But they demonstrate that human populations in this region had the capacity, 31,000 years ago, to operate at latitudes and in conditions that the eventual Americas-founding crossing would have required.

The Wider Pattern — Similar Surprises From Ancient DNA

The Ancient North Siberians are one of a growing catalog of previously unknown populations revealed by ancient DNA research.

This catalog has grown rapidly since the first successful recovery of ancient human genomes in the early 2010s, and each new population added to it has required a revision of our understanding of human prehistory.

The Western Hunter-Gatherers of Mesolithic Europe were identified through the analysis of ancient Europeans from the period before the spread of farming.