We used to think the picture was pretty simple but not any more:
By sequencing and analyzing 15 ancient genomes found throughout the Americas—six of which were older than 10,000 years—these researchers determined that, around 8,000 years ago, the ancestors of Native Americans were still on the move, migrating away from Mesoamerica (what is today Mexico and Central America) toward both North and South America. These groups moved rapidly and unevenly, sometimes interbreeding with local populations, complicating the genetic—and historical—picture even further.
George Dvorsky, “Three New DNA Studies Are Shaking Up the History of Humans in the Americas” at Gizmodo
Apparently, they traveled “great distances at breathtaking speed.”
Potter said genetic data is wonderful, but it doesn’t tell us the whole story. Unlike genetics, archaeology can secure timelines and geographic locations, while also showing continuity and changes to technology, adaptive strategies, and material and cultural connections across time and space. Potter said the new studies will allow “much more complex and realistic models to be developed,” but this process will “require collaboration with archaeologists and geneticists.” George Dvorsky, “Three New DNA Studies Are Shaking Up the History of Humans in the Americas” at Gizmodo
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See also: New find extends back our knowledge of earliest identified North Americans
Were humans in North America 130,000 years ago? Some evidence considered
Were there humans in North America 100 kya? Or was the find just heavy construction equipment damage?
First North Americans might have been Neanderthals, 130 kya…
and
Were there humans in North America 100 thousand years ago?