This is what gave MA-1 his unusual genetic signature.

He was not an East Asian.

He was not a western Eurasian.

He was a representative of an ancient Siberian population whose roots went in a somewhat different direction from either, while still being closely related to the population that would eventually contribute substantially to Native American ancestry.

The Ancient North Eurasian component appears, in varying proportions, across a range of modern and ancient populations.

It is detectable in some modern Siberian populations, in some populations of South Asia, in the ancient populations of western Eurasia from the Bronze Age and Neolithic, and in Native American populations.