Ancient DNA Links Native Americans to Europe

Science Magazine ^ | 11/5/13 | Michael Balter

[ek_hornbeck]

SANTA FE—Where did the first Americans come from? Most researchers agree that Paleoamericans moved across the Bering Land Bridge from Asia sometime before 15,000 years ago, suggesting roots in East Asia. But just where the source populations arose has long been a mystery.

Now comes a surprising twist, from the complete nuclear genome of a Siberian boy who died 24,000 years ago—the oldest complete genome of a modern human sequenced to date. His DNA shows close ties to those of today's Native Americans. Yet he apparently descended not from East Asians, but from people who had lived in Europe or western Asia. The finding suggests that about a third of the ancestry of today's Native Americans can be traced to "western Eurasia," with the other two-thirds coming from eastern Asia, according to a talk at a meeting* here by ancient DNA expert Eske Willerslev of the University of Copenhagen. It also implies that traces of European ancestry previously detected in modern Native Americans do not come solely from mixing with European colonists, as most scientists had assumed, but have much deeper roots.

[ek_hornbeck]

This explains the European-like features of Kennewick man, and of some extant Indian tribes.

[DManA]

There is an ancient tribe in Japan that has very Caucasian features. Did they come from the west or did they evolve their “unasian” looks independently? How knows.

One theory is that this is the people that made their way to America, probably in boats.

[sickoflibs]

Maybe they sailed there in Noah’s Ark ...with all the Kinds

LOL

[MestaMachine]

Anyone ever consider that DNA links Europe to Native Americans and they have it backwards? Native Americans didn’t come from Europe. Europeans came from Native Americans. This has been my contention all along. They are doing history backwards.

[Sacajaweau]

Grant Money is forever. All you need is an opinion. If you differ from your buddy scientist..all the better...you both get Grant Money.

[warchild9]

The archaeological record in Europe is 10x as old as that of North America.

Cool idea, though

[babble-on]

We’re all very different people. We’re not Watusi. We’re not Spartans. We’re Americans, with a capital ‘A’, huh? You know what that means? Do ya? That means that our forefathers were kicked out of every decent country in the world. We are the wretched refuse. We’re the underdog. We’re mutts!

-John Winger

[Billthedrill]

Ooh - got a Nez Perce buddy. I'm going to tell him he's French.

And run.

[bunkerhill7]

Western Asia is Turkey.

Sounds like a lot of Istanbul to me.

[Gaffer]

Who really cares? Will this sublimate American Indians now into that hated class of European Origin White Anglo Saxons?

Will it take away their special sovereignty that allows them to steal from Americans via their gambling reservations?

Will it change their preferential treatment in most any government consideration?

[I am 1/16 Cherokee, BTW. but that’s not good enough to be ‘made’ in the Indian Mafia]

[muir_redwoods]

They are the Ainu, the original inhabitants of Japan and they probably descended from siberians. Many of the original Ainu had red hair. The population is now largely mixed with the East Asians who subsequently settled Japan.

[vortec94]

That’s my thought as well. Eastern Native Americans look a lot like Europeans while Western Native Americans appear more Oriental. They originated here.

[MestaMachine]

They have ignore North Ameica for years because they simply accepted the theory that this country and continent were settled from without. I never accepted that premise and I don’t accept it now. Archaeology in North America has been lacking and still, as of now, we are the undiscovered country. Just watch. There are more than a few surprises awaiting those who accept theories with no basis in fact and the Bering Bridge was one of them.

[DManA]

Don’t tell ME you didn’t cry when Ol’ Yeller died.

[muir_redwoods]

1/32nd was good enough for the Mashantucket Pequots of Connecticut and they would still give you a preference in hiring and promotion if you went to work for them. If they had’n’t screwed to pooch and driven Foxwoods Casino into the ground so nobody is getting hired or promoted.

[Magnatron]

Guess that explains this:

[epluribus_2]

Actually a whole lot of Amerinds have french in them - the voyageurs did not bring their wives along unlike he English. Made the cultures get along much better. French were pretty sturdy folk back then. Still are in Quebec. See NHL.

[Psalm 73]

"One theory is that this is the people that made their way to America, probably in boats."

I'm glad you added that "probably in boats" part - don't think they had direct flights back then.............

[Archie Bunker on steroids]

Many notable Eastern US Indians may look a little European to you. That is because during that era, English/French had already sprinkled there DNA into the pool. Plus, some believe that Northern Europeans may have co-mingled 1K years ago.
What interests me is that the oldest Archaeological sites are in the southern most part of South America....many state that those people may have come from the South Pacific. Most ancient Indian or Siberian American (to be PC consistent) evidence is at the bottom of the ocean as Indians did not recycle enough and the climate changed.

[Alter Kaker]

Archeologists have finally revealed what Asians of European ancestry who later migrated to America looked like!