans, researchers said yesterday.
The finding was based on analysis of the fossil remains of a boy, nicknamed "Lai Junior," found in the city in 2002.
The remains were the first fossils derived from Huilai people. Some researchers estimate the group lived some 1,000 to 4,000 years ago. However, few facts about the species have been discovered so far given the scarcity of artifacts and body remains unearthed.
To further understand the Huilai people, the Taichung-based National Museum of Natural Science initiated a Taiwan-China joint study in 2006 to compare the gene samples extracted from the fossil teeth of the boy with other DNA samples collected from human fossils around Asia, Ho Chuan-kun (
The museum's researchers, along with scientists from Fudan University in Shanghai and Tzu Chi University in Hualien County, extracted DNA strings from mitochondrion, which is capable of carrying multiple sets of DNA and preserving them for a much longer time than the chromosome, museum officials said.
Researchers chose mitochondrion DNA because it is passed on only by mothers, Ho said, adding that scientists believed that by following the maternal genetic map, they could better understand the origin of the group.
"Preliminary results show the Huilai people's maternal genealogy may have originated in north Asia," Ho said.
However, he said that the theory was still subject to further academic review.
Researchers believe that if the group was created based on several migrant males, the maternal genes would be identical to ethnic groups in Taiwan.
Only when the group travels with both males and females, as a family or village for example, will the group's maternal genes show similarities to an origin outside Taiwan.
The research group is also working on a project to analyze the chemical composition of glass artifacts discovered at the excavation site.
The results show these items may have come from as far away as India or China, indicating that Taiwan might have been included in maritime trade routes as early as 1,000 years ago.
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