Ancient human parallel lineages within North America contributed to a coastal expansion.
Christiana Lyn ScheibHongjie LiTariq DesaiVivian LinkChristopher KendallGenevieve DewarPeter William GriffithAlexander MörseburgJohn R JohnsonAmiee PotterSusan L KerrPhillip EndicottJohn LindoMarc HaberYali XueChris Tyler-SmithManjinder S SandhuJoseph G LorenzTori D RandallZuzana FaltyskovaLuca PaganiPetr DanecekTamsin C O'ConnellPatricia MartzAlan S BoraasBrian F ByrdAlan LeventhalRosemary CambraRonald WilliamsonLouis LesageBrian HolguinErnestine Ygnacio-De SotoJohnTommy RosasMait MetspaluJay T StockAndrea ManicaAylwyn ScallyDaniel WegmannRipan Singh MalhiToomas KivisildPublished in: Science (New York, N.Y.) (2018)
Little is known regarding the first people to enter the Americas and their genetic legacy. Genomic analysis of the oldest human remains from the Americas showed a direct relationship between a Clovis-related ancestral population and all modern Central and South Americans as well as a deep split separating them from North Americans in Canada. We present 91 ancient human genomes from California and Southwestern Ontario and demonstrate the existence of two distinct ancestries in North America, which possibly split south of the ice sheets. A contribution from both of these ancestral populations is found in all modern Central and South Americans. The proportions of these two ancestries in ancient and modern populations are consistent with a coastal dispersal and multiple admixture events.