a recent genetic study showed unexpected data for scientists who, for years, have been dedicated to the study of American continent, the last to be populated by humans.
The document published this Tuesday in the scientific journal Cell Reports gave them more clues about these first populations who arrived in the territory and revealed that it was migrants from China. The two trips that were identified occurred during the Ice Age and soon after.
“Our findings indicate that, in addition to what has been noted about the ancestral Siberian origins of Amerindians, the north coast of China also served as a gene pool” for the populations of the Americas, he commented in dialogue with the agency AFP Yu Chun Lione of the authors of the report.
This discovery broke with the belief that scientists had for years, which held that the inhabitants of Siberia They had crossed over to the mainland through a strip of land in the Bering Strait -currently an arm of the sea that separates Russia from Alaska-. This suggested to them, then, that they had been the only ancestors of the Amerindians.
However, since the late 2000s, experts have been finding villages in Asia that could be linked to the first populations of the region, in countries like bolivian, Brazil, Chili, Ecuador, Mexico and the state of California.
This new study was spearheaded by the team of Kunming zoologyin the Chinese province of Yunnan, and studied tens of thousands of DNA samples and their mutations. Between them, 216 Recent specimens exhibited a common lineage with 39 ancient descendantsdistributed in what was concluded, were two waves of migration.
Added to this, the complementary evidence of the Y-chromosomal DNA suggested that the male ancestors of the Amerindians lived in northern China at the same time as the female ancestors.
However, “we do not know in which specific places on the north coast of China these migrations occurred and what specific events promoted them. More evidence, especially ancient genomes, is needed to answer these questions,” Li added.
The first wave started 26,000 years and ended ago 19,500 yearsduring the last ice age. At that time, the ice sheet was at its highest point, so the climate north of the Asian giant probably made the region inhospitable.
Meanwhile, the second began in the period of melting of the ice -a few 19,000 years– and lasted until recently 11,500 years. Experts believe that, in this case, she may have been driven by a increase in human population.
In any case, on this occasion, not all the population went to the American continent, since there is evidence that some people settled in Japan. A subgroup branched out from China’s north coast to Japan, contributing to its people and to the indigenous Ainu, the study continues.
Li added that this explains the similarities observed between the arrows and prehistoric spears found in the three places.
One aspect that both waves did have in common was that they tried to Travellers marine who docked in America after having sailed along the coast of Peacefulgiven that -then- there was no grassy passage between two layers in the area of Canada -today known as the “Inner Ice-Free Corridor”.
(With information from AFP)
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