PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Texas A&M: 24,000-year-old skeletal remains raise new questions about first Americans

2013-11-21
(Press-News.org) Contact information: Keith Randall
keith-randall@tamu.edu
979-845-4644
Texas A&M University
Texas A&M: 24,000-year-old skeletal remains raise new questions about first Americans

COLLEGE STATION, Nov. 20, 2013 – Results from a DNA study of a young boy's skeletal remains believed to be 24,000 years old could turn the archaeological world upside down – it's been proven that nearly 30 percent of modern Native American's ancestry came from this youngster's gene pool, suggesting First Americans came directly from Siberia, according to a research team that includes a Texas A&M University professor.

Kelly Graf, assistant professor in the Center for the Study of First Americans and Department of Anthropology at Texas A&M, is part of an international team spearheaded by Eske Willerslev and Maanasa Raghaven from the Centre for GeoGenetics at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark and additional researchers from Sweden, Russia, United Kingdom, University of Chicago and University of California-Berkeley. Their work, funded by the Danish National Science Foundation, Lundbeck Foundation, and the National Science Foundation, is published in the current issue of Nature magazine.

Graf and Willerslev conceived the project and traveled to the Hermitage State Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, where the remains are now housed to collect samples for ancient DNA. The skeleton was first discovered in the late 1920s near the village of Mal'ta in south-central Siberia, and since then it has been referred to as "the Mal'ta child" because until this DNA study the biological sex of the skeleton was unknown.

"Now we can say with confidence that this individual was a male" says Graf.

Graf helped extract DNA material from the boy's upper arm and "the results surprised all of us quite a bit," she explains.

"It shows he had close genetic ties to today's Native Americans and some western Eurasians, specifically some groups living in central Asia, South Asia, and Europe. Also, he shared close genetic ties with other Ice-Age western Eurasians living in European Russia, Czech Republic and even Germany. We think these Ice-Age people were quite mobile and capable of maintaining a far-reaching gene pool that extended from central Siberia all the way west to central Europe."

Another significant result of the study is that the Mal'ta boy's people were also ancestors of Native Americans, explaining why some early Native American skeletons such as Kennewick Man were interpreted to have some European traits.

"Our study proves that Native Americans ancestors migrated to the Americas from Siberia and not directly from Europe as some have recently suggested," Graf explains.

The DNA work performed on the boy is the oldest complete genome of a human sequenced so far, the study shows. Also found near the boy's remains were flint tools, a beaded necklace and what appears to be pendant-like items, all apparently placed in the burial as grave goods.

The discovery raises new questions about the timing of human entry in Alaska and ultimately North America, a topic hotly debated in First Americans studies.

"Though our results cannot speak directly to this debate, they do indicate Native American ancestors could have been in Beringia—extreme northeastern Russia and Alaska—any time after 24,000 years ago and therefore could have colonized Alaska and the Americas much earlier than 14,500 years ago, the age suggested by the archaeological record."

"What we need to do is continue searching for earlier sites and additional clues to piece together this very big puzzle."



INFORMATION:

For more about the Center For the Study of the First Americans, go to http://csfa.tamu.edu/index.php

About Research at Texas A&M University: As one of the world's leading research institutions, Texas A&M is in the vanguard in making significant contributions to the storehouse of knowledge, including that of science and technology. Research conducted at Texas A&M represents total annual expenditures of more than $776 million. That research creates new knowledge that provides basic, fundamental and applied contributions resulting in many cases in economic benefits to the state, nation and world.

Media contact: Keith Randall, News & Information Services, at (979) 845-4644 or keith-randall@tamu.edu or Kelly Graf at (979) 845-4046 or kgraf@tamu.edu

More news about Texas A&M University, go to http://tamutimes.tamu.edu/

Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TAMU



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Aging erodes genetic control, but that's flexible

2013-11-21
Aging erodes genetic control, but that's flexible Fly study shows how heterochromatin changes with age, diet PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Biologists at Brown University have found a way to measure the effects of aging by watching the ebb and flow of ...

Let's just harvest invasive species -- problem solved?

2013-11-21
Let's just harvest invasive species -- problem solved? URBANA, Ill. – Although invasive Asian carp have been successfully harvested and served on a dinner plate, harvesting invasive plants to ...

NASA's TRMM satellite sees Melissa's tropical transition

2013-11-21
NASA's TRMM satellite sees Melissa's tropical transition VIDEO: This is a simulated 3-D flyby animation over subtropical storm Melissa using TRMM satellite data on ...

