This line of thinking, which appeared in books and documentaries aimed at popular audiences, implicitly or explicitly questioned the deep and exclusive Indigenous roots of Native American peoples.

It is in this context that the Anzick-1 genome’s refutation of the Solutrean hypothesis carries its full weight.

The hypothesis was not only scientifically weak; it was being used, in some quarters, to cast doubt on the depth and exclusivity of Native American claims to the Western Hemisphere.

A hypothesis that said the first Americans came partly from Europe, or that the ancestors of current Native Americans were latecomers who replaced an earlier European-derived population, could serve political and legal narratives that denied or minimized Indigenous rights and historical presence.

The genome cut through this with molecular clarity.