Gene study points to link between Stone Age China and the Americas
- New research suggests prehistoric people travelled from China’s northern coastline to North America as recently as 11,000 years ago
- The study suggests they may have travelled along a previously unknown coastal route
According to the study published in international peer-reviewed journal Cell Reports on Tuesday, the Stone Age migrants came out of China in two separate waves, coinciding with some dramatic changes in global climate.
The first event occurred during the Last Glacial Maximum, which was a period of extreme cold, when ice sheets covered much of North America, northern Asia and Europe, around 26,500 to 19,000 years ago.
The second event happened within the last deglaciation, a period of warming and melting ice around 19,000 to 11,500 years ago.
The researchers traced the route of the D4h gene, a specific lineage of mitochondrial DNA that has been found in native populations across North and South America including Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Mexico, and California.
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is passed down from mothers to their children, so it can be used to trace maternal ancestry.