Scientists unearth 1st direct evidence of 1st Americans

[Panich52]

From EarthSky

Genetic analysis of 11,500-year-old DNA from an infant found at the Upward Sun River archaeological site in Interior Alaska is evidence of a previously unknown population of ancient people in North America. The researchers – whose findings were published January 3, 2018 in the journal Nature – have named the new group “Ancient Beringians.”

Ben Potter is a lead author of the study and a professor of anthropology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Potter said in a statement:

We didn’t know this population existed. These data also provide the first direct evidence of the initial founding Native American population, which sheds new light on how these early populations were migrating and settling throughout North America.

The analysis suggests that a single founding ancestral Native American group split from East Asians about 35,000 years ago. That group then split into two groups about 20,000 years ago – the Ancient Beringians and the ancestors of all other Native Americans.

More:
http://earthsky.org/human-world/newly-discovered-ancient-americans?mc_cid=4ede6cb508&mc_eid=dc13e7b006