The North American populations from which some modern groups are derived may have experienced demographic events — additional migrations, population replacements, or isolation — that changed their genetic profile relative to the original Clovis founding population, while Central and South American populations retained more of the original Clovis genetic profile because of their isolation from subsequent North American demographic events.

This interpretation is consistent with what has been called the “southern dispersal” model of Clovis expansion — the idea that the Clovis population spread not just across North America but simultaneously and rapidly into Central and South America, founding populations in both regions that then differentiated from each other and from subsequently arriving or diverging North American populations.

The genome also provided evidence relevant to the question of Clovis origins — where, ultimately, the Clovis people came from.

The genetic affinity of the Anzick child’s genome with northeastern Asian populations — specifically with populations ancestral to East Asians — confirmed the long-held interpretation that Native Americans descended from Asian peoples who crossed into the Americas through Beringia.