A new genome analysis technique has identified evidence for two previously unknown extinct human populations, including one lineage that may have diverged from our ancestors nearly 2 million years ago.

Modern human DNA may preserve evidence of two previously unidentified extinct human populations, according to research published July 30 in the journal Science. The study introduces a new method for analyzing modern genomes that allows researchers to detect traces of ancient ancestors without requiring fossil DNA.

According to researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, one previously unknown—or “ghost”—lineage appears to have contributed between roughly 0.5% and 1% of the DNA found in all living people. The team concluded that this interbreeding likely occurred in Africa more than 50,000 years ago, before Homo sapiens dispersed widely beyond the continent.

The analysis also identified evidence of a much older “super-archaic” lineage that may have diverged from the ancestors of modern humans nearly 2 million years ago. Researchers suggest this lineage may have contributed DNA to Denisovans, with a small portion later passing into modern human populations, particularly among people in Oceania.

The new technique reconstructs evolutionary relationships using more than 500 modern human genomes rather than relying solely on ancient fossil DNA. According to UC Berkeley, the approach successfully detected known Neanderthal and Denisovan ancestry before revealing these additional genetic contributions.

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Researchers caution that the newly identified populations have not been directly identified through fossils. One possible candidate for the more recent ghost lineage is Homo heidelbergensis, but that identification remains speculative and has not been confirmed.

The findings add to growing evidence that human evolution was not a simple linear progression but involved repeated contact and interbreeding among multiple human groups over hundreds of thousands of years. While the genetic evidence is considered robust enough for publication in Science, the identities of these unknown populations remain unresolved pending additional fossil or genetic evidence. At present, no direct fossil confirmation exists for either newly proposed lineage.

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