Gene Study Supports Single Bering Strait Migration

Invisible Pink Unicorn writes "One of the most comprehensive analyses of genetic variation ever undertaken supports the theory that the ancestors of modern native peoples throughout the Americas came from a single source in East Asia across a northwest land bridge some 12,000 years ago. One particular discovery is of a 'unique genetic variant widespread in natives across both continents — suggesting that the first humans in the Americas came in a single migration or multiple waves from a single source, not in waves of migrations from different sources.' The full article is available online from PLoS."

Comments

Land bridge vs ?

[CodeShark]

Very interesting articles, and no, in advance I am not a geneticist.

What I find interesting about this article isn't in the science -- it's in the data as reported. So they gathered Native American folks together and performed some very advanced genetic analysis -- which in essence leads to the conclusion that "all folks in the group have certain genetic markers", and the closer you get to the so called "Bering land bridge" (heck, coulda been ice and canoes too....), the more genetically alike the people are. Okay, I'll buy that. Considering that the Inuit peoples, etc. are even now visually related to the folks from the step areas of northern China and Siberia than say, the native folks from Columbia. Who are more related to each other and the folks just north than say, I am [my ancestry is such that I'm one of those blue eyed migrant mutt imports from northern European countries who emigrated to what is now the US in the 17th and 18th centuries ]. What I don't see is evidence that says "all ancient peoples from all cultures including dead ones" (Mayan, etc.) share this same gene pool and no one else. Or that the folks from the Steppes of east Asia aren't themselves migrants at the same time and from the same gene pool as folks that arrived in the Americas at some distant point in the past.

My point is, the science seems interesting...but the explanation of the data is not exclusive nor conclusive regarding other possible genetically analyzable possibilities. So the jury will still be out until at some point in the future, until all of the other plausible possibilities have been ruled out.