Article: Tattooed Mummies!

Tarim Basin Mummy
http://archaeology.org/issues/109-1311/features/tattoos/1405-china-tarim-basin-mummy

Like the Iceman Ötzi, this mummy of a woman who lived in what is today western China is covered with tattoos.  Were these for decoration or an early form of medicine as some think was the case with Ötzi?

Article: Mystery human species emerges from Denisovan genome

Mystery human species emerges from Denisovan genome
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24603-mystery-human-species-emerges-from-denisovan-genome.html

Could this new ancestral hominid species be Homo erectus or Homo heidelbergensis?

Article: More on the Y Chromosome and Mal'ta Boy

A priori Y chromosome phylogeny from sequencing data
http://dienekes.blogspot.com/2013/11/a-priori-y-chromosome-phylogeny-from.html

Article: The Mysterious New Northern Eurasians

Oldest human genome reveals roots of first Americans
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24616-oldest-human-genome-reveals-roots-of-first-americans.html

This Mal'ta Boy (as he is called in other articles) represents the oldest human genome sequenced to date.  His genes held at least one surprise:  his Y chromosome from his father's line is now found more among western Europeans.  His entire genome is closely related to modern Native Americans -but NOT to east Asians.  Native Americans are thought to have migrated from eastern Siberia across Berengia and into the Americas.  Native American genetics DO have east Asian genes.  So, how could this boy be from a Native American ancestral AND have no east Asian genes?  Well, it appears there once was an ancient northern Eurasian population hunting on the Ice Age steppes that spanned from Europe to Siberia.  This group contributed genes to modern Europeans in the west.  In the east, later generations of the Mal'ta Boy's people intermixed with east Asians, and later some of this new, hybrid group emigrated to the Americas.  Or, so the latest theory drawing on this work hypothesizes.

Article: Ancient European Admixture in the Americas, or Ancient Amerindian Admixture in Europe?

Ancient European admixture in the Americas, or ancient Amerindian admixture in Europe?

As I understand this article, mastodon hunters once occupied an environmental niche of steppes running from Europe to Siberia.  One group of hunters from Europe/West Asia migrated eastward to Siberia where a boy from this group was born and died.  It is primarily his DNA that is studied in the article.

The authors theorize this boy's relatives later interbred with humans whose genes are more common among East Asians.  This later, hybrid group of people -part European/West Asian and part East Asian genetically- later crossed Beringia to settle the Americas.