When researchers compared his genomic profile against a broad dataset of ancient and modern human populations from around the world, the closest match was to the Indigenous peoples of North and South America.

This result directly addressed the Paleoamerican hypothesis.

The hypothesis had predicted — or was at least compatible with — a finding that the earliest Americans were genetically distinct from modern Native Americans, more closely related to populations from Southeast Asia, Australia, or elsewhere.

The Spirit Cave Man’s DNA showed the opposite.

He was, genetically, Native American in the most precise and specific sense that the term could carry.

The results of the analysis were incorporated into a major study published in the journal Science in November 2018, led by Victor Moreno-Mayar of the Centre for GeoGenetics at the University of Copenhagen, with Eske Willerslev among the senior authors.