title: The genetic prehistory of the New World Arctic.
abstract: The New World Arctic, the last region of the Americas to be populated by humans, has a relatively well-researched archaeology, but an understanding of its genetic history is lacking. We present genome-wide sequence data from ancient and present-day humans from Greenland, Arctic Canada, Alaska, Aleutian Islands, and Siberia. We show that Paleo-Eskimos (~3000 BCE to 1300 CE) represent a migration pulse into the Americas independent of both Native American and Inuit expansions. Furthermore, the genetic continuity characterizing the Paleo-Eskimo period was interrupted by the arrival of a new population, representing the ancestors of present-day Inuit, with evidence of past gene flow between these lineages. Despite periodic abandonment of major Arctic regions, a single Paleo-Eskimo metapopulation likely survived in near-isolation for more than 4000 years, only to vanish around 700 years ago.
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Maanasa
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authors.lastname: Raghavan
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University, 502 Wartik Laboratory, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
authors.forename: Michael
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authors.lastname: DeGiorgio
authors.affiliation: Bioinformatics Centre, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Ole Maaloes Vej 5, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Anders
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authors.lastname: Albrechtsen
authors.affiliation: Bioinformatics Centre, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Ole Maaloes Vej 5, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark. Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
authors.forename: Ida
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Moltke
authors.affiliation: Department of Evolutionary Biology, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18D, 75236 Uppsala, Sweden. Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Pontus
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Skoglund
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Thorfinn S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Korneliussen
authors.affiliation: Arctic Centre at the Ethnographic Collections (SILA), National Museum of Denmark, Frederiksholms Kanal 12, 1220 Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Bjarne
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Grønnow
authors.affiliation: Arctic Centre at the Ethnographic Collections (SILA), National Museum of Denmark, Frederiksholms Kanal 12, 1220 Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Martin
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authors.lastname: Appelt
authors.affiliation: Arctic Centre at the Ethnographic Collections (SILA), National Museum of Denmark, Frederiksholms Kanal 12, 1220 Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Hans Christian
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Gulløv
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2S2, Canada.
authors.forename: T Max
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Friesen
authors.affiliation: Arctic Studies Center, Post Office Box 37012, Department of Anthropology, MRC 112, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20013-7012, USA.
authors.forename: William
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authors.lastname: Fitzhugh
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark. Department of Evolutionary Biology, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18D, 75236 Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Helena
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authors.lastname: Malmström
authors.affiliation: Center for Biological Sequence Analysis, Department of Systems Biology, Technical University of Denmark, Kemitorvet, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark.
authors.forename: Simon
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authors.lastname: Rasmussen
authors.affiliation: AMS 14C Dating Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 120, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.
authors.forename: Jesper
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authors.affiliation: Anthropological Laboratory, Institute of Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Frederik V's Vej 11, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.
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authors.lastname: Melchior
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA.
authors.forename: Benjamin T
authors.initials: BT
authors.lastname: Fuller
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA.
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authors.initials: SM
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authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark. AMS 14C Dating Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 120, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Stafford
authors.affiliation: Department of Archaeology, Memorial University, Queen's College, 210 Prince Philip Drive, St. John's, Newfoundland, A1C 5S7, Canada. Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Vaughan
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authors.affiliation: Department of Archaeology, Memorial University, Queen's College, 210 Prince Philip Drive, St. John's, Newfoundland, A1C 5S7, Canada.
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authors.initials: MA
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authors.forename: Jerome
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authors.lastname: Cybulski
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authors.forename: Niels
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Lynnerup
authors.affiliation: Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1QH, UK.
authors.forename: Marta Mirazon
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Lahr
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany. Department of Archaeology, University of Aberdeen, St. Mary's Building, Elphinstone Road, Aberdeen AB24 3UF, Scotland, UK.
authors.forename: Kate
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Britton
authors.affiliation: Department of Archaeology, University of Aberdeen, St. Mary's Building, Elphinstone Road, Aberdeen AB24 3UF, Scotland, UK.
authors.forename: Rick
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Knecht
authors.affiliation: National Museum of Denmark, Frederiksholms kanal 12, 1220 Copenhagen, Denmark. School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9XP, UK.
authors.forename: Jette
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authors.forename: Mait
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authors.lastname: Metspalu
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. School of Biological Sciences, Washington State University, Post Office Box 644236, Pullman, WA 99164, USA.
authors.forename: Omar E
authors.initials: OE
authors.lastname: Cornejo
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Anna-Sapfo
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Malaspinas
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. Ancestry.com DNA LLC, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA.
authors.forename: Yong
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authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark.
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authors.affiliation: Informatics and Bio-computing, Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, 661 University Avenue, Suite 510, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 0A3, Canada.
authors.forename: Vibha
authors.initials: V
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authors.affiliation: Center for Genomic Medicine, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Blegdamsvej 9, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Thomas V O
authors.initials: TV
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authors.affiliation: Institute of Biochemistry and Genetics, Ufa Scientific Center of Russian Academy of Sciences, Ufa, Russia. Department of Genetics and Fundamental Medicine, Bashkir State University, Ufa, Bashkortostan 450074, Russia.
authors.forename: Elza
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authors.lastname: Khusnutdinova
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Tracey
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authors.lastname: Pierre
authors.affiliation: State Museum for Oriental Art, 12a, Nikitsky Boulevard, Moscow 119019, Russia.
authors.forename: Kirill
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authors.affiliation: Greenland National Museum and Archives, Post Office Box 145, 3900 Nuuk, Greenland.
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authors.affiliation: Greenland National Museum and Archives, Post Office Box 145, 3900 Nuuk, Greenland.
authors.forename: Hans
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authors.affiliation: Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Molecular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL 60611, USA. Department of Anthropology, Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA. Center for Genetic Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL 60611, USA.
authors.forename: M Geoffrey
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authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA.
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authors.affiliation: Research Centre for Medical Genetics of Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, 1 Moskvorechie, Moscow 115478, Russia.
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authors.initials: VA
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authors.affiliation: Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
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authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark.
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authors.forename: Dennis H
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authors.affiliation: Department of Evolutionary Biology, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18D, 75236 Uppsala, Sweden.
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authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark.
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authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
authors.forename: Rasmus
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authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark. ewillerslev@snm.ku.dk.
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mesh_terms: D000413:Alaska / Q000208:ethnology; D001110:Arctic Regions / Q000208:ethnology; D001483:Base Sequence; D001842:Bone and Bones; D002170:Canada / Q000208:ethnology; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D015894:Genome, Human / Q000235:genetics*; D006116:Greenland / Q000208:ethnology; D006197:Hair; D049690:History, Ancient; D063426:Human Migration; D006801:Humans; D004930:Inuit / Q000208:ethnology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000266:history; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012800:Siberia / Q000208:ethnology; D017741:Survivors / Q000266:history; D014070:Tooth
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial