Reconciling pre-Columbian settlement hypotheses requires integrative, multidisciplinary, and model-bound approaches

MARÍA CÁTIRA BORTOLINI; ROLANDO GONZALEZ-JOSÉ; SANDRO LUIS BONATTO; SALZANO, FM

PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

NATL ACAD SCIENCES

Lugar: Washington DC, USA; Año: 2011

0027-8424

Achilli et al. (1) present unique Q:6 evidence concerning human mitogenomes and argue that such data are sufficient to generate a consensus scenario for the first settlement of the Americas. Here, we challenge their statement of having achieved a reconciling model because it ignores coherent ideas recently proposed by many researchers. To begin with, the results of Achilli et al. (1) are presented as challenging the threemigration wave model (2), and a paper published by us (3) is cited as supporting this classic migration scenario. However, our article did not support simplistic scenarios, such as the three-migration model. Rather, we suggested?based on craniofacial data, as well as genetic Q:7 , linguistic and archaeological evidence?that an initial major dispersal began after the Last Glacial Maximum (21,000 y B.P.). We also suggested that the biological and cultural characteristics of the first Americans that emerged?in part?during a standstill period in Beringia, were reshaped by recurrent trans-Beringian/circum-Arctic gene flow and local population dynamics. These processes altered the initial indigenous biological and cultural traits, especially in North America (3). Since the publication of our report, evidence from several disciplines has further validated our model (4, 5), and the distribution pattern and coalescence times of mitogenomes provided by Achilli et al. (1) offer a remarkable additional support for this view.