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Nearly one-third of Native American genes come from west Eurasian people linked to the Middle East and Europe, rather than entirely from East Asians as previously thought, according to a newly sequenced genome.
Based on the arm bone of a 24,000-year-old Siberian youth, the research could uncover new origins for America’s indigenous peoples, as well as stir up fresh debate on Native American identities, experts say.
The study authors believe the new study could also help resolve some long-standing puzzles on the peopling of the New World, which include genetic oddities and archaeological inconsistencies. (Explore an atlas of the human journey.)
“These results were a great surprise to us,” said study co-author and ancient-DNA specialist Eske Willerslev, of the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
“I hadn’t expected anything like this. A genome related to present-day western Eurasian populations and modern Native Americans as well was really puzzling in the beginning. How could this happen?”
So what’s new?
The arm bone of a three-year-old boy from the Mal’ta site near the shores of Lake Baikal in south-central Siberia (map) yielded what may be the oldest genome of modern humans ever sequenced.
DNA from the remains revealed genes found today in western Eurasians in the Middle East and Europe, as well as other aspects unique to Native Americans, but no evidence of any relation to modern East Asians. (Related: “Is This Russian Landscape the Birthplace of Native Americans?”)
A second individual genome sequenced from material found at the site and dated to 17,000 years ago revealed a similar genetic structure.
It also provided evidence that humans occupied this region of Siberia throughout the entire brutally cold period of the Last Glacial Maximum, which ended about 13,000 years ago.
Why is it important?
Prevailing theories suggest that Native Americans are descended from a group of East Asians who crossed the Bering Sea via a land bridge perhaps 16,500 years ago, though some sites may evidence an earlier arrival. (See “Siberian, Native American Languages Linked—A First [2008].”)
“This study changes this idea because it shows that a significant minority of Native American ancestry actually derives not from East Asia but from a people related to present-day western Eurasians,” Willerslev said.
“It’s approximately one-third of the genome, and that is a lot,” he added. “So in that regard I think it’s changing quite a bit of the history.”
While the land bridge still formed the gateway to America, the study now portrays Native Americans as a group derived from the meeting of two different populations, one ancestral to East Asians and the other related to western Eurasians, explained Willerslev, whose research was published in the November 20 edition of the journal Nature.
“The meeting of those two groups is what formed Native Americans as we know them.” (Learn more about National Geographic’s Genographic Project.)
What does this mean?
Willerslev believes the discovery provides simpler and more likely explanations to long-standing controversies related to the peopling of the Americas.
“Although we know that North Americans are related to East Asians, it’s striking that no contemporary East Asian populations really resemble Native Americans,” he said.
“It’s not like you can say that they are really closely related to Japanese, Chinese, or Koreans, so there seems to be something missing. But this result makes a lot of sense regarding why they don’t fit so well genetically with contemporary East Asians—because one-third of their genome is derived from another population.”
Interesting. I don’t think this will be the last word on this and given how much has happened in this area just the last 20 years – I expect many more learnings to occur. Let’s march forward and learn! Let science do what science does well – it forces itself to prove things over and over as new information and techniques are found.
This is interesting. There’s certainly a lot more to be studied. If I understand the study correctly they found a 24.000 year old arm bone in Siberia and determined that similar genes can be found in modern day western Eurasians and Native Americans but it didn’t share any genes with east Asians. From that I might say “some Native Americans share similar ancestry as some west Eurasians” but I think it would be premature to make the claim that some Native Americans came from the Middle East. I wouldn’t be surprised, if you go back far enough anyone can come from anywhere.
Quote:DNA from the remains revealed genes found
todayin western Eurasians in the Middle East and Europe, as well as other aspects unique to Native Americans, but no evidence of any relation to modern East Asians. Emphasis added. So the unanswered question is, which way did the genes travel? Do modern day western Eurasians have the gene because people migrated from Siberia or did those ancient Siberians have the gene because people migrated to Siberia from western Eurasia?
Quote:“This study changes this idea because it shows that a significant minority of Native American ancestry actually derives not from East Asia but from a people related to present-day western Eurasians,” Willerslev said.
I may be parsing this wrong but I see them making the claim that some Native Americans come from people living in the Siberia region… and some
present daywestern Eurasians do too. If that’s the case I feel the article’s headline is a little misleading “Native Americans Have West Eurasian Origins.” It would be like saying that I originate from my cousin because we both have similar genes as our common grandfather. This makes perfect sense to me as a believer that the cradle of civilization was in the Middle East. High schoolers are taught it was in Mesopotamia in modern Iraq. I’m not saying I’m not open to other ideas or theories, but if indeed civilization did begin there it also stands to reason that as civilization spread and/or ideas were shared with other civilizations there are going to be some Middle Eastern genes in all of us (just like there are Neanderthal genes in all of us). This does not at all change the land bridge theory of how early Americans got here, although, again, I am open to other ideas or the idea that not all early Americans came from the same place, at the same time, or by the same route. I do not believe the Nephites and Lamanites were the only people here, and in fact they may well have been a minority that lived among others (at least some of the time) in the same way we latter-day saints live among others.
It’s one step closer for scientists to catch up to Joseph Smith. 
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