EXCERPT

A University of Kansas anthropological geneticist is part of an international research team working to shed light upon one of the unanswered questions concerning the peopling of the New World: Namely, what was the size of the original founding population of the Americas?

Despite numerous genetic studies that have helped contribute to knowledge about how ancient groups populated the Americas, scientists have not reached a consensus about how many Native Americans made up the original population. This analysis of DNA sequences suggests the Native American founding population that migrated from Siberia consisted of approximately 250 people.