Mystery of Native Americans’ arrival
The Americas’ first human settlers arrived in a complex series of migrations, pushing over the ancient land bridge from Asia at least three times but moving in both directions, with at least one group scrapping it all and bringing themselves and their genetic signature back home to Asia. Research conducted by an international team led by scientists from Harvard University and University College London illuminates the roots of today’s Native Americans through genetic analysis and by comparison with native groups in Siberia. The results, published in the July 11 issue of the journal Nature, examined genetic data from 52 Native American groups and 17 Siberian groups, and helped settle a debate among anthropologists over whether the Americas were settled just once or several times. The results not only show that multiple waves of settlers arrived on the continents’ shores from Asia, but that some groups reversed direction. In addition to those that headed...