Scientists say they now have DNA evidence that the people known as Native Americans on this continent did descend from people who crossed the Bering land bridge that connected Asia and North America during the ice ages.
A study published online Oct. 26 by a journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was based on the DNA from remains of two babies found buried in central Alaska and analyzed at the University of Utah.
The babies’ remains are the earliest human samples discovered so far in northern North America. The DNA shows they are from lineages that are already identified among Native Americans in North and South America but not among Asians or Siberians, the scientists said.
Their findings support a theory that Native Americans are descendants of people who migrated from Asia to the land bridge and remained there for thousands of years before venturing down into the Americas 15,000 years ago.
“The antiquity and geographic location of these two burials, and the combined genomic and archaeological analyses, provide new perspectives on the link between Asia and the Americas, and the genetic makeup of the first Americans,” the report said.
The scientists looked at maternal genetic material from two infants buried together in Alaska 11,500 years ago. They also concluded that that the babies had different mothers.
While the discovery leaves some questions unanswered about the origins of these lineages, the news came just as the nation was preparing to observe Native American Heritage Month.
