Native Americans Descended From a Single Ancestral Group, DNA Study Confirms

A distinct DNA signature was found among all but one of the populations shown as points 32 to 53 on this map. (The Fox tribe, point 48, was the exception. But DNA samples of only 2 Fox people were tested, too few to provide a valid result.) The signature was absent in all Asian groups sampled, points 1-32. (Kari Britt Schroeder/UC Davis)

For two decades, researchers have been using a growing volume of genetic data to debate whether ancestors of Native Americans emigrated to the New World in one wave or successive waves, or from one ancestral Asian population or a number of different populations.

Now, after painstakingly comparing DNA samples from people in dozens of modern-day Native American and Eurasian groups, an international team of scientists thinks it can put the matter to rest: Virtually without exception the new evidence supports the single ancestral population theory.

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