- WHY IT MATTERS: Ted Goebel, an archaeologist at Texas A&M University, says this study for the first time brings together archaeological and genetic evidence to tell the story of when and how the first Americans arrived.
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The study, published in the journal Science, says the first Americans had their roots in southern Siberia and ventured across the Bering land bridge connecting Asia and North America about 22,000 years ago. But they probably did not migrate down into the Americas until 16,000 years ago, when an ice-free corridor in Canada opened.
Genetic evidence points to a founding population of less than 5000 individuals. Archaeological evidence, meanwhile, suggests that the so-called Clovis culture, distinguished by its unique stone tool kit and dating back about 13,000 years ago, may have been relative latecomers to the Americas.
