Genetic Study Establishes Native Ancestors Were in Alaska 3,000 Years Ago

BUFFALO, NEW YORK—A new genetic study provides evidence that at least some Alaska Natives live in roughly the same location where their ancestors lived 3,000 years ago, according to a press release from the University at Buffalo. While studying what they thought was a bear bone found in a cave on the southeast coast of Alaska, a team led by University at Buffalo evolutionary biologist Charlotte Lindqvist determined that the bone had actually belonged to a young woman. The bone was radiocarbon dated to around 3,000 years ago, and analysis of genetic material extracted from it revealed that the young woman was most closely related to the Tlingit peoples and other tribes that live nearby. A Tlingit group has named the ancient individual Tatóok yík yées sháawat, or Young lady in cave. There is evidence from Tlingit oral history that they were already in the area more than a millennium before the time of the young woman covered in the study. Tlingit narratives include the story of the most recent eruption of Mount Edgecumbe, which suggests their ancestors were in the area 4,500 years ago. To read about excavations in an Alaskan village that have provided evidence of an episode in the local people’s oral tradition, go to “Cultural Revival.”