Study: Ancestors of Native Americans came from China
It was widely held before that ancestors of Native Americans came from modern-day Siberia. But now a study has put forth a fascinating idea.
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Human migrations have be part of human history and prehistory. Humans were hunter-gatherers to start with. And even with development of agriculture, the migration went on due to variety of reasons. And study of human migrations as a whole sometimes yields fascinating results.
A study has now found that some of the ancestors of Native Americans in the Americas included people from China! It does appear counterintuitive as China and the US are separated by the vast Pacific Ocean and human migrations, particularly in prehistoric periods did not appear to involve crossing of large water bodies. It was widely held before that ancestors of Native Americans came from modern-day Siberia. They crossed the prehistoric land bridge that joined eastern tip of Russia with Alaska and entered the American continent.
But now, a research says that the some of those people who migrated to the Americas included those from China.
“Our findings indicate that besides the previously indicated ancestral sources of Native Americans in Siberia, the northern coastal China also served as a genetic reservoir contributing to the gene pool,” said Yu-Chun Li, one of the report authors as quoted in a report by The Guardian.
Li also added that during what was called the second migration, some of the people of that lineage settled in Japan.
Kunming Institute of Zoology researchers studied the lineage known as D4h. It is associated with Mitochondrial DNA which is passed on to next generation only by mothers.
The team of researchers analyzed 100,000 modern and 15000 ancient DNA samples to hunt for D4h. The researchers at the end, landed on 216 contemporary and 39 ancient individuals.
They studied the mutations that had occurred over time. By looking at the samples' geographical location and by using carbon dating, the researchers were able to get an idea of D4h's origin and expansion history.
The second migration of people occurred between 19,000 and 11,500 years ago during melting period of the then prevalent ice age. And through this study, the researchers have been able to find surprising link between Native Americans and some of their ancestors who came from China.
“However, we don’t know in which specific place in northern coastal China this expansion occurred and what specific events promoted these migrations,” said Li, as quoted by The Guardian.
“More evidence, especially ancient genomes, are needed to answer these questions.”
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