Human ancestor genomes 'feasible', after scientists sequence ancient horse DNA BLUEPRINTS of humans' prehistoric ancestors may be just around the corner, after scientists sequenced the genome of an ancient horse from a 700,000 year-old bone found in the Canadian permafrost. The feat, reported today in the journal Nature, has produced easily the oldest genome so far. The previous record came from an 80,000 year-old finger bone of a Denisovan, a cousin to the Neanderthals.