title: Faunal record identifies Bering isthmus conditions as constraint to end-Pleistocene migration to the New World.
abstract: Human colonization of the New World is generally believed to have entailed migrations from Siberia across the Bering isthmus. However, the limited archaeological record of these migrations means that details of the timing, cause and rate remain cryptic. Here, we have used a combination of ancient DNA, 14C dating, hydrogen and oxygen isotopes, and collagen sequencing to explore the colonization history of one of the few other large mammals to have successfully migrated into the Americas at this time: the North American elk (Cervus elaphus canadensis), also known as wapiti. We identify a long-term occupation of northeast Siberia, far beyond the species's current Old World distribution. Migration into North America occurred at the end of the last glaciation, while the northeast Siberian source population became extinct only within the last 500 years. This finding is congruent with a similar proposed delay in human colonization, inferred from modern human mitochondrial DNA, and suggestions that the Bering isthmus was not traversable during parts of the Late Pleistocene. Our data imply a fundamental constraint in crossing Beringia, placing limits on the age and mode of human settlement in the Americas, and further establish the utility of ancient DNA in palaeontological investigations of species histories.
authors: Zoological Museum and Department of Zoology, Institute of Archaeology, The Steinhardt National Collection of Natural History, Tel Aviv University, , Tel Aviv 69978, Israel, Earth Sciences Department, Natural History Museum, , Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK, Department of Archaeology, University of York, , Heslington, York YO10 5YW, UK, Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, , Cambridge, MA 02138, USA, Center for the Study of the First Americans, Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University, , College Station, TX 77843, USA, Department of Geography, University of London, , Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, UK, School of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway, University of London, , Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, UK, Department of Tourism and Culture, Government of Yukon, , PO Box 2703, Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada , Y1A 2C6, Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska, , Fairbanks, AK 99709, USA, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences (SB RAS), Diamond and Precious Metals Geology Institute, , 39 Prospect Lenina, Yakutsk 677980, Russia, M. K. Ammosov's North-Eastern Federal University, , 48 Kulakovsky street, Yakutsk 677013, Russia, Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, , Universitetskaya nab. 1, St Petersburg 199034, Russia.
authors: Meirav
authors: M
authors: Meiri
authors: Adrian M
authors: AM
authors: Lister
authors: Matthew J
authors: MJ
authors: Collins
authors: Noreen
authors: N
authors: Tuross
authors: Ted
authors: T
authors: Goebel
authors: Simon
authors: S
authors: Blockley
authors: Grant D
authors: GD
authors: Zazula
authors: Nienke
authors: N
authors: van Doorn
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Dale Guthrie
authors: Gennady G
authors: GG
authors: Boeskorov
authors: Gennady F
authors: GF
authors: Baryshnikov
authors: Andrei
authors: A
authors: Sher
authors: Ian
authors: I
authors: Barnes
mesh_terms: D000413:Alaska; D025041:Animal Migration / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis; D002980:Climate; D003094:Collagen / Q000235:genetics; D003670:Deer / Q000235:genetics*; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008957:Models, Genetic; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D010103:Oxygen Isotopes / Q000032:analysis; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012800:Siberia; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization; D014316:Tritium / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes; D010103:Oxygen Isotopes; D014316:Tritium; D003094:Collagen
keywords: Bering isthmus; Beringia; Pleistocene; ancient DNA; wapiti