This was the trace of the Ancient North Siberians in later time: not a direct descendant population, not a clear continuation of the Yana lineage, but a residual genetic contribution in a mixed group.

The Kolyma1 individual represented what happens when populations meet and mix: the earlier group’s distinct signature becomes diluted, absorbed into a new genetic mosaic, visible to modern genome analysis as a percentage of ancestry rather than as a standalone population.

But the more important finding for the story of Native American origins was what this Kolyma1 individual revealed about her relationship to the peoples of the Americas.

When Kolyma1 was compared to the ancestral populations of Native Americans, the researchers found a striking result: she was the closest known Old World relative of the ancestral Native American population that had been identified up to that point.