The Research We Do
The Henn Lab specializes in studying the origins of modern humans by looking at our DNA. For example, we ask: Did humans originate from a single ancestral population or multiple ancestral populations? We characterize patterns of genetic diversity across Africa, explore the complex history of southern African Khoe-San groups, and uncover evolutionary adaptations to African environments. The Henn Lab works with scientists in Africa, indigenous communities, archaeologists, and paleoanthropologists to test genetic models, and together, suggest directions for future research. This website is dedicated specifically to relaying our population-level ancestry results from communities across the Western and Northern Cape of South Africa.
Learn more about our other work here
You can learn about people’s ancestry from historical documents, oral histories, cultural traditions, and human DNA. Since 2010, we have collected and studied DNA from over 2,000 people of the Western & Northern Cape. Most participants are from communities that retain high levels of Khoe-San ancestry. On average, >48% of the ancestors of self-identified "Coloured" participants were Khoe-San. The further North you go from Cape Town, the more Khoe-San ancestry people have.
Khoe-San people and their ancestors have lived in southern Africa for 120,000 years.
Today, most South Africans can trace their ancestry back to multiple groups of people, including Khoe-San ancestors.
A Bit of
History
People who identify as “Coloured” can have ancestors from 5 different groups: Khoe-San, Bantu-speakers from western and eastern Africa, Europeans, South Asians, and Indonesians.
The ancestors of the Khoe-San people have lived in South Africa for more than 120,000 years. More recently, Bantu-speakers migrated from western Africa into other regions of Africa. For example, the Tswana expanded into the Kalahari only about 400 years ago.
Around the same time, ~400 years ago, Europeans began to settle at the Cape. The Dutch also brought enslaved people from India (South Asia), Indonesia, and Madagascar to the Cape.