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The original Americans came from Siberia in a single wave no more than 23,000 years ago, at the height of the last ice age, and apparently hung out in the north – perhaps for thousands of years – before spreading in two distinct populations throughout North and South America, according to a new genomic analysis.
The findings confirm the most popular theory of the peopling of the Americas, but throws cold water on others. These include the notion of an earlier wave of people from East Asia prior to the last glacial maximum, and the idea that multiple independent waves produced the major subgroups of Native Americans we see today, as opposed to diversification in the Americas. This ice age migration over a land bridge between Siberia and Alaska is distinct from the arrival of the Inuit and Eskimo, who were latecomers, spreading throughout the Arctic beginning about 5,500 years ago. The findings also dispel the idea that Polynesians or Europeans contributed to the genetic heritage of Native Americans.Image credit: David J. Meltzer
