DNA from pre-Clovis human coprolites in Oregon, North America.
The timing of the first human migration into the Americas and its relation to the appearance of the Clovis technological complex in North America at about 11,000 to 10,800 radiocarbon years before the present (14C years B.P.) remains contentious. We establish that humans were present at Paisley 5 Mile Point Caves, in south-central Oregon, by 12,300 14C years B.P., through the recovery of human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from coprolites, directly dated by accelerator mass spectrometry. The mtDNA corresponds to Native American founding haplogroups A2 and B2. The dates of the coprolites are >1000 14C years earlier than currently accepted dates for the Clovis complex.
Gilbert
M Thomas P
MT
Centre for Ancient Genetics, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.
Jenkins
Dennis L
DL
Götherstrom
Anders
A
Naveran
Nuria
N
Sanchez
Juan J
JJ
Hofreiter
Michael
M
Thomsen
Philip Francis
PF
Binladen
Jonas
J
Higham
Thomas F G
TF
Yohe
Robert M
RM
Parr
Robert
R
Cummings
Linda Scott
LS
Willerslev
Eske
E
D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D046028:Canidae / Q000235:genetics; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D005243:Feces; D005580:Fossils; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009656:North America; D009922:Oregon; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D012589:Sciuridae / Q000235:genetics; D016205:Sigmodontinae / Q000235:genetics; D013995:Time
D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial