Palaeo-Eskimo genetic ancestry and the peopling of Chukotka and North America

Nature. 2019 Jun;570(7760):236-240. doi: 10.1038/s41586-019-1251-y. Epub 2019 Jun 5.

Abstract

Much of the American Arctic was first settled 5,000 years ago, by groups of people known as Palaeo-Eskimos. They were subsequently joined and largely displaced around 1,000 years ago by ancestors of the present-day Inuit and Yup'ik1-3. The genetic relationship between Palaeo-Eskimos and Native American, Inuit, Yup'ik and Aleut populations remains uncertain4-6. Here we present genomic data for 48 ancient individuals from Chukotka, East Siberia, the Aleutian Islands, Alaska, and the Canadian Arctic. We co-analyse these data with data from present-day Alaskan Iñupiat and West Siberian populations and published genomes. Using methods based on rare-allele and haplotype sharing, as well as established techniques4,7-9, we show that Palaeo-Eskimo-related ancestry is ubiquitous among people who speak Na-Dene and Eskimo-Aleut languages. We develop a comprehensive model for the Holocene peopling events of Chukotka and North America, and show that Na-Dene-speaking peoples, people of the Aleutian Islands, and Yup'ik and Inuit across the Arctic region all share ancestry from a single Palaeo-Eskimo-related Siberian source.

Publication types

  • Historical Article
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Africa
  • Alaska
  • Alleles
  • Arctic Regions
  • Asia, Southeastern
  • Canada
  • Europe
  • Genome, Human / genetics
  • Haplotypes
  • History, Ancient
  • Human Migration / history*
  • Humans
  • Inuit / classification*
  • Inuit / genetics*
  • Phylogeny*
  • Phylogeography*
  • Principal Component Analysis
  • Siberia / ethnology