Native people on the Lucy Islands claim to have been living there for countless generations, and new research has confirmed they weren't lying.
Researchers were able to track the maternal lineage of three people back thousands of years to ancient Native Americans, according to a press release.
The team compared the mitochondrial DNA (which can only be inherited maternally) of three living individuals with four ancient ones. The people were from British Columbia, Canada, which is home to the Tsimshian, Haida and Nisga'a people.
The native people claim to have been living in the area for countless generations, but there has been no physical evidence of this until now.
"Having a DNA link showing direct maternal ancestry dating back at least 5,000 years is huge as far as helping the Metlakatla prove that this territory was theirs over the millennia," Barbara Petzelt, an author and participant in the study, said.
The team found female remains in a house-like structure in the Lucy Islands, thought to be up to 6,400 years old. After examining her mitogenome, they found it matched another set of female remains believed to be 2,500 years old.
A participant in the study was found to hold the same genome, meaning she was related to the ancient women. Three other living participants were related to remains found on the same island.
Complete analysis of mitochondrial DNA is a new concept; most past research has only looked at about two percent of the mitogenomic sequences.
Only one study existed before this one in which the entire sequence was looked at. In the past study researchers examined the mitochondrial DNA of a hair from a 3,400 to 4,500 Greenland Eskimo.
"This is the beginning of the golden era for ancient DNA research because we can do so much now that we couldn't do a few years ago because of advances in sequencing technologies," said Professor Ripan Malhi of the University of Illinois, who led the study.
Since the DNA is only passed down maternally it is easier to track unique sequences. It is also more abundant in cells unlike nuclear DNA, allowing researchers to compare samples to duplicates.
One problem with the system is caused by European influence.
"There's a pattern of European males mixing with Native American females after European contact and so lots of the Y chromosomes in the community trace back to Europe," Malhi said. "The mitogenome offers a clearer picture of Native American lineages before European contact."
The research shows some people on the island can trace their lineage back thousands of years and find their relatives lived in the same region.
"Archaeology is one important source of information about the past, and oral traditions give us a lot of verifiable information about the past cultural events and patterns," he said. "But the genetic information is something that is immediately recognizable. If somebody is told that their DNA links to somebody who was present 2,500 years ago and also to someone who was present 5,500 years ago, you can summarize that in a sentence and it's very easily understood and it's exciting." David Archer, an anthropology professor at Northwest Community College who has been working on the study since the 1960s, said.
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