News Genetics

Research teams duel over Native American origins

Views differ on whether DNA analyses support one or two ancestral populations

Native Americans' origins

ONE WAVE  A single group of people migrated from Siberia and Northeast Asia into the Americas via a land bridge about 23,000 years ago, giving rise to all Native Americans, one group of researchers says. Another group of researchers has a slightly different view.

Raghavan et al/Science 2015

By Tina Hesman Saey

- More than 2 years ago

A previously hidden genetic link between native peoples in Australia and the Amazon has inspired two different teams of researchers to reach competing conclusions about the origins of Native Americans.