Scientists uncover two ghost hominin lineages in human DNA

A new genetic analysis has revealed that modern humans carry DNA from at least two previously unknown, or "ghost," lineages of ancient hominins, underscoring the complex web of interbreeding that shaped our species. The findings, published on July 30, 2026, in the journal Science, were made possible by a novel computational technique that reconstructs ancestral relationships from the genomes of living people, bypassing the need for fossil DNA.

Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, and Johns Hopkins University developed the method, called TRACE (Tracking Archaic Contributions via ARG Estimation). By analyzing over 500 complete genomes from present-day populations worldwide, the team built detailed genealogical maps to identify DNA segments whose common ancestors diverged from modern humans far back in time. The technique successfully pinpointed known Neanderthal and Denisovan ancestry but also uncovered genetic contributions from two distinct, uncharacterized lineages.

One ghost lineage contributed DNA to all modern humans alive today, regardless of ancestry. The study estimates that between 0.5% and 1% of an individual's genome derives from this source, an...