A new modern DNA study aims to explain the story of how the first ancient humans arrived in the Americas and their lives after the arrival.
The mystery surrounding how, when and why ancient humans first migrated to the Americas has been of high interests to anthropologists and archaeologists. This topic has also been the subject of many heated debates over the centuries. Several models for the Paleo-Indian settlement of the Americas have been proposed by various academic communities. Modern biochemical techniques, as well as more thorough archaeology have progressively shed more light on the subject. University of Illinois anthropology professor Ripan Malhi is conducting a DNA study to rebuild the story of how ancient humans first came to the Americas and what happened to them once they were here, revealed a press release.
For the study, Malhi will work closely with present-day Native Americans on their genetic history. Through study sites in British Columbia, California, Guatemala, Mexico and Illinois, he hopes to find answers to how and when the Americas were populated and the dynamics of their dispersal and mode of living across the Americas.
"The best opportunity to infer the evolutionary history of Native Americans and to assess the effects of European colonization is to analyze genomes of ancient Native Americans and those of their living descendants," Malhi said. "I think what makes my lab unique is that we focus not only on the initial peopling of the Americas but also what happened after the initial peopling. How did these groups move to new environments and adapt to their local settings over 15,000 years?"
According to Malhi, researchers may sometimes draw wrong conclusions about human history by basing their studies only on ancient artefacts and studying ancient languages. However, genomic studies can help give a clearer picture of life in the Americas before and after European colonization.
"What's interesting about the northwest coast and California is that these communities were complex hunter-gatherer societies, whereas in Mexico and Guatemala, it's more communities that transitioned to farming and then experienced the effects of European colonization," he said.
In a similar study previously conducted by Malhi and his colleagues, the researchers found a direct ancestral link between ancient human remains in the Prince Rupert Island area and the natives living in the region today.
