Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas

years ago (an admittedly wide range of time). Further testing with nuclear
genomes should provide more precise estimates of this population history
(19).
The story of dogs—and humans—in the Americas does not end in this
chapter.
At the end of the LGM, the ice sheets began to melt, and travel
southward from Beringia became possible, setting the stage for one of the
most astonishing feats in human history: the peopling of North, Central, and
South America. In the next chapter we will examine clues from ancient
genomes and the archaeological record in an effort to solve the mystery of
how they accomplished this.
Footnotes
i Genetic distinctiveness should not be mistaken for genetic “purity” in any
sense.
ii Thus, in a paradox that is fairly commonplace in paleogenomics, the
Mal’ta boy, who did not have any children of his own, is now a genetic
representative of the ancestors of millions of people: those who live in
Europe, Western and Central Asia, and the Americas.