Researchers from the University of Copenhagen found next to the skeleton of a boy between 12,600 and 13,000 years old, found in a cemetery in Montana (USA), a hundred tools covered with red ocher, typical of the Clovis culture, one of the Oldest Native American civilizations . The sequencing of the DNA of this skeleton has given the key to finally locate the origins of this hunter culture. The research has been published in the journal Nature .
The origin of this civilization and its genetic inheritance have always been a matter of debate. After sequencing the genome of this skeleton, which they named Anzick-1 (since it corresponded to a child between a year and a year and a half), researchers have confirmed that the individual belonged to an ancestral population closely related to many natives. contemporaries. This conclusion therefore refutes the so-called “Solutrean hypothesis” which suggested that the ancestors of the Clovis migrated from southwestern Europe more than 15,000 years ago.
The study of the child’s DNA was reconstructed as a result of the use of bone chips collected from the skull, which has been a huge challenge at the scientific level, since there was only about 1% of human DNA in the remains ; the other large percentage was made up of bacteria that had invaded the skeleton after death.
Thanks to this new discovery, it is clearly demonstrated that the ancestry of the first Americans goes back to Asia , specifically to the area of Siberia, who emigrated to Central and South America taking advantage of the melting of glaciers 17,000 years ago. Thus, the descendants of these settlers were what developed the Clovis culture, from which most Native Americans come.
