Our study proves that Spirit Cave and Lagoa Santa were actually genetically closer to contemporary Native Americans than to any other ancient or contemporary group sequenced to date.
- Eske Willeslev
The results have been published in the journal Science as part of a wide-ranging international study, led by the University of Cambridge, which genetically analysed the DNA of a series of well-known and controversial ancient remains across North and South America.
The research also discovered clues of a puzzling Australasian genetic signal in the 10,400-year-old Lagoa Santa remains from Brazil revealing a previously unknown group of early South Americans – but the Australasian link left no genetic trace in North America.
Additionally, a legal battle over a 10,600-year-old ancient skeleton – called the ‘Spirit Cave Mummy’ – has ended after advanced DNA sequencing found it was related to a Native American tribe. The researchers were able to dismiss a longstanding theory that a group called Paleoamericans existed in North America before Native Americans. The Paleoamerican hypothesis was first proposed in the 19th century, but this new study disproves that theory.
“Spirit Cave and Lagoa Santa were very controversial because they were identified as so-called ‘Paleoamericans’ based on craniometry – it was determined that the shape of their skulls was different to current day Native Americans,” said Professor Eske Willeslev, who holds positions at the Universities of Cambridge and Copenhagen, and led the study. “Our study proves that Spirit Cave and Lagoa Santa were actually genetically closer to contemporary Native Americans than to any other ancient or contemporary group sequenced to date.”
Image: Professor Eske Willerslev with Donna and Joey, two members of the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone tribe.
Credit: Linus Mørk, Magus Film
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge