Genetic Study Reveals Ancient 'Ghost Population' Link Between South American and Australasian Indigenous Groups
Research published in Nature challenges traditional Bering Strait migration model, suggesting unknown ancestral source
L'essentiel
- A study published in Nature reveals that some Indigenous South American populations carry genetic ancestry remarkably similar to Indigenous populations in Australia and Pacific Islands.
- Researchers concluded this ancestry did not come from the Americas' earliest settlers, pointing to an ancient "ghost population" that contributed genes to Amazonian groups.
- The findings challenge the decades-old theory that the Americas were populated through two major migration waves beginning roughly 15,000 years ago via the Bering Strait land bridge.
Résumé généré par IA
Pourquoi c'est important
For decades, scientists believed the Americas were populated through two major migration waves of ancestral groups that began roughly 15,000 years ago across a land bridge in the Bering Strait between Alaska and Siberia. This new study challenges that model by identifying genetic contributions from an unknown ancestral source.
These new settlers carried genes remarkably similar to Indigenous populations in what is now Australia and the Pacific Islands, according to the study published online by the journal Nature on April 22. The researchers concluded that much of the ancestry found in modern Indigenous South Americans did not come primarily from the continent's earliest settlers. The precise origin of these new migrants remained uncertain, they said. The team stressed that the findings did not imply a direct migration from Australasia to South America but instead pointed to an ancient "ghost population" that contributed genetic ancestry to some Indigenous groups in the Amazon. For decades, scientists have believed that the Americas were populated through two major migration waves of ancestral groups that began roughly 15,000 years ago across a land bridge that once existed in the Bering Strait between today's Alaska and Siberia.
Questions ouvertes
- What was the precise geographic origin of the ghost population?
- When did this additional migration occur?
- How did this population interact with the earlier settlers?
- Which specific Indigenous groups in the Amazon carry this ancestry?
