Genetic analysis of DNA from a female infant found at the Upward Sun River archaeological site in Alaska has revealed a previously unknown Native American population, whom scientists have named ‘Ancient Beringians.’ The research appears in the journal Nature.
It is widely accepted that the earliest settlers crossed from Eurasia into Alaska via an ancient land bridge spanning the Bering Strait which was submerged at the end of the last Ice Age.
Issues such as whether there was one founding group or several, when they arrived, and what happened next, are the subject of debate, however.
In the new study, researchers sequenced the full genome of an infant – a girl named Xach’itee’aanenh T’eede Gaay (Sunrise Child-girl) by the local Native community – whose remains were found at the Upward Sun River site in 2013.
