No single individual can represent the entire population history of a continent.

But ancient genomes are especially valuable when they come from time periods and regions where genetic data are scarce.

Spirit Cave helped fill one of those gaps.

The result also had implications for a controversial idea known as the Paleoamerican hypothesis.

Some earlier researchers argued that the earliest American skeletons displayed cranial forms unlike later Native Americans and might represent a separate founding population.

The genetic evidence did not support a simple replacement of a non-Native early population by later Native peoples.

Instead, early individuals such as Spirit Cave fell within the ancestry of Native Americans.

This does not mean the peopling of the Americas was simple.

Genetic studies identify multiple branches, ancient separations, migrations, and episodes of gene flow.

Coastal routes and interior routes remain subjects of research.