Researchers have revealed that the first settlers in North America were from Asia and not Europe, and were direct descendants of Native Americans.
A research team sequenced the genome of an Ice Age skeleton of a one-year-old boy, a Texas A&M University news release reported.
In 1968 researchers found the remains of a 12,600-year-old Clovis child on a rock cliff in central Montana along with about 100 other burial artifacts. The site is called the Anzick site.
"We were able to extract DNA from the bones and show that the ancestors of this boy originated from Asia. These people eventually migrated to North America, settled the continent, and gave rise to Clovis," Michael Waters, director of the Center for the Study of First Americans at Texas A&M, said in the news release.
The remains were reported to be covered with powdered red ochre, a mineral that was used in ancient times as a pigment and in burials. The Clovis used spear points made from stone to hunt animals such as the mammoth and mastodon.
Clovis is not believed to be the earliest residents of North America, but they are considered the first "widespread prehistoric culture," the news release reported.
"It is gratifying to see the genetic evidence meshing with the archaeological evidence. These two methods together will tell the story of the earliest settlers of the Americas," Waters said.
"The genetic information provided by the Anzick boy is also part of the larger story of modern humans. We know that modern humans originated in Africa and then around 50,000 years ago spread rapidly over Europe and Asia. The last continent explored and settled by modern humans were the Americas. In essence, the Anzick boy tells us about the epic journey of our species," he said.
After the sequencing of the skeleton, Native Americans from Montana will oversee its reburial.
"We hope that this study leads to more cooperation between Native Americans and scientists. This is just one human genome. We need to know the genetic story of modern Native peoples and derive more genetic data from ancient remains to fully understand the origins and movements of the First Americans and their descendants," Waters said.
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