First Peoples: two ancient ancestries 'reconverged' with settling of South America

[Judi Lynn]

Published
31 May 2018




Two of the four possible combinations of ancient admixture highlighted by the researchers.

Credit: Scheib/Kivisild/Mahli


New research using ancient DNA finds that a population split after people first arrived in North America was maintained for millennia before mixing again before or during the expansion of humans into the southern continent.

Recent research has suggested that the first people to enter the Americas split into two ancestral branches, the northern and southern, and that the “southern branch” gave rise to all populations in Central and South America.

Now, a study shows for the first time that, deep in their genetic history, the majority – if not all – of the Indigenous peoples of the southern continent retain at least some DNA from the “northern branch”: the direct ancestors of many Native communities living today in the Canadian east.

The latest findings, published today in the journal Science, reveal that, while these two populations may have remained separate for millennia – long enough for distinct genetic ancestries to emerge – they came back together before or during the expansion of people into South America.

More:
http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/first-peoples-two-ancient-ancestries-reconverged-with-settling-of-south-america

Anthropology:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/12293851

[marble falls]

1. What make this so hard to get is the time scale involved and the fact for the most part the movement

was done on foot.

[Judi Lynn]

2. You've got that right. Astounding distance covered from Asia to the south of S. America.

That was no small "feat."

No doubt great expanses of time were spent in the next new locations before anyone decided to move more Southward, too.

So much ahead to discover.

Thank you, marble falls.

[marble falls]

3. You post good stuff, Judi!