This population had its own specific genetic character, connecting it to ancient lineages that partially overlapped with the ancestry of western Eurasians while also being specifically connected to what would become Native American ancestral populations.

The estimated proportion of present-day Native American ancestry derived from lineages related to the Mal’ta population was given in the paper as roughly 14 to 38 percent, with different estimates for different population groups and different analytical approaches.

This range is not a fixed property of every living Native American person — it represents a statistical summary across population groups and methodological approaches, and it should be understood as an approximate characterization of a complex signal, not a precise measurement applicable to every individual.

The finding was, in the context of existing models of Native American origins, a genuine surprise.