Sudden steep drop in blood pressure on standing from lying down may predict atrial fibrillation

2013-11-21
Sudden steep drop in blood pressure on standing from lying down may predict atrial fibrillation Johns Hopkins-led study suggests physicians check for heart rhythm disturbance in those with orthostatic hypotension Results of a Johns Hopkins-led study have identified ...

Aging impacts epigenome in human skeletal muscle

2013-11-21
Aging impacts epigenome in human skeletal muscle Buck Institute research involves first genome-wide DNA methylation study in disease-free tissue Our epigenome is a set of chemical switches that turn parts of our genome off and on at strategic times ...

Impacts of plant invasions become less robust over time

2013-11-21
Impacts of plant invasions become less robust over time UCSB study shows that invasive plants are more likely to be replaced by other 'invasives' (Santa Barbara, Calif.) — Among the most impressive ecological findings of the past 25 years ...

Rediscovered Apollo data gives first measure of how fast moon dust piles up

2013-11-21
Rediscovered Apollo data gives first measure of how fast moon dust piles up Washington, D.C. -- When Neil Armstrong took humanity's first otherworldly steps in 1969, he didn't know what a nuisance the lunar soil beneath his feet would prove to be. The scratchy ...

Tropical Cyclone Helen headed for landfall in India

2013-11-21
Tropical Cyclone Helen headed for landfall in India Tropical Cyclone 04B has strengthened and been renamed "Helen" as it slowly nears landfall in southeastern India. On Nov. 20 at 1200 UTC/7 a.m. EST, Tropical Cyclone Helen had maximum sustained winds near 50 ...

Women prescribed combination HRT should use caution when taking apigenin supplement, MU study finds

2013-11-21
Women prescribed combination HRT should use caution when taking apigenin supplement, MU study finds COLUMBIA, Mo. – Hormone replacement therapies, or medications containing female hormones that substitute those no longer produced by the body, are ...

Connections in the brains of young children strengthen during sleep, CU-Boulder study finds

2013-11-21
Connections in the brains of young children strengthen during sleep, CU-Boulder study finds While young children sleep, connections between the left and the right hemispheres of their brain strengthen, which may help brain functions mature, according ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Older teens who start vaping post-high school risk rapid progress to frequent use

Corpse flowers are threatened by spotty recordkeeping

Riding the AI wave toward rapid, precise ocean simulations

Are lifetimes of big appliances really shrinking?

Pink skies

Monkeys are world’s best yodellers - new research

Key differences between visual- and memory-led Alzheimer’s discovered

% weight loss targets in obesity management – is this the wrong objective?

An app can change how you see yourself at work

NYC speed cameras take six months to change driver behavior, effects vary by neighborhood, new study reveals

New research shows that propaganda is on the rise in China

Even the richest Americans face shorter lifespans than their European counterparts, study finds

Novel genes linked to rare childhood diarrhea

New computer model reveals how Bronze Age Scandinavians could have crossed the sea

Novel point-of-care technology delivers accurate HIV results in minutes

Researchers reveal key brain differences to explain why Ritalin helps improve focus in some more than others

Study finds nearly five-fold increase in hospitalizations for common cause of stroke

Study reveals how alcohol abuse damages cognition

Medicinal cannabis is linked to long-term benefits in health-related quality of life

Microplastics detected in cat placentas and fetuses during early pregnancy

Ancient amphibians as big as alligators died in mass mortality event in Triassic Wyoming

Scientists uncover the first clear evidence of air sacs in the fossilized bones of alvarezsaurian dinosaurs: the "hollow bones" which help modern day birds to fly

Alcohol makes male flies sexy

TB patients globally often incur "catastrophic costs" of up to $11,329 USD, despite many countries offering free treatment, with predominant drivers of cost being hospitalization and loss of income

Study links teen girls’ screen time to sleep disruptions and depression

Scientists unveil starfish-inspired wearable tech for heart monitoring

Footprints reveal prehistoric Scottish lagoons were stomping grounds for giant Jurassic dinosaurs

AI effectively predicts dementia risk in American Indian/Alaska Native elders

First guideline on newborn screening for cystic fibrosis calls for changes in practice to improve outcomes

Existing international law can help secure peace and security in outer space, study shows

[Press-News.org] Texas A&M: 24,000-year-old skeletal remains raise new questions about first Americans