Besséʼ

Besséʼ (pronounced [bəˈsːɛʔ])[1] is the prehistoric fossil of a young woman over 7,200 years old found in the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.

[2][3] Discovered at Leang Panninge ("bat cave" in Bugis language) at the Maros Regency by archaeologists from the University of Hasanuddin in 2015, its formal description including genome sequencing was published in Nature in 2021.

It was a lucky find because, as Brumm explained, "The humid tropics are very unforgiving on DNA preservation in ancient human bones and teeth.

"[2] With the help of geneticist Selina Carlhoff of the Max Planck Institute, Germany, DNA analysis was performed that showed it as belonging to a young female hunter-gatherer who was aged around 17–18 years at her time of death.

It was the first DNA sample of prehistoric humans in Southeast Asia,[2] and it provided the first direct genetic study of the Toalean people.

She shares about half of her genetic makeup with present-day indigenous Australians and people in New Guinea and the Western Pacific, along with a previously unknown divergent human lineage that branched off approximately 37,000 years ago (after Onge-related and Hòabìnhian-related lineages) including substantial DNA (about 2.2%) inherited from the now-extinct humans Denisovans.

[11] Besséʼ at 7,200 years old is an important variation to the established evidences of Wallacean occupation, indicating that there were people who moved there before any of the previously known migration.

[25][26] Her genetic link to east Asian people indicates that eastward migration could have taken place 50,000 years ago from Sulawesi.