The deep American roots of Indigenous peoples are confirmed by the oldest genome from the Clovis horizon that has been successfully sequenced.

What has changed in the decade since publication is the surrounding context.

The pre-Clovis evidence has become more robust.

The population complexity of the founding of the Americas has become clearer and more intricate.

The ethical frameworks for ancient genomic research have continued to evolve, with increasing recognition of the rights of Indigenous communities to meaningful participation in decisions about the study and use of their ancestors’ remains.

The Anzick child sits at the center of all of this — not because his genome answered every question, but because it was, at its moment of publication, the most direct and powerful biological evidence that the first Americans were the ancestors of those who came after, that the Clovis people were not a mysterious lost population but part of the long human history of the Americas, and that the people living in the hemisphere today carry, in their genomes, the biological inheritance of the people who were here first.