Study Suggests European wipe-out of early Americans

The first large scale study of ancient DNA from early American people has confirmed the devastating impact of European colonisation on the Indigenous American populations of the time.

According to the study, a striking absence of the pre-Columbian genetic lineages in modern Indigenous Americans, showing extinction of these lineages with the arrical of the Spaniards. None of the genetic was found in almost 100 ancient humans were present or showed evidence of descendants in today's Indigenous populations. The separation appears to have been established as early as 9000 years ago and was completely unexpected, so the scientists were examined many demographic scenarios to try and explain the pattern. The only scenario that fit the observations was that shortly after the initial colonisation, populations were established that subsequently stayed geographically isolated from one another and that a major portion of these populations later became extinct following European contact. This closely matches the historical reports of a major demographic collapse immediately after the  the Spaniards arrived in the late 1400s

The ancient genetic signals also provide a more precise timing og the first people entering the Americas - via the Beringian land bridge that connected Asia and the north-western tip of North America during the last ICe Age.

Soruce: Science Advances