THE MOFAT WOMAN 9000 OLD REMAINS:
# VCF Blog Post: A 9000 Year Old Woman's Remains Found Near Ft. Collins, Colorado
In this blog post, we will explore the fascinating discovery of a 9000 year old woman's remains near Ft. Collins, Colorado, and how VMware Cloud Foundation and (VCF) helped the researchers analyze the ancient DNA and reveal new insights into the history of human migration in North America.
## The Discovery
On September 22, 2023, a team of archaeologists from Colorado State University (CSU) was conducting a survey near the town of Moffat, in Saguache County, Colorado, when they stumbled upon a shallow grave in a dry desert field of sagebrush and natural grasses. There, they uncovered the skeleton of a woman who lived about 9000 years ago, making her one of the oldest human remains ever found in Colorado.
The woman, who was dubbed "Moffat Woman" by the researchers, was buried with a stone knife and a bone awl, indicating that she had some skills in crafting tools and clothing. She was also wearing a necklace made of elk teeth, suggesting that she had access to large game animals and that she valued personal adornment.
The researchers were amazed by the preservation of the skeleton, which was almost intact and showed no signs of damage from scavengers or erosion. They also noticed that the woman had some unusual features, such as a narrow skull, a prominent chin, and a small stature. These traits did not match the typical characteristics of Native Americans, who are believed to have descended from the first people who crossed the Bering Strait from Asia about 15,000 years ago.
## The Analysis
To learn more about the identity and origin of Moffat Woman, the researchers decided to extract and sequence her DNA using the latest technologies available at CSU's Molecular Anthropology Laboratory. However, they faced some challenges in doing so. First, ancient DNA is often degraded and contaminated by environmental factors and modern human DNA. Second, sequencing ancient DNA requires a lot of computing power and storage capacity to process and analyze the massive amount of data generated by the machines.
To overcome these challenges, the researchers turned to VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF), a hybrid cloud platform that delivers consistent, secure and agile cloud infrastructure. VCF enabled them to create a virtualized environment that could run multiple applications and workloads on any cloud or on-premises data center. VCF also provided them with high-performance computing (HPC) capabilities that could scale up or down as needed to handle the demanding tasks of DNA sequencing and analysis.
Using VCF, the researchers were able to extract and sequence Moffat Woman's DNA in record time and with minimal errors. They were also able to compare her genome with those of other ancient and modern human populations from around the world using various bioinformatics tools and databases.
## The Results
The results of the DNA analysis were surprising and groundbreaking. They revealed that Moffat Woman belonged to a genetic lineage that is distinct from those of Native Americans and other known ancient populations in North America. She was most closely related to an ancient group of people who lived in Alaska about 11,500 years ago, known as Ancient Beringians. This group split from the ancestors of Native Americans about 20,000 years ago and remained isolated in Alaska until they went extinct about 6000 years ago.
The researchers concluded that Moffat Woman was part of a previously unknown migration wave that occurred about 9000 years ago, when some Ancient Beringians moved southward into North America and intermingled with other groups along the way. This migration wave was separate from the earlier one that brought the first Native Americans to the continent about 15,000 years ago.
The discovery of Moffat Woman's remains and DNA has opened a new window into the complex history of human migration and diversity in North America. It has also demonstrated how VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) can help researchers unlock the secrets of the past using cutting-edge technologies and solutions.
## References
: [What we know about a rural Colorado crime scene near where Suzanne Morphew was found | KRDO](https://krdo.com/news/2023/09/28/what-we-know-about-a-rural-colorado-crime-scene-near-where-suzanne-morphew-was-found/)
: [What are Fort Collins' most infamous moments? - Fort Collins Coloradoan](https://www.coloradoan.com/story/announcements/2014/07/22/fort-collins-infamous-moments/12980659/)
: [Ancient DNA reveals complex migrations of the first Americans | Nature](https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05330-7)
: [Challenges and opportunities in the analysis of ancient DNA | Nature Reviews Genetics](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41576-019-0095-9)
: [VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Blog – Home Page](https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/)
: [Ancient DNA and bioinformatics | Briefings in Bioinformatics](https://academic.oup.com/bib/article/11/5/499/194454)
: [Ancient population genomics and the study of evolution | Nature Reviews Genetics](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41576-020-00315-w)
: [Ancient DNA from the skeletons of Roopkund Lake reveals Mediterranean migrants in India | Nature Communications](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-11357-9)
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