October 31, 2015
From Mike Ruggeri
11,500 Year Old Infant Burials in Alaska Studied
Archaeologists have found two infants buried with a stone cutting tool and animal antlers with spear points in an 11,500 year old burial at the Upward Sun River site in Alaska. They belong to two genetic groups. Their genetic makeup lends itself to the idea that humans lived in a dry area that existed between Siberia and Alaska 30,000 years ago called Beringia. Humans may have spent as many as 10,000 years in Beringia before moving rapidly into America 15,000 years ago. Since the two lineages represented by the two infants lived so far north so long ago, their genes support the “Beringian Standstill Model.” The genetic variation of the two may be showing that the 10,000 year hiatus in Beringia gave rise to genetic diversity before they came into the Americas. The lineages of the infants are not found in Siberia or Asia, so they must have drifted from Asiatic groups during those 10,000 years in Beringia.
Genetic material has been found at eight sites in North America older than 8,000 years. In these eight sites, all five major lineages of Native Americans are present, indicating the the Beringian population gave rise to all of the lineages. One of the two infants is the ancestor of tribes in Arizona, California, Bolivia, Tainos and in Illinois. The other infant is the ancestor of Washington, Arizona, California and Peruvian tribes.
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