Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences have used DNA analysis to make some unexpected findings concerning Native Americans' heritage. In order to trace an ancestral lineage that would connect East Asian Paleolithic-age groups to founder populations in Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Mexico, and California, researchers looked at mitochondrial DNA passed down in females. They ultimately learned that people moved from northern China to Japan and the Americas during the Ice Age.
Lead author Yu-Chun Li, a molecular anthropologist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, says, "The Asian ancestry of Native Americans is more complicated than previously indicated." We demonstrate that northern coastal China also contributed to the gene pool of Native Americans in addition to the previously mentioned ancestral sources in Siberia, Australo-Melanesia, and Southeast Asia.
Native Americans are generally acknowledged to be descended from Siberians who traversed the impromptu land bridge across the Bering Strait. The Pacific coast is where their ancestors most likely landed, according to recent research published in Cell. By examining more than 100,000 modern DNA samples and 15,000 ancient DNA samples from all around Eurasia, the researchers were able to identify 216 modern people and 39 ancient people who belonged to this unusual ancestry.
It is suggested by genetic mutations, geographic locations, and carbon dating that these explorers arrived in America before the land bridge was opened. They actually think that these brave people crossed over in two waves. There would have been an initial migration—or radiation—between 19,500 and 26,000 years ago. Because of the ice sheets in northern China at the time, individuals would have had to leave to find a more favorable environment.
The second radiation would have taken place between 11,500 and 19,000 years ago, when a population explosion was caused by the melting of these ice sheets. This fact may have encouraged people to go to other areas together with the improved climate.
It's interesting to note that DNA study also revealed a connection between Japanese and Native American populations. The researchers propose that some people from northern China went to Japan during the deicing period, while others left for the Americas. Archaeology lends support to this theory because arrowheads and spearheads from various parts of China, Japan, and the Americas exhibit similarities.
According to lead author Qing-Peng Kong, an evolutionary geneticist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, "this suggests that the Pleistocene connection among the Americas, China, and Japan was not confined to culture but also to genetics."
These discoveries add to our understanding of the history of human evolution, even though the origins of some founder groups are still unknown. The researchers will use this information going ahead as they look into additional Eurasian lineages to learn more about the ancestry of Native Americans.
