Editor&#8217;s note 3/17: Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates wrote about Kasia&#8217;s research and &#8220;hidden African ancestry&#8221; in the The Root. Check it out.
Scientists have long used DNA to inform our understanding of big epochs of<a href="http://admixturemap.paintmychromosomes.com/"> human change and migration</a>. But what about the smaller changes, can DNA tell us something about recent human history?
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-full wp-image-4565" alt="diversity photo" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/iStock_000004751590XSmall.jpg" width="300" height="199" />
23andMe researcher Katarzyna &#8220;Kasia&#8221; Bryc, who is also a postdoctoral research fellow in<a href="http://genetics.med.harvard.edu/reich/Reich_Lab/Welcome.html"> David Reich’s lab</a> at Harvard Medical School, gathered anonymous aggregated data from our customers to look at the mix of African, European and Native American ancestry in the United States. What she discovered was an illuminating genetic portrait of the U.S. that both confirms some of what we know about America’s social history but also other things that are surprising and new.
“Perhaps one of the greatest discoveries stemming from recent advancements in genetic genealogy is that previously held assumptions about race and identity are being brought into question,” Harvard Professor Henry Louis “Skip” Gates Jr. wrote<a href="https://www.theroot.com/do-most-whites-have-traces-of-african-dna-as-i-do-1790874465"> recently</a>. “It was always known throughout American history that there was at least some intermixing of races, but only now, through DNA testing, can we see the extent to which this actually occurred.”
Gates was writing about something we’ve reported on in the past, the “<a href="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/ASHG2011poster-Mountain-1.pdf">hidden” African ancestry</a> among white Americans.  Because of the ugly history of slavery, most African Americans have at least some European ancestry. But what is less known is how many individuals who identify as being of solely European ancestry – or white – also have African ancestry.  
Note that we use the term “hidden,” because these individuals self-identify as white and because of their very small percentage of African ancestry, may be unaware. But some of these individuals may indeed know about that African ancestry.
Kasia’s research confirmed in more detail 23andMe’s earlier findings, and she looked at how that mix of ancestry for self-identified whites, African Americans and Latinos differed from state-to-state.
Taken together Kasia’s research helps fill in more detail of how migration, as well as social and racial divisions shaped America.
<h6>Hidden African Ancestry Redux</h6>
A few years ago, Joanna Mountain, 23andMe Senior Director of Research, presented<a href="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/ASHG2011poster-Mountain-1.pdf"> preliminary findings</a> at an American Society of Human Genetics conference looking at the numbers of individuals who identified as white, but who had what was likely “hidden African ancestry.”<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-20364" alt="African Ancestry for Self-Identified Whites" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/African-Ancestry-for-Self-Identified-Whites-300x174.jpg" width="300" height="174" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/African-Ancestry-for-Self-Identified-Whites-300x174.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/African-Ancestry-for-Self-Identified-Whites-768x446.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/African-Ancestry-for-Self-Identified-Whites-880x511.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/African-Ancestry-for-Self-Identified-Whites.jpg 1012w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
In an update to that work, our researcher Kasia Bryc found that about about 4 percent of whites have at least 1 percent or more African ancestry.
Although it is a relatively small percentage, the percentage indicates that an individual with at least 1 percent African ancestry had an African ancestor within the last six generations, or in the last 200 years. This data also suggests that individuals with mixed parentage at some point were absorbed into the white population.
Looking a little more deeply into the data, Kasia also found that the percentage of whites with hidden African ancestry differed significantly from state-to-state. Southern states with the highest African American populations, tended to have the highest percentages of hidden African ancestry.
In South Carolina  at least 13 percent of self-identified whites have 1 percent or more African ancestry, while in Louisiana the number is a little more than 12 percent. In Georgia and Alabama the number is about 9 percent. The differences perhaps point to different social and cultural histories within the south.
<h6>The DNA of African Americans</h6>
Most African Americans know they have some European ancestry. It’s a vestige of slavery. But what can be surprising is what that mix of ancestry can say about social history in America.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-20365" alt="African Ancestry in African Americans" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/African-Ancestry-in-African-Americans-300x186.jpg" width="300" height="186" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/African-Ancestry-in-African-Americans-300x186.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/African-Ancestry-in-African-Americans-768x477.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/African-Ancestry-in-African-Americans-880x547.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/African-Ancestry-in-African-Americans.jpg 882w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Previous published studies estimate that on average African Americans had about 82 percent African ancestry and about 18 percent European ancestry. But in self-identified African Americans in 23andMe’s database, Kasia found the average amount of African ancestry was closer to 73 percent.
Kasia found significant differences in state-to-state comparisons. African Americans in the northern and western states have more mixed ancestry than those in the southern states. African Americans living in South Carolina have the highest proportion of African ancestry, about 84 percent, compared to those living in any other state.
A significant percentage of African Americans, more than 5 percent, had at least 2 percent Native American ancestry. This is much higher than previous estimates or data from the US Census.
<h6>Latinos in the USA</h6>
Looking at the mix of European, African and Native American ancestry, self-identified Latinos in the 23andMe database had the most diversity in their ancestry. But again, just as the mix of ancestry among African Americans and whites differed from state-to state, so too did Latinos, which again sheds more light on their social history.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-20369" alt="Native American Ancestry in Latinos" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Native-American-Ancestry-in-Latinos1-300x173.jpg" width="300" height="173" />
On average Latinos had about 70 percent European ancestry, 14 percent Native American ancestry and 6 percent African ancestry.
The remaining ancestry is difficult to assign because the DNA is either shared by a number of different populations around the world, or because it’s from understudied populations, such as Native Americans. Obviously that large “unassigned” percentage means that those “averages” could be higher. As with African Americans, looking at the regional and state-to-state numbers for self-identified Latinos, the differences are striking.
Recent studies have shown that countries across South America, the Caribbean, and Mexico have different profiles of genetic ancestry molded by each populations&#8217; unique history.
According to 23andMe’s data, the United States has its own set of unique regional histories.
For example, some Latinos have no discernible  Native American ancestry, while others have as much as 50 percent of the ancestry being Native American. Latinos in states in the Southwest, bordering Mexico – New Mexico, Texas, California and Arizona – have the greatest percentage of Native American ancestry. Latinos in states with the largest proportion of African Americans in their population – South Carolina, Louisiana and Alabama – have the highest percentage of African Ancestry.
<h6>Every Picture Tells A Story</h6>
America is a crossroads of cultures and our DNA reflects this. Kasia’s research sketches a picture of a few of those cultures but is far from offering the full genetic portrait of the people of the United States. Still her work illustrates the power of DNA – and the 23andMe database – to tell us about ourselves and our history.
*Apologies to Bryan Sykes for our appropriation of the title of his 2012 book, <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/recommended-reading/dna-usa/">“DNA USA: A Genetic Portrait of America.”</a>  A great read, the book is both a travelogue and a series of short profiles of people with different ancestral backgrounds, who have had their DNA tested.

23andMe Blog

23andMe Blog Team

DNA USA* Revisited

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-12716" style="border: 1px solid #ccc;" title="DNA USA.indd" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/DNA-USA-197x300.jpg" alt="" width="197" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/DNA-USA-197x300.jpg 197w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/DNA-USA.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 197px) 100vw, 197px" />
Bryan Sykes, the evolutionary geneticist at Oxford University and the author of<a href="../2008/08/14/recommended-reading-the-seven-daughters-of-eve/"> The Seven Daughters of Eve,</a> is adding to his oeuvre of popular work on genetics with his new book,<a href="https://www.amazon.com/DNA-USA-Genetic-Portrait-America/dp/0871404125%3FSubscriptionId%3DAKIAIXFKFJI6IH6DO5KQ%26tag%3Dkirkus-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0871404125"> DNA USA, A Genetic Portrait of America.</a>
As with his previous work, Sykes breaks down some of the complicated aspects of genetics in ways that are easily understood. This book is both travelogue and a snapshot of the genetic melting pot that is the United States of America.  As Sykes writes America is the place “where the genes of the three great continents converge.”
The book offers some intriguing, although mostly anecdotal, observations. During his journey Sykes meets people who agree to have their DNA tested anonymously. He then creates DNA portraits of these individuals, using 23andMe to create ancestry paintings of each individual. From that he drew conclusions about early America and the rich mixing of European, Asian and African people in America. The book also offers Sykes a chance to discuss the history of the earliest Americans.
Last week, our own senior director of research Joanna Mountain – who along with 23andMe scientist Mike Macpherson acted as consultants for some of the genetics in the book – introduced Sykes at a lecture he delivered at Berkeley Arts &amp; Letters.
He got a good response from the audience and his book has some buzz including a<a href="https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/bryan-sykes/dna-usa/#review%20http://www.oxfordancestors.com/"> thumbs-up</a> from the Kirkus Review. 
We’re offering two signed copies of the book &#8212; simply submit the form below for a chance to win!

DNA USA

It started innocently enough with a simple question from his daughter.
“Where did our family come from?”
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-full wp-image-9594" title="Vicksburg 014 Jan 08" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Vicksburg-014-Jan-08.jpg" alt="" width="226" height="170" />(Image from Larry Vick&#8217;s <a href="http://vickfamilyhistory.blogpost.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">blog</a>)
For 20 years Larry Vick has been trying to answer that question. His first source was a chart drawn up by an uncle, but since then Vick has turned to old Census files, birth certificates and historical documents to piece together his family tree. It’s grown to 40 pages that trace ancestors back to the early 1600s in colonial America and another branch of the family back to Germany.
He traced the origin of his family name, and created a whole website on the study of the <a href="http://vickfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">name Vick</a>.
Retired from the Air Force, Vick is fascinated by genealogy, so when he learned about “genetic genealogy” and the ability to trace ancestry through DNA, he decided to give it a try.
He first used 23andMe in 2009.
“My most distant (that I can identify) paternal line ancestor (Y-DNA) was Joseph Vick of Lower Parish, Isle of Wight Co., VA, born about 1640-1650,” Vick said. “My most distant maternal line ancestor (mtDNA) was Elizabeth, born about 1792 in NC.”
The test also revealed some surprises.
He noticed on his maternal line African ancestry. “I thought, ‘that’s an artifact,’” he said.
But what he found was that his mother’s 2nd great grandmother, Elizabeth Collins, probably did indeed have some mixed ancestry. She’d come from an area in Tennessee called Newman’s Ridge, where people often referred to themselves as “Black Dutch.” The population there – and in the Cumberland Gap area of Appalachia – was also referred to as “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melungeon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Melungeon</a>,” tri-racial with a mix European, African and Native American ancestry.
Vick’s use of 23andMe’s ancestry finder also helped him track down a distant cousin – who also happened to share his interest in genealogy. They traced back their connection to a common ancestor in pre-revolutionary America. That story was picked up by CNN three years ago.
While Vick’s interest is primarily in the ancestry functions of 23andMe, he said the service offers more.
“At first I had no interest in the health side,” Vick said.
That has since changed he learned his granddaughter, who has also been tested by 23andMe, had a high risk for deep vein thrombosis. He immediately talked to his daughter. Since neither he nor his daughter had an elevated risk for deep vein thrombosis, it appeared his granddaughter had inherited this risk from his son-in-law’s side of the family. Because his son-in-law was adopted and did not know anything about his biological parents’ health history, the insight about this risk told them something they otherwise would not have known. This risk can be heightened for women who are also taking an oral contraception, hormone replacement or who are pregnant.
Vick said that because the number of people who use 23andMe, its power grows.
“It’s kind of like panning for gold, when you find a relative it can be golden,” he said.
23andMe provides genetic testing services for informational purposes; your results may or may not help you to search for or identify relatives or family members.
What&#8217;s your story? If you&#8217;re willing to share, we want to hear. Drop us a line at <a href="mailto:stories@23andme.com">stories@23andme.com</a>.

Stories From 23andMe: James Larry Vick and the “Black Dutch” of Newman’s Ridge

ED&#8217;s note: Health Labs is no longer a feature within 23andMe&#8217;s current product.
In 2009, we added six tools to 23andMe Labs, our technology sandbox, where we showcase experimental features. In case you haven&#8217;t played around with them yet, here&#8217;s a brief review:
<h6>Health Labs </h6>
Reynolds Risk Score 
This tool calculates a 10-year risk for heart-attack using information including cholesterol and blood pressure.
ABO Blood Type 
There actually are more than 25 different blood groups that go into determining your particular &#8220;type,&#8221; but you&#8217;re probably most familiar with the blood group defined by the ABO gene. This gene determines whether you will be type O, A, B, or AB.
Genetic Weight Calculator 
See how much of your weight you can blame on your genes (not your jeans)!
<h6>Ancestry Labs</h6>
<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/23andme-labs-kicks-off-with-haplogroup-tree-mutation-mapper/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Haplogroup Tree Mutation Mapper</a>This feature shows you which particular mutations in a person&#8217;s mitochondrial DNA (maternal ancestry) or Y chromosome (paternal ancestry) were used to determine their haplogroup assignment.
Family Inheritance: Advanced 
Bit by bit, compare your DNA to see what segments you share with close and distant family.
Native American Ancestry Finder 
Search for evidence of Native American ancestry in a person&#8217;s genome.
Customers who have purchased the Complete Edition of our service have access to both Health and Ancestry Labs. Customers with either the Health or Ancestry Editions of 23andMe have access only to the Labs relevant to their received data.
The point of Labs is to let you, our customers, play around with cutting-edge tools while our scientists are still developing them.   What can we say?   We&#8217;re super excited about genetics, and we love to share!   Each Lab has its own community, so you can compare notes, ask questions, and share ideas.   We love to hear your ideas and comments!
But please remember that labs are a free feature and are not part of our regular service.   Some labs require specialized knowledge or may be of interest only to a subset of our customers. Because they&#8217;re still in development, you can expect labs to be a little less refined than our regular product and somewhat fluid. All of them are still in beta.   A feature could be discontinued at any time or elevated to full integration with our Personal Genome Service.

23andMe Labs

In our last post we highlighted a few of the coolest (in our opinion!) health-related developments of 2009.   But human genetics isn&#8217;t all about disease.   Here are a few more favorites:
The Romanovs
2009 saw the identification of the remains of the missing members of this Russian royal family, as well as identification of the mutation that caused the hemophilia that plagued their youngest son.
<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/leaving-no-stone-unturned-dna-analysis-confirms-identities-of-missing-romanovs" target="_blank" rel="bookmark noopener">Leaving No Stone Unturned: DNA Analysis Confirms Identities of Missing Romanovs</a>
<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/researchers-discover-the-true-identity-of-the-royal-disease" target="_blank" rel="bookmark noopener">Researchers Discover the True Identity of the “Royal Disease”</a>
The Celtic Fringe
The genetics of adorable little critters helped scientists understand the prehistory of the British Isles.
<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/life-on-the-fringe-shrews-and-voles-reveal-clues-to-british-prehistory" target="_blank" rel="bookmark noopener">Life on the Fringe: Shrews and Voles Reveal Clues to British Prehistory</a>
Link Between Australian Aborigines and India
Scientists discovered mitochondrial DNA markers shared by isolated tribes in India and native Australians&#8230;and nobody else.
<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/direct-genetic-link-between-australia-and-india-provides-new-insight-into-the-origins-of-australian-aborigines" target="_blank" rel="bookmark noopener">Direct Genetic Link between Australia and India Provides New Insight into the Origins of Australian Aborigines</a>
Largest Ever Study of Modern African Genetics 
2,432 DNA samples from 113 diverse and distinct groups of people from across the African continent as well as 60 non-African groups. Everyone from the Mozabite Berbers of Morocco to the hunter-gatherer San of the Kalahari Desert, and many in between.
<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/scientists-publish-largest-ever-study-on-the-genetics-of-modern-africans" target="_blank" rel="bookmark noopener">Scientists Publish Largest-Ever Study on the Genetics of Modern Africans</a>
Dogs
We can&#8217;t forget all those dog genetics studies.   Man&#8217;s best friend is certainly a friend of the Blog&#8217;s!
<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/single-gene-responsible-for-stubby-legs-in-dogs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Single Gene Responsible For Stubby Legs In Dogs</a>
<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/whence-rover-genetic-study-suggests-africa-may-have-whelped-mans-best-friend" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Whence Rover? Genetic Study Suggests Africa May Have Whelped Man’s Best Friend</a>
<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/study-sniffs-out-genes-behind-doggy-dos" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Study Sniffs Out Genes Behind Doggy ‘Dos</a>

2009 Blog Highlights – Part 2

Editor&#8217;s note: Some of the tools described in this post no longer reflect the current 23andMe product offerings.
Every family has its legends.
Maybe it&#8217;s a story about how they&#8217;re descended from a passenger on the Mayflower, a Confederate soldier or <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200205/olson" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Charlemagne</a>.
<div id="attachment_3400" style="width: 279px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3400" class="wp-image-3400 size-full" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/pocahontas.jpg" alt="" width="269" height="350" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/pocahontas.jpg 269w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/pocahontas-231x300.jpg 231w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 269px) 100vw, 269px" />Pocahontas.</div>
Of all the classic American family legends, stories of a Native American ancestor are among of the most common. Many times there&#8217;s a well-documented link to a Native forbear: Two First Ladies (Edith Wilson and Nancy Reagan) and one Duchess of Windsor (Wallis Simpson) are proven descendants of Pocahontas.
Other times, the evidence amounts to little more than vague tales about a rugged pioneer and a Cherokee princess. (Learn what&#8217;s wrong with that scenario <a href="http://www.native-languages.org/princess.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here.</a>)
Now 23andMe customers who are curious about whether they may have Native American ancestors can look for evidence of it in their genes.
The Native American Ancestry Finder uses some existing 23andMe features – Ancestry Painting, <a href="https://www.23andme.com/you/haplogroup/maternal/" target="_self" rel="noopener noreferrer">Maternal Line</a> and <a href="https://www.23andme.com/you/haplogroup/paternal/" target="_self" rel="noopener noreferrer">Paternal Line</a> – to look for genetic signatures that are likely to have come from a Native American ancestor.

The Maternal Line and Paternal Line elements of the Finder are pretty straightforward; certain mitochondrial DNA (maternal) and Y chromosome (paternal) haplogroups are often found among Native Americans.
These include mitochondrial haplogroups A2, B2, C1, D1 and X2a – which are found exclusively among Native Americans. People in some other branches of the A, B, C and D haplogroups may also have Native American ancestry, but their maternal lines could also trace to Asia. On the paternal side, only Q3 is exclusive to Native Americans, though anyone with a Y chromosome in the C, C3 or Q haplogroup could conceivably have Native American forbears.
<div id="attachment_3392" style="width: 251px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3392" class="wp-image-3392 size-full" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/natamwoman.png" alt="" width="241" height="350" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/natamwoman.png 241w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/natamwoman-207x300.png 207w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 241px) 100vw, 241px" />An example of a Native American&#8217;s ancestry painting.</div>
The part of the Finder that uses Ancestry Painting to find evidence for Native American forbears is a little more complicated. It relies on the fact that people of full Native American descent have Ancestry Paintings that are consistently about 75% orange (Asian) and 25% blue (European).
This is due to the fact that Native Americans are ultimately descended from populations that lived in northern and central Asia about 15,000 to 20,000 years ago, and the fact that those regions are intermediate between the reference populations that Ancestry Painting classifies as fully Asian (Japanese and Chinese) and fully European (European-Americans living in Utah).
Then the Finder compares your Ancestry Painting proportions to a table that contains the results of an extensive series of simulations that we performed to determine what would happen to that three-to-one Asian/European proportion over the generations if a Native American and a partner of all-European descent had a child who then reproduced with another all-European partner, and so on. We did the same analysis for a Native American marrying into an all-Asian pedigree.
Unfortunately, partly due to inadequate sampling of Africa&#8217;s genetic diversity, this method cannot yet establish Native American ancestry for African Americans.
We found that it takes at least five generations after the appearance of a single Native American in an otherwise all- European pedigree for the percentage of Asian (orange) DNA to reach zero. In an otherwise all-Asian pedigree that process is much faster – in two generations, the grandchild of that single Native American can have no trace of European in his or her Ancestry Painting.
There are, of course, plenty of Eurasian populations that also have blue-and-orange Ancestry Paintings. So the Native American Ancestry Finder performs a second analysis that can distinguish people of South Asian, Central Asian, Middle Eastern and Ashkenazi descent from those with Native American ancestry.
Unfortunately, there is still some uncertainty when it comes to distinguishing people with Native American ancestry.
It&#8217;s still a work in progress – that&#8217;s what Labs are all about. But we hope customers will help us by trying out the Native American Ancestry Finder and letting us know if anything doesn&#8217;t mesh with what they know about their genealogy.
You can also contribute by taking the &#8220;<a href="https://www.23andme.com/you/23andwe/surveys/" target="_self" rel="noopener noreferrer">Where Are You From?</a>&#8221; survey in <a href="https://www.23andme.com/you/23andwe/surveys/" target="_self" rel="noopener noreferrer">23andWe</a>.

New 23andMe Lab Searches Genome for Native American Ancestry

<img decoding="async" class="right alignright" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/beringstrait.png" alt="beringstrait.png" />Just when you thought everything was starting to make sense — new genetic research on the peopling of the Americas throws us a curve.
There has been plenty of research in both <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/2008/03/07/the-amazing-journey-a-new-synthesis-for-the-peopling-of-america/">genetics</a> and <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/2008/05/09/its-all-about-the-seaweed-new-theories-on-the-peopling-of-the-americas/">archaeology</a> recently trying to figure out how the New World was colonized.
Was it by boat or via the frozen wasteland of the Bering Strait? Was it a fast trip down to South America, or did these first inhabitants take a more leisurely stroll? And when did all this happen anyway? 
<h6>New Evidence</h6>
As each new study is published we are learning vital information on the peopling of the Americas. Ideas and theories continue to be retooled as new evidence comes to light.
This will certainly be the case with regards to a paper in the May 2008 issue of <a href="http://www.plosgenetics.org">PLoS Genetics</a>. In this article, researchers from Oxford and Cornell Universities report on a new computer model they have developed to trace prehistoric human migrations across the globe.
Using genetic information from various populations alive today, the authors estimated how those groups may be related to one another. Then they used those relationships to piece together the prehistoric movements of early humans.
<h6>The First Americans</h6>
As expected, their analysis showed a single migration out of Africa that eventually populated Eurasia and the Americas. However, the results for the Peopling of the Americas were more surprising.
The conventional wisdom states that the first inhabitants of the Americas came from Asia in a single wave more than 10,000 years ago. But when the authors compared the genetic data of two Native American groups (one in Colombia and one in the American Southwest) to groups in East Asia, what they found supported a two-wave migration. 
 The Colombian sample of Native Americans was actually more closely related to the East Asian sample than it was to the American Southwest sample. That suggests the two populations come from independent sources — and that there were at least two separate migrations of humans into the New World. Clearly, one of these migrations would have come from East Asia and made its way into South America. However, the data suggest a separate migration, probably from a different part of Asia or Siberia, came at a different time, and this time only made it to North America. This conclusion is significant, as it contradicts current theories on the topic, which argue a more constant flow of migrants from an original source somewhere in Asia. There are still plenty of questions regarding this research, especially with regard to how it compares to the archaeological record and to previous genetic studies. The answers to these questions can only come with additional research, which, thankfully, is always forthcoming on the peopling of the Americas.

Indigenous — Page 2