Monday, November 24, 2014

ARCHAEOLOGY: Arctic Indians

Therefore is the name of it called Babel;
....:and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
Genesis 11:9
"A single founding population settled,
and endured the harsh conditions of the Arctic,
for almost 5,000 years”
Dr Maanasa Raghavan

“The Dorsets were the Hobbits of the eastern Arctic -- a very strange and very conservative people who we’re only just getting to know a little bit,” anthropologist William Fitzhugh," IBT

"Archaeologists mapping ancient cultures in the North American Arctic—a region spanning present-day Greenland—have long puzzled over how different cultures relate to one another. Now, an unprecedented large-scale genomics study has traced many such cultures to the Paleo-Eskimos, a
people who early inhabited the harsh environment continuously for 4000 years, only to vanish mysteriously about 700 years ago. The discovery could change how scientists understand migration patterns in the North American Arctic.

Maanasa Raghavan of the University of Copenhagen and her colleagues collected bone, teeth, and hair samples of 169 ancient humans from different time periods in the New World Arctic region. The team generated mitochondrial DNA and low-coverage whole genome data from these samples. They also sequenced genomes from present-day Inuits and Native Americans—the latter marked a first in research, as Native Americans often refuse DNA testing. The team obtained tribal permission with help from an indigenous woman.

After comparing the ancient and modern genetic data, the researchers found that the Saqqaq and Dorset cultures belonged to one Paleo-Eskimo people, whose genetic lineage continued in the region for more than 4000 years, from 3000 B.C. to 1300 A.D., contradicting previous theories that the diverse cultures came from different peoples.

The Paleo-Eskimos are genetically distinct from Native Americans and Inuits, which means they represent a separate, later pulse of migration into the New World. This contradicts previous theories that humans arrived in the Americas in three waves, painting a scenario of four waves instead—the Amerinds, the Na Dene Native Americans, the Paleo-Eskimos, and the Neo-Eskimo Thules.


Those residing in southern Canada would have shared the land with Native Americans for thousands of years, he says, yet genetic and archaeological evidence indicates no signs of mingling or intermarriage. “When we see people meeting each other, they may fight each other, but normally they also have sex with each other,” he says. “That does not seem to be the case here.”
In fact, genetic analysis shows that all Paleo-Eskimos shared the same mitochondrial DNA, which is passed from mothers to children. This unusual homogeneity suggests few women were among the early Paleo-Eskimo settlers, Willerslev says.

The finding is consistent with previous Y-chromosome analyses that suggest early Paleo-Eskimo settlers could have ranged from as few as 40 to 50 people closely related to one another, says anthropologist Theodore Schurr of the University of Pennsylvania, who was not involved with the research. Science


DNA sequences from living and ancient inhabitants show a single influx from Siberia produced all the "Paleo-Eskimo" cultures, which died out 700 years ago.
The lack of any genetic cross-over may indicate that the previous inhabitants died out before the Thule arrived; it also "raises the question", according to Prof William Fitzhugh, another author of the study, of a possible "prehistoric genocide".
And yet Inuit legend suggests only friendly relations between their Thule ancestors and the "gentle giants" who preceded them.
Prof Fitzhugh emphasised he was only speculating: "We don't have any good evidence that there was hostility between the Dorset people and the Thule people." BBC

So basically, the migration from Babel included people heading east. It took apparently 4 waves (that they no of so far---the Amerindian, Na Dene, Paleo-Eskimo & Neo-Eskimo Thules) to cross into the North American region. As you can see, they suspect from DNA sequencing, that the Neo-Eskimo Thules were maybe as small as 50 people to begin with. All these groups spreading around the globe and populating, with a few exceptions, would likely be small bands of closely related people. 
Basically family clans.