If the people of the coast 10,000 years ago were genetically similar to the people of the coast at contact, that would indicate continuity.

If they were genetically different, that would indicate replacement or substantial admixture with incoming populations.

The Genome and What It Revealed

The ancient DNA extracted from Shuká Káa’s remains and subjected to genomic analysis was analyzed in comparison with ancient and modern genomes from peoples of the Northwest Coast and the broader Americas.

The analysis placed Shuká Káa within the genetic framework of Native American ancestry — he was, as expected from his geographic location and date, a Native American person in the genetic sense, descended from the founding ancestral populations that crossed into the Americas through Beringia.

The more specific and more significant finding was about his relationship to the peoples who have inhabited the Northwest Coast in the millennia since his death.