A facial reconstruction of Ötzi the Iceman.
Image credit: Reconstruction by Kennis © South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, Foto Ochsenreiter
Palaeontologists at the Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil have analysed the DNA recovered from two ancient humans and discovered that they were both carriers of the Human Papillomavirus HPV16, a virus implicated in several cancers. They have presented their evidence, ahead of peer-reviewed publication in the pre-print server, bioRxiv.
The interesting thing from the point of view of virology is that this discovery shed considerable light on when HPV entered the human virome and commenced co-evolving with us, with one theory being that we acquired them from Neanderthals. From the point of view of creationists however, the news could scarcely be worse.
The first sample, obtained from the famous 'Ötzi the Iceman', the 5,300 year-old mummified body recovered from a glacier on the Italian-Austrian border, is probably not too much of a problem for creationists as it just about falls within the timeline of the Bible mythology, apart from the little problem of it being from before they believe the was a general reset of Earth's biosphere in a genocidal flood which would have destroyed the glacier and everything in it, so Ötzi should not have been there.
But, the second is a massive problem, since it was recovered from a leg of a man, Ust'-Ishim man, recovered from western Siberia and dated to 45,000 years BP - way before creationists believe Earth existed, and tens of thousands of years before the mythical 'Fall', when creationists believe viruses didn't exist. This specimen provided the oldest complete human genome so far recovered and the DNA contains the unmistakable genome of HPV16. Creationist mythology just keeps getting further and further from reality as exposed by science using real-world evidence.
Traditionally, creationists claim Earth is 6,000 - 10,000 years old and was created perfect in every way, with no deaths or diseases, so no viruses, parasites or pathogens, bodies that always functioned perfectly and genomes that never failed to replicate perfectly. Then, along came 'sin' which, by some mysterious process, was able to thwart the omnipotent creator god's perfect plan and create viruses and other pathogens and make perfect physiology begin to malfunction and genomes to fail to replicate perfectly, causing variations and genetic weaknesses, etc.
Why a reputedly omnipotent creator failed to anticipate the effects of 'sin' and make its creation robust enough to resist them is never explained, although, apparently, it provided immune systems in preparation for something that, although omniscient, and even claimed to have created 'evil' (Isiah 45:7), it then failed to anticipate. But, as though those myths aren't too ridiculous for any adult with even a basic education to believe, creationists have to continually think of ways to ignore the evidence and continue holding plainly absurd beliefs, under the child-like delusion that their ability to do so is a sign of strength.
The paper itself sets out to address a long-standing question in human virology: how long oncogenic human papillomaviruses have been associated with our species, and whether their origins lie in relatively recent cultural changes or deep evolutionary history.
Background: Human Papillomavirus (HPV). What is HPV?The authors re-examined high-coverage ancient human genome datasets using updated viral reference libraries and stringent ancient-DNA authentication criteria. Rather than searching for disease markers in soft tissue, they focused on short viral DNA fragments preserved incidentally within ancient genomic sequencing reads — an approach that has increasingly proved effective for detecting ancient pathogens.
Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are a large group of double-stranded DNA viruses that infect epithelial tissues in humans. Over 200 distinct HPV types are known, most of which cause no symptoms and are cleared naturally by the immune system.
Low-risk vs high-risk types
HPVs are commonly divided into:
- Low-risk types (e.g. HPV-6 and HPV-11), which can cause benign conditions such as warts.
- High-risk types, most notably HPV-16 and HPV-18, which can persist in host cells and are strongly associated with cancers.
HPV-16 alone is responsible for the majority of HPV-related cancers worldwide.
Diseases associated with HPV
Persistent infection with high-risk HPV types can lead to:
- Cervical cancer
- Anal cancer
- Penile cancer
- Vulvar and vaginal cancers
- A growing proportion of head and neck cancers
These cancers arise when viral genes interfere with normal cell-cycle regulation, increasing the risk of uncontrolled cell division.
