DNA EVIDENCE REFUTES THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICAS

Anthropologists have long assumed that the first Americans, who crossed into ..North America.. by way of the Bering Straits, were originally of Asian stock.  But recently they have been puzzled by surprising features on a handful of ancient American skeletons, including the controversial one known as Kennewick Man - features that resemble those of Europeans rather than Asians (Science, 10 April 1998, p. 190). 

Now a new genetic study may link Native Americans and people of ..Europe.., offering tantalizing support to a controversial theory that a band of people who originally lived in ..Northern Europe.. or ..Asia Minor.. were among the continent's first settlers. The new data, from a genetic marker appropriately called Lineage X, suggest a "definite - if ancient - link between Eurasians and Native Americans," says Theodore Schurr, a molecular anthropologist from ....Emory.. ..University.... in Atlanta. 

Haplogroup X genetic variant which possibly links people of ....Finland.... to the Native American Indians was spotted by a researcher Torroni in a small number of European populations. A team set out to explore the marker's source. Blood samples were analyzed from Native American, European, and Asian populations and published studies were reviewed. "We fully expected to find it in ..Asia..," like the other four Native American markers, says Dr. Brown. To everyone's surprise, however, haplogroup X was only confirmed in the genes of a smattering of living people in ..Europe.. and Asia Minor. 

How do we distinguish genes introduced by the Finns to ....America.... before ....Columbus.... from those introduced after ....Columbus.... ? The key may be to examine pre-Columbian human remains. Though extremely rare, such remains may ultimately answer the question. One study has been reported of such remains. It is that of Stone and Stoneking (1998), who investigated a burial site with many pre-Columbian skeletons dating to about 1300 AD.  Of 152 individuals, 102 could be assigned to one of the four primary haplogroups (A,B,C,D), and 6 "did not possess any of the characteristic markers and were designated as belonging to a group designated "other"". 

The remaining 44 samples did not yield enough DNA for analysis. The HV1 [hypervariable region I of the control region in the mtDNA] was sequenced in 52 individuals (34%) from the total sample. 

The individuals included 12 with mtDNA classified as group A, 7 as group B, 25 as group C, 5 as group D, and 3 as "other." Twenty-five distinct lineages were found. Two of these lineages (2 and 25) were excluded from further analysis, as likely cases of contamination (despite multiple independent extractions of these samples). The sequence of lineage 25 (from burial 200) matched the sequence of the primary author (A.S.).

The lineage 2 sequence was identical to one found in two Finnish individuals (Lahermo et al., 1996) and segregates with the reference sequence in phylogenic analyses (data not shown). Although this sequence does not match the author's sequence of that of the primary osteologist involved with the sample, this lineage may be the result of contamination from an unknown source.

Additional investigation of the mtDNA sequences of individuals involved with the skeletal collection may reveal the possible source for this sequence. Lineage 25 was from the "other" group (as is the primary author), whereas extracts from the individual with lineage 2 did have the gain of the HaeIII site that characterizes haplogroup A in Native Americans; however, this mutation has also been found in Caucasians (Cann et al. 1987). (Stone and Stoneking, 1998, emphasis ours). 
Fascinating! The authors describe great care in the extraction procedures used. They examined a string of 31 nucleotides, most of which are unchanged relative to a reference sample. Sample 24, rejected for having the same sequence as the author's, differs by only two mutations from the reference series and by only 1 mutation from line 11 that is grouped with haplogroup B. Line 25 differs by only one mutation from the line 11 as well and by only two mutations from the reference sequence.

It's not impossible that either of these sequences labeled as "other" were genuine Native American sequences. But since one corresponds to two published Finnish nucleotide sequences, it assumed that contamination somehow occurred. But could it also be that there was some European blood that showed up in a rare DNA sequence ? 

The over-all large number of similarities between the Native Americans and the Finno-Ugric Sami people (Lapps) cannot be denied, and it is about time to acknowledge the fact, that not only the use of saunas (sweat houses) unite the Finnic peoples and the native American Indians. 

Based on the information published in this article, and comparing it with that of Finnila (2001), we find that one of Finnila's Finnish individuals (112) of haplogroup X differs from ten of Brown et al.'s (1998) haplogroup X Native Americans (NA 12-21) by only one or two mutations. Specifically, both the native Americans and the Finn have mutations relative to the Cambridge Reference Sequence in nucleotides at positions 73, 153, 195, 225, 263, 16183, 16189, 16223, and 16278.

Brown does not appear to provide information about nucleotide 329, where the Finn has a mutation. The Finn has a mutation at position 226 that is found in none of Brown et al.'s Native American samples. Thus, based on the published information, there are nine shared mutations, one mutation in the Finn not found in the Native Americans, and one in the Finn for which we have no information. 

Differing by only one or two mutations when nine mutations are shared should strike anyone as interesting. To put this in perspective, there were three other Finns sharing haplogroup X with individual 112, and in spite of their common haplogroup, they still differed from individual 112 by either 4 or 5 mutations. Finns with other haplogroups differed from individual 112 by larger numbers of mutations, with some differing by more than 20 mutations. 

Interestingly, we've encountered another example of a respected researcher encountering Finnish-like genes in Native Americans and ascribing that to "presumably recent European admixture". Torroni and Wallace (1995) discuss the "other" haplogroups that don't fall within the primary mtDNA haplogroups A, B, C, and D, which have been found in over 3% of Native Americans. After dismissing an unusual Mayan haplotype (Am28) as European, they make the following statements: 

An analogous case of admixture with Europeans is represented by the "anomalous" Ojibwa and the Navajo mtDNAs (AM29 and AM74-76). All of these haplotypes are defined by both a DdeI site loss as nt [nucleotide] 1715 and the lack of a DdeI site at nt 10394. This association was not observed in any of 411 Siberians and 207 Asians, suggesting that this haplogroup is not of Asian ancestry.

The European ancestry of the anomalous Ojibwa and Navajo mtDNAs was initially suggested by the presence of two similar haplotypes in 2 of 175 Caucasians from ..North America.. and recently has been confirmed by the finding of mtDNAs with the same characteristic mutations in the Finnish population (author's unpublished data). (Torroni et al., 1995, p. 1235, references deleted, emphasis ours). 

As if that weren't puzzling enough, a study of diabetes in Mexican Americans again points to a possible Finnish connection (Horikawa et al., 2000), though European admixture is certainly present. Here is the abstract:

Type 2 or non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) is the most common form of diabetes worldwide, affecting approximately 4% of the world's adult population. It is multi-factorial in origin with both genetic and environmental factors contributing to its development. A genome-wide screen for type 2 diabetes genes carried out in Mexican Americans localized a susceptibility gene, designated NIDDM1, to chromosome 2. 

Here we describe the positional cloning of a gene located in the NIDDM1 region that shows association with type 2 diabetes in Mexican Americans and a Northern European population from the Bothnia region of ....Finland...., area known better as Kvenland up to the late Middle Ages. This putative diabetes-susceptibility gene encodes a ubiquitously expressed member of the calpain-like cysteine protease family, calpain-10 (CAPN10). This finding suggests a novel pathway that may contribute to the development of type 2 diabetes. 

Are the repeated genetic connections with Finns just coincidence? Torroni et al. (1995) find a close tie between some Finns and some unusual mtDNAs in Native Americans, allegedly "confirming" that they are due to recent admixture with Europeans. Stone and Stoneking (1998) investigate a pre-Columbian burial site and, in spite of extremely cautious procedures, feel that contamination from an unknown source must have occurred in one of their samples because it shows a sequence identical to that reported in two Finnish individuals, even though this sequence did not match that of the two researchers most likely to have accidentally contