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	Podcast:		UC Science Today
	Episode:		DNA supports the archeological record of Native American diversity
	Category:		Science & Medicine
	Duration:		00:01:02
	Publish Date:		2015-10-04 19:00:00
	Description:		Using DNA samples from ancient and living Native Americans, an international team of researchers led by the University of California, Berkeley found that the original Americans split off into North and South America around 13,000 years ago. Computational biologist Rasmus Nielsen says that the findings support previous evidence found in the archeological record. "The diversity in the Americas today, originated maybe around 13,000 years ago. So that's about the same time, as you get the first spread of unique Native American cultures in the American continent. If we look at the oldest divergence between different Native American populations, how old is that, that dates back to that time? So the time at which in the archeological record you see the first big spread of Native American cultures, you also get the genetic diversity dating back to that time." Nielsen says that a single group diversified in the Americas as opposed to the idea that multiple different waves produced the diversity that we see today. "And that explained almost all of the genetic diversity we see in Native Americans to date."
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