New Mexico footprints are oldest sign of humans in Americas, research shows

[Doc Sportello]

2. DNA studies show waves of Asians migrated to Alaska and their DNA mixed in isolation for millenia

Some came by a land bridge and others probably skirting the coasts in canoes as they moved southward. Today's Native Americans have a unique genetic footprint due to the mixing.

snip

The first Americans were descended from Asians, and they reached the New World by way of Beringia, a now-submerged land bridge that used to connect Asia to Alaska. Recent research suggests they followed the shorelines of Beringia and the Pacific Coast as they spread into the Americas by at least 15,000 years ago.

The new paper supports a theory that the migrants from Asia spent thousands of years in isolation, either in Beringea or Asia, before entering the Americas. During that time they developed unique genetic signatures that are now found in natives of the Americas.

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/science/ancient-dna-gives-glimpse-of-ancestors-of-native-americans/#:~:text=Ancient%20DNA%20from%20Alaska%20gives%20glimpse%20of%20ancestors%20of%20Native%20Americans,-Originally%20published%20January&text=The%20new%20paper%20supports%20a,in%20natives%20of%20the%20Americas.