DNA tracks ancient Alaskan's descendants [ On Your Knees Cave man ]

ADN ^ | December 28th, 2008 | George Bryson

[SunkenCiv]

An ancient mariner who lived and died 10,000 years ago on an island west of Ketchikan probably doesn't have any close relatives left in Alaska... But some of them migrated south and their descendents can be found today in coastal Native American populations in California, Mexico, Ecuador, Chile and Argentina. That's some of what scientists learned this summer by examining the DNA of Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian Indians in Southeast Alaska. Working with elders at a cultural festival in Juneau, they interviewed more than 200 Native Alaskans who allowed them to swab tiny amounts of saliva from their cheeks to capture their mitochondrial DNA, the genetic material that's passed from mothers to children... None of the participants possessed DNA similar to that extracted from On Your Knees Cave man, the 10,300-year-old Alaskan whose remains were discovered 12 years ago in a shallow cavern on Prince of Wales Island... But some participants appear to be closely linked genetically to coastal Indian tribes in British Columbia and Washington state, in spite of anthropological studies that claim Tlingits were originally an Interior people, like the nearby Athabascans... Laboring two years as a graduate student, Kemp finally succeeded in extracting mitochondrial DNA from one of the caveman's teeth, the oldest DNA sample ever recovered in the Americas at the time. It clearly placed On Your Knees Cave man in the "haplogroup-D" branch of the human family tree... On closer inspection, however, Kemp found that On Your Knees Cave man belonged more specifically to the genetic sub-group D4H3, which may have shown up as recently as 20,000 years ago. Still, it's an exclusive group. Less than 2 percent of all Native Americans share that signature.

[SunkenCiv]

subtitled "10,300 Years Old: Tests of Southeast Natives challenge prior anthropological results".

[SunkenCiv]

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[muawiyah]

For about the 29,873rd time, all strange wanderings of Mitochondrial DNA samples are evidence for human continuation of the ancient chimp practice of tribal swapping of girls.

[mysterio]

I would love to have my DNA examined to see the migration habits of my ancestors.

[Coyoteman]

Nice article.

That's some good additional information, but the real news is from a couple of years ago in Kemp's sequencing of the D4h3 haplotype from On Your Knees Cave. That partial skeleton was dated to 10,300 years ago.

And the D4h3 haplotype was found along the west coast of both North and South America, all the way to the southern tip.

That's the best evidence so far for the early coastal migration.

From my own work, it looks like a subdivision of the A1 haplotype also will tie in to that early coastal migration.

Exciting times to be doing archaeology!

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks CM.

[martin_fierro]

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[pankot]

National Geographic did run such a service as part of their study. You might still be able to do it, I did mine about 10 years ago. Cost was in $100 plus range.

[dodger]

That can be done via the Genographic Project ... https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/index.html

[wolfcreek]

And because common problems of human males (jealousy and venereal disease) would explain their virtual disappearance.

[Pharmboy]

Great (bone and DNA) find, great post! Happy New Year!!

[Hawthorn]

> That can be done via the Genographic Project ...

> https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/index.html

Excellent advice! I second the recommendation for any man who wants to study the "deep ancestry" of his unbroken male-to-male line, or for any woman who wants to study the deep ancestry of her unbroken female-to-female line.

And after you receive your NGS results, be sure to transfer them (free of charge) to FTDNA (Family Tree DNA), which will allow you to use the same DNA information for genealogical applications -- in addition to your "deep ancestral" research.

(The NGS study is designed to tell something about where your ancestors lived thousands of years ago. On the other hand, the genealogical application of the same data via FTDNA will help you find families to whom you're related within the last few hundred years.)

[mysterio]

Thanks for the link. I am considering doing this.

[Dilbert San Diego]

Will the MSM pick this story up? Since it involves Alaska, it’s a perfect set-up for them to slam Sarah Palin one more time.