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DNA from tooth links Indians from California to Chile


DNA extracted from the tooth of a 10,300-year-old Native man has uncovered links among tribal people from California all way the way to Chile.

The man was discovered at a place called On Your Knees Cave in Alaska. His descendants were found among present-day Chumash in California, the Cayapa of Ecuador and Natives in Chile.

"It's mind-boggling," Ernestine De Soto told The Los Angeles Times. "I've always known I was Chumash, but this is something else."

John Johnson, the head of the anthropology department at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, led the research. He believes the Pacific Coast was a primary corridor for migration in the Americas.

Get the Story:
DNA Ties Together Scattered Peoples (The Los Angeles Times 9/11)
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DNA links 10,000-year-old man to tribal descendants (8/24)