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Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas

by Jennifer Raff

by Jennifer Raff

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A Venus figurine from Mal’ta. Like o<strong>the</strong>r Siberian Venus figurines, this<br />

one shows evidence for a hood and o<strong>the</strong>r warm clothing (Venus figurines<br />

in Europe are usually naked).<br />

Graf and o<strong>the</strong>r researchers at <strong>the</strong> Center for <strong>the</strong> Study <strong>of</strong> First Americans<br />

had been working on a project with geneticist Eske Willerslev to sequence<br />

<strong>the</strong> genome <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> oldest known remains in North America—which we will<br />

talk about in <strong>the</strong> next chapter—when Graf brought up <strong>the</strong> possibility <strong>of</strong><br />

trying to get DNA from <strong>the</strong> Mal’ta children. Having worked extensively in<br />

Siberia, she told him about <strong>the</strong> pre-LGM site and arranged for him to get<br />

access to <strong>the</strong> remains at <strong>the</strong> Hermitage State Museum in St. Petersburg.<br />

In 2014, a team assembled by Graf and Willerslev and led by Maanasa<br />

Raghavan published an analysis <strong>of</strong> MA-1’s complete genome. We know

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