Identifying the origins of Native Americans is challenging because data from linguistics, archaeology, and genetics do not always agree. A study from 1987, for example, established three waves of migration across the Bering Strait land bridge that formed between Siberia and Alaska during low glacial periods. The basis was a comparison of many Native American languages, and subsequent grouping of the people into the “Eskimo-Aleut,” who arrived 7,000 to 5,000 years ago, the “Na-Dene,” who came 15,000 to 12,000 years ago, and the “Amerinds,” who arrived about 33,000 years ago. But only a few sounds had been used to distinguish the languages, lumping several as Amerind that may actually have been distinct in their origins. The premise for grouping the people was faulty. Since then, several genetic studies have countered the “three migration hypothesis,” but even the genetic studies do not completely agree. One problem is that studying different parts of the human genome can yield different results, because DNA sequences change at different rates.
-Human Genetics Concepts and Applications by Ricki Lewis Pg.318
No comments:
Post a Comment