title: A genomic view of the peopling of the Americas.
abstract: Whole-genome studies have documented that most Native American ancestry stems from a single population that diversified within the continent more than twelve thousand years ago. However, this shared ancestry hides a more complex history whereby at least four distinct streams of Eurasian migration have contributed to present-day and prehistoric Native American populations. Whole genome studies enhanced by technological breakthroughs in ancient DNA now provide evidence of a sequence of events involving initial migrations from a structured Northeast Asian source population with differential relatedness to present-day Australasian populations, followed by a divergence into northern and southern Native American lineages. During the Holocene, new migrations from Asia introduced the Saqqaq/Dorset Paleoeskimo population to the North American Arctic ∼4500 years ago, ancestry that is potentially connected with ancestry found in Athabaskan-speakers today. This was then followed by a major new population turnover in the high Arctic involving Thule-related peoples who are the ancestors of present-day Inuit. We highlight several open questions that could be addressed through future genomic research.
authors: Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA; Department of Archaeology and Classical History, Stockholm, Sweden. Electronic address: pontus.skoglund@gmail.com.
authors: Pontus
authors: P
authors: Skoglund
authors: Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Boston, MA, USA.
authors: David
authors: D
authors: Reich
mesh_terms: D000569:Americas; D001110:Arctic Regions; D001208:Asia; D015894:Genome, Human; D023281:Genomics; D049690:History, Ancient; D063426:Human Migration; D006801:Humans; D007198:Indians, North American / Q000235:genetics* / Q000266:history; D009656:North America