Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas

differences observed in the archaeological record do sometimes reflect the
presence of two genetically distinctive groups of people. They also give us
an important perspective on how ocean travel presented few barriers to the
experienced seafarers in both regions. Inuit traveled back and forth across
the Bering Sea quite frequently, and the Caribbean Sea has been
characterized as “an aquatic motorway” for early peoples by one team of
researchers (21).
Another parallel between the first peoples in the Caribbean and the
Arctic is, sadly, the appalling legacy left by contact with “New World”
explorers and colonizers. Though the Caribbean was the first place that
Columbus and his crews made landfall, and the Arctic was one of the very
last places to encounter Europeans, Indigenous peoples in both places
suffered terribly from brutal colonization practices and the introduction of
new diseases.
The fact that Indigenous culture and identity in both regions perseveres
is a testament to the resilience of Native peoples, even in the face of nearapocalyptic
conditions.
And right now, we are living in an extraordinary moment: We have the
ability to learn a great deal more about the histories of this period because
of technological advances made in the field of genetics.
Genetics is a tool that can be added to interdisciplinary work in
archaeology, linguistics, and Indigenous historical knowledge, governed by
the interests, priorities, and concerns of stakeholder communities.
Fortunately, these collaborations are flourishing in both the Arctic and the
Caribbean, offering much promise for understanding these histories in the
near future.
Although there is a disproportionate amount of research attention to
questions regarding the origins of Native Americans and the initial peopling
of the Americas, Indigenous histories should not be viewed as limited to the
distant past. There are many other important questions to be asked about the
thousands of years that followed the initial peopling: how populations
settled into their lands; how people adapted, changed, and maintained
traditions; how people traveled and encountered each other; how tribes
maintained peaceful relations or engaged in conflict. Tribes and