Journal
CURRENT OPINION IN GENETICS & DEVELOPMENT
Volume 41, Issue -, Pages 27-35Publisher
CURRENT BIOLOGY LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.gde.2016.06.016
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- Wenner-Gren foundation
- Swedish Research Council (VR) [2014-453]
- NIH [GM100233]
- NSF HOMINID [BCS-1032255]
- Direct For Social, Behav & Economic Scie
- Division Of Behavioral and Cognitive Sci [1032255] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Whole-genome studies have documented that most Native American ancestry stems from a single population that diversified within the continent more than twelve thousand years ago. However, this shared ancestry hides a more complex history whereby at least four distinct streams of Eurasian migration have contributed to present-day and prehistoric Native American populations. Whole genome studies enhanced by technological breakthroughs in ancient DNA now provide evidence of a sequence of events involving initial migrations from a structured Northeast Asian source population with differential relatedness to present-day Australasian populations, followed by a divergence into northern and southern Native American lineages. During the Holocene, new migrations from Asia introduced the Saqqaq/Dorset Paleoeskimo population to the North American Arctic similar to 4500 years ago, ancestry that is potentially connected with ancestry found in Athabaskan-speakers today. This was then followed by a major new population turnover in the high Arctic involving Thule-related peoples who are the ancestors of present-day Inuit. We highlight several open questions that could be addressed through future genomic research.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available