Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 29, 2026

Primer Extension Capture: Targeted Sequence Retrieval from Heavily Degraded DNA Sources
Published on: September 3, 2009
Late Pleistocene human skeleton and mtDNA link Paleoamericans and modern Native Americans
James C Chatters1, Douglas J Kennett2, Yemane Asmerom3
1Applied Paleoscience and DirectAMS, 10322 NE 190th Street, Bothell, WA 98011, USA. paleosci@gmail.com.
Abstract:
Because of differences in craniofacial morphology and dentition between the earliest American skeletons and modern Native Americans, separate origins have been postulated for them, despite genetic evidence to the contrary. We describe a near-complete human skeleton with an intact cranium and preserved DNA found with extinct fauna in a submerged cave on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. This skeleton dates to between 13,000 and 12,000 calendar years ago and has Paleoamerican craniofacial characteristics and a Beringian-derived mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroup (D1). Thus, the differences between Paleoamericans and Native Americans probably resulted from in situ evolution rather than separate ancestry.
Related Concept Videos
Animal Mitochondrial Genetics
Synteny and Evolution
Around 80 million years ago, the human and mice lineages diverged from the common ancestor. During the course of evolution, the ancestral...
Evolutionary Relationships through Genome Comparisons
The Fossil Record
Comparing Mitochondrial, Chloroplast, and Prokaryotic Genomes
Phylogeny

