New DNA Study Reveals What Happened to Ancient Arctic Cultures: History of the Paleo-Eskimo

For about 5,000 years, people have lived in the New World Arctic. In fact, archaeological evidence shows that a variety of cultures survived this harsh environment. Now, though, researchers have conducted a comprehensive DNA study in order to learn a bit more about these ancient peoples and where they came from.

The North American Arctic was one of the last regions on Earth to be settled by modern humans. This occurred when people crossed the Bering Strait from Siberia and wandered into the New World. That's when the Paleo-Eskimo first made their appearance.

In order to learn a bit more about these ancient people, the researchers conducted a DNA study of current and former inhabitants of Greenland, Arctic Canada, Alaska, the Aleutian Islands and Siberia. This revealed not only when various groups appeared in the Arctic, but also when they left.

"Our genetic studies show that, in reality, the Paleo-Eskimos-representing one single group-were the first people in the Arctic, and they survived without outside contact for over 4,000 years," said Eske Willerslev, the researcher who headed the study, in a news release.

In fact, the study also reveals that the Paleo-Eskimos disappeared about 700 years ago, which is around the same time that the ancestors of modern-day Inuit spread eastward from Alaska. In traditional archaeological literature, though, distinctions are drawn between different cultural Paleo-Eskimo units. Yet it seems like they had more in common than once thought.

"Our study shows that, genetically, all of the different Paleo-Eskimo cultures belonged to the same group of people," said Willerslev. "On the other hand, they are not closely related to the Thule culture, and we see no indication of assimilation between the two groups. We have also ascertained that the Paleo-Eskimos were not descendants of the Native Americans. The genetics reveals that there must have been at least three separate pulses of migration from Siberia into the Americas and the Arcitc. First came the ancestors of today's Native Americans, then came the Paleo-Eskimos, and finally the ancestors of today's Inuit."

The findings reveal a bit more about these ancient people and show how they first came to the Arctic. Not only that, but it shows that Paleo-Eskimo and Neo-Eskimo people were genetically distinct and had separate origins.

The findings are published in the journal Science.