Researchers from Japan's National Museum of Nature and Science announced this week that they sequenced the genome of a woman who lived during the Jomon period some 3,500 years to 3,800 years ago, the Japan Times reports.
It adds that researchers led by the museum's Hideaki Kanzawa isolated DNA from the molars of a skull uncovered on Rebun Island in Hokkaido in northern Japan. According to the Japan Times, the researchers' analysis found that this Jomon sample was genetically close to other coastal East Asian populations, including indigenous Taiwanese people. Nippon.com further adds that the analysis suggested that the Jomon people and Han Chinese individuals have a shared common ancestor who lived between 18,000 years and 38,000 years ago.
The researchers also say the woman likely had brown eyes, thin hair, and a high alcohol tolerance, and was adapted to a high-fat diet, the Japan Times reports.