Study suggests that the first humans in the Americas also came from China

A group of Chinese scientists has put forward a new migration phenomenon that would have replenished the population of America.

Through DNA tracing of a female lineage from China’s northern coast, it was discovered that there were two migrations from China to the Americas in the last ice age, as well as a third that moved towards Japan.

Scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences published details of the research Cell reports.

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“The Asian ancestry of Native Americans is more complicated than previously suggested” because “in addition to previously described ancestral sources in Siberia, Australo-Melanesia and Southeast Asia, we now see that the northern coast of China has also contributed to the lore. Genetics of Native Americans,” sums up anthropologist and first author Yu-Chun Li, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Tracing an ancestral lineage can be linked to Paleolithic populations in East Asia with populations from Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Mexico and California.

Lineage is present in mitochondrial DNA, which can be used to trace kinship through the female line.

After analyzing more than 100,000 contemporary and 15,000 ancient DNA samples from across Eurasia, they identified 216 contemporary and 39 ancient individuals belonging to this rare lineage and tracked the branching path.

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For example, they identified two migration events from China’s north coast to the Americas, and in both cases they believe the travelers probably landed in America via the Pacific coast rather than crossing the ice-free inner corridor (which would not have happened). found it). open at that time).

The researchers described that the first migration occurred between 19,500 and 26,000 years ago, with the densest ice sheet. While the second was between 19,000 and 11,500 years ago, during the deglaciation.

While the study focused on mitochondrial DNA, additional Y-chromosomal DNA evidence suggests that Native American male ancestors also lived in northern China around the same time as these female ancestors.

This study adds another piece to the Native American ancestry puzzle, but “their origins remain imprecise or controversial.” More Eurasian lineages need to be collected to get “a more complete picture” of Native American origins, Kong concludes.