¶ … discovery that there are genetic links between Native Americans and Europeans. The conclusions of this research show that ancient Siberians have roots in Europe, not Asia.
The research is based on comparing genomes. The researchers sequenced a genome from 24,000-year-old Siberian boy and compared it with DNA samples from Native Americans, Europeans and Asians. The researchers assume that ancient Siberians crossed the Bering Land Bridge to become native North Americans, but this research shows that ancient Siberians were not entirely Asian, but were only 2/3 Asian and 1/3 from "Western Eurasia." The findings also confirm that while there are traces of European ancestry in many native Americans today, this does not necessarily mean that they had a European ancestor from the post-Columbia era.
The study was focused on genetic information, haplogroup R. And mitochrondial DNA haplogroup U. These markers are common both in those of European ancestry and Asian peoples...
These groups are not found in East Asian people. The researchers were able to therefore confirm that Native Americans, who descended from ancient Siberians -- or more correctly what is known as the Russian Far East -- are not entirely descended from East Asians as was previously thought.
The work is limited in a couple of respects. One factor is that the researchers are still piecing together the theories about the genetics of different groups around the world. This finding basically rules out one prevailing theory about Native American genetics, but replaces it with something that is a bit more wide open. The researchers are careful not to pinpoint with any greater specificity what particular Altaic/European genetics the Native Americans have because the research did not test for that. The research was exploratory in nature, and while the finding was surprising and does inform some theory, it is more of a starting point for further exploration…
