2014/08/28 by Maanasa Raghavan, Michael DeGiorgio, Anders Albrechtsen +53 · 7 citations
Health Professions · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Indigenous Studies and Ecology #Forensic and Genetic Research
paper · doi:10.1126/science.1255832
openalex publication_date 2014/08/28 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
The New World Arctic, the last region of the Americas to be populated by humans, has a relatively well-researched archaeology, but an understanding of its genetic history is lacking. We present genome-wide sequence data from ancient and present-day humans from Greenland, Arctic Canada, Alaska, Aleutian Islands, and Siberia. We show that Paleo-Eskimos (~3000 BCE to 1300 CE) represent a migration pulse into the Americas independent of both Native American and Inuit expansions. Furthermore, the genetic continuity characterizing the Paleo-Eskimo period was interrupted by the arrival of a new population, representing the ancestors of present-day Inuit, with evidence of past gene flow between these lineages. Despite periodic abandonment of major Arctic regions, a single Paleo-Eskimo metapopulation likely survived in near-isolation for more than 4000 years, only to vanish around 700 years ago.