Transmission and persistence
HPV is primarily transmitted through close skin-to-skin contact, often during sexual activity. Infection is extremely common — most people will acquire at least one HPV infection during their lifetime. In most cases the immune system clears the virus, but some infections persist for years or decades.
Evolutionary significance
Genetic studies show that HPV has co-evolved with humans over long periods of time. Different HPV lineages broadly mirror human population history, indicating ancient and sustained host–virus association rather than recent emergence.
Why ancient HPV matters
The discovery of HPV DNA in ancient human genomes demonstrates that oncogenic viruses are not recent products of modern lifestyles, agriculture, or population density. Instead, they are long-standing components of the human virome, shaped by evolutionary pressures over tens of thousands of years.
In both the Ötzi and Ust’-Ishim genomes, they identified multiple fragments aligning specifically with HPV16, one of the most oncogenic strains known today. Crucially, these fragments exhibit the characteristic damage patterns of genuinely ancient DNA, including cytosine deamination and fragment length distributions inconsistent with modern contamination. Independent mapping strategies and negative controls further support the conclusion that the viral sequences are authentic.
Phylogenetic analysis places the ancient viral fragments firmly within the same HPV16 lineage circulating in modern human populations, implying a striking degree of evolutionary continuity. This finding directly challenges models in which high-risk HPV strains arose only recently, whether through Neanderthal introgression, the emergence of dense agricultural populations, or other late Holocene processes.
The results suggest that HPV16 has been part of the human virome since at least the Upper Palaeolithic, co-evolving with Homo sapiens for tens of thousands of years. Far from being a late by-product of “fallen” biology or post-agricultural crowding, the virus appears to be an ancient companion of our species — one whose persistence reflects long-term evolutionary dynamics rather than mythical moral catastrophes.
The results indicate that HPV16 has been associated with anatomically modern humans for a very long time, likely well before major population splits outside Africa," or before 50,000 to 60,000 years ago. This supports the idea that oncogenic human papillomaviruses are not recent pathogens but long-term companions of their hosts, evolving alongside primates and humans over extended evolutionary timescales.
Professor Marcelo R. S. Briones, co-author (quoted in LiveScience)
Center for Medical Bioinformatics
Escola Paulista de Medicina
Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP)
São Paulo, Brazil.
Center for Medical Bioinformatics
Escola Paulista de Medicina
Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP)
São Paulo, Brazil.
As a preprint, these conclusions remain subject to peer review, but the methodological care and convergence of evidence make the study difficult to dismiss. Once again, ancient DNA continues to expose just how incompatible creationist narratives are with the biological reality recorded in the genome itself.
Publication:
This study adds to a growing body of evidence showing that viruses, parasites, genetic disorders and disease are not recent intrusions into a once-perfect world, but long-standing features of biological reality. The presence of a highly oncogenic virus such as HPV-16 in humans tens of thousands of years ago is exactly what evolutionary biology predicts: long-term host–pathogen co-evolution shaped by natural selection, immune pressure and population history.
For creationism, however, this kind of evidence is deeply problematic. A virus associated with cancer existing long before agriculture, civilisation, or any supposed moral “Fall” cannot be reconciled with claims of a perfect original creation corrupted only recently by human behaviour. Nor can it be dismissed as a consequence of modern lifestyles, urban crowding or environmental degradation. The genome records a much older, messier and less comforting history.
As with endogenous retroviruses, ancient pathogens revealed by palaeogenomics expose the gulf between myth and measurable reality. They show that suffering, disease and genetic imperfection are not late-stage aberrations but intrinsic consequences of life evolving in a changing world over deep time. No amount of theological special pleading can erase what is written, quite literally, into our DNA.
Once again, it is real-world evidence — not ancient texts, not apologetics, and not wishful thinking — that tells us where we came from and how long we have been here. And every new discovery pushes creationist narratives further from plausibility, while reinforcing the explanatory power of evolution on an ancient Earth.
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