Researchers who sequenced the genome of the 24,000-year-old remains of a boy from the Siberian village of Mal’ta were surprised to find indications of European ancestry:
The team found that DNA from the boy’s mitochondria — the energy-processing organelles of living cells — belonged to a lineage called haplogroup U, which is found in Europe and west Asia but not in east Asia, where his body was unearthed. The result was so bizarre that [palaeogeneticist Eske] Willerslev assumed that his sample had been contaminated with other genetic material, and put the project on hold for a year.
But the boy’s nuclear DNA — the bulk of his genome — told the same story. “Genetically, this individual had no east Asian resemblance but looked like Europeans and people from west Asia,” says Willerslev. “But the thing that was really mind-blowing was that there were signatures you only see in today’s Native Americans.” This signal is consistent among peoples from across the Americas, implying that it could not have come from European settlers who arrived after Christopher Columbus. Instead, it must reflect an ancient ancestry.
The Mal’ta boy’s genome showed that Native Americans can trace 14% to 38% of their ancestry back to western Eurasia, the authors conclude.
The Dish 