The Future Of The Field

Ancient American genomics is a young science — or rather, it is a mature science applied to a very young and rapidly growing dataset.

The methods for extracting, sequencing, and analyzing ancient DNA have stabilized enough that the major limiting factor is no longer the technology but the availability of well-preserved ancient specimens from the right time periods and geographic locations.

The most important geographic locations for future ancient DNA research on early Americans are, in rough order of priority: Alaska and adjacent parts of northeastern Siberia, for information about the founding population in the source region; the Pacific coastal region, for information about the coastal migration route that may have been the primary pathway of the initial southward expansion; and Mexico and Central America, for information about the early populations of Mesoamerica during the critical period of the main southward expansion.