Anyone who was here in very small numbers could very easily have had their gene line die out. The Nature study is based purely on DNA testing of several hundred current Native Americans scattered across North and South America; it’s not an archaeological study.
The Euro/native American DNA was most likely from interbreeding between the two groups well after the “discovery” of the Americas.
The X haplogroup being found in the Americas may be from a dual micration (east and west) by asian dna
“In addition, these same researchers have detailed that the mtDNA haplogroup X haplotype present in the Altaians of Siberia is intermediate between Native Americans clades and that of Europeans. As a Russian research group observed, “American Indian and European haplogroup X mtDNAs ... are distantly related to each other”. They propose however not an early European colonization of America, but that Altaians contributed to migrants bound for Europe and America; “The network further suggests that the Altaian X haplotypes occupy the intermediate position between European and American Indian haplogroup X mtDNA lineages”
In 2008 genetics paper on the subject concluded
“Mitochondrial Population Genomics Supports a Single Pre-Clovis Origin with a Coastal Route for the Peopling of the Americas”
“Here we show, by using 86 complete mitochondrial genomes, that all Native American haplogroups, including haplogroup X, were part of a single founding population, thereby refuting multiple-migration models.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18313026
“No mention of the Norsemen that came over?”
Which ones, when?
Lief Ericsson and his party came about 1,000 but left a few years later, when they became concerned about the Skraelings.
I am curious about other Nordic explorations/migrations/settlements.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norse_colonization_of_the_Americas
the norsemen didn’t leave any genetic remnants — it was probably a short-lived colony. I’ve never heard of the Cherokee with European DNA — do you have any links that I can refer please?