Solutrean hypothesis: genetics, the mammoth in the room

The Solutrean hypothesis for the origin of the Clovis archaeological culture contends that people came from south-western Europe to North America during the Last Glacial Maximum. This hypothesis has received numerous critiques, but little objective testing, either of cultural or genetic evidence. We...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:World archaeology 2014-10, Vol.46 (5), p.752-774
Main Authors: Oppenheimer, Stephen, Bradley, Bruce, Stanford, Dennis
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
aDNA
Ancient civilizations
Archaeogenetics
Archaeology
Deoxyribonucleic acid
DNA
Evidence
Extinction
Genetics
Hypotheses
Hypothesis
Migration
migrations
mtDNA
North America
Palaeo-Americans
Population
Siberia
Solutrean hypothesis
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Summary:The Solutrean hypothesis for the origin of the Clovis archaeological culture contends that people came from south-western Europe to North America during the Last Glacial Maximum. This hypothesis has received numerous critiques, but little objective testing, either of cultural or genetic evidence. We contest the assertion that there is NO genetic evidence to support this hypothesis, and detail the published evidence, consistent with a pre-Columbian western Eurasian origin for some founding genetic markers, specifically mtDNA X2a, and some autosomal influence, found in ancient and modern Native American populations. The possibility that the inferred pre-Columbian western autosomal influence came more directly than through Siberia is not even considered in such studies. The mtDNA X2a evidence is more consistent with the Atlantic route and dates suggested by the Solutrean hypothesis and is more parsimonious than the assumption of a single Beringian entry, that assumes retrograde extinction of X in East Eurasia.
ISSN:0043-8243
1470-1375
DOI:10.1080/00438243.2014.966273