The USR1 genome fits within this picture as one of the earliest and most informative data points from the American side of the story.

Her basal position in the Native American family tree reflects her connection to the founding population before the main diversification events of the southward expansion.

Her location in interior Alaska reflects the geography of the Beringian source region and the northern part of the continent that was first accessible to the founding population as the ice began to retreat.

Placed in global context, USR1’s genome is a link between the Asian source populations of the founding migration and the diverse Native American populations of the hemisphere — a link that preserves the signal of the founding diversity at its deepest sampled level.

Every other ancient or modern Native American genome that has been analyzed sits further down the branching tree — representing populations that diverged from each other after the founding events that USR1’s genome captures.