America’s first population was only 250 people
What was the size of the original founding population of the Americas? This was the question posed by researchers at the University of Kansas, who, after analyzing DNA, concluded that the first group to arrive in the New World was shockingly small, with only 250 individuals.
Despite numerous genetic studies, ktore have contributed to expanding knowledge of what ancient peoples inhabited the Americas, scientists have not reached consensus on how many Native Americansow constituted the original population. A new DNA sequence analysis published in the „Genetics and Molecular Biology” suggests that the first group of residentsoin the Americas, whichora emigrated from Siberia, consisted of about 250 peopleob.
The study is an important element for models describing how theob The New World was populated after the last ice age. It shows how small family groups separated and settled the continent over thousands of years of migration.
Geneticists from the US and Brazil have analyzed probek of DNA taken from waspsob representing Indian tribes scattered in Central and South America. They concentrated in particularoThe liveness on nine non-coding DNA sequences, cfown by comparing them with probkami from 10 ethnic groups from Siberia and 15 similar groups from China.
– It is difficult to go back in time to track populations, but we can characterize the cooThe modern rogenetic diversity and estimate mutation rates, ktore occurred in the rosag regions – said Michael Crawford of the University of Kansas. – We are concerned with understanding howo(b evolution works in terms of rogenetic diversity – added.
Crawford’s earlier research in anthropological genetics describes a migration schedule spanning 23,000 years, starting with a Siberian population settled in Alaska. These groups of people were in no hurry to explore new lands, spending as much as 8,000 years wandering the exposed strip of land between Siberia and Alaska now known as the Bering Strait.
Probki of the Siberian population were collected just after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Crawford is an expert on genetic markersoin the Siberian population. Led the first foreign anthropological expedition to Siberia in 1989 after the collapse of the Soviet Union. He also worked on Aleut migration patternsow of the Siberian and Inuitow.
In 2015, Crawford was part of a group of researchers whoora discovered that the ancestors of all Native Americanow came to America from Siberia to the area of present-day Alaska no earlier than 23,000 years ago. This founding group later split into Atapaskow, ktoers remained on the poThe northern areas of America PoNorth and the rest of the Native American tribesow, whooThey settled the entire continent.
After sequencing the probek DNA researchers determined the size of the founding population using computer models taking into account the migration factor based on 100 million generations. Each analysis has shown that the founding groups ranged from about 229 to 300 peopleob. Thusob researchers estimated a parameter for the original founding population of Native Americansoin about 250 waspsob.
– It was not the decision of the group, whichora decided to reach America just in time. It’s a process of separation between hunter-gatherer cultures. Such groups numbered about 50 osob, and as they became larger, there was a re-division and migration to other areas. And so over the course of 15,000 years their streamow could be found as early as in what is now Argentina – explained Crawford.
Sourceobackground: University of Kansas, photo. image by Charles M. Russell “Water for Camp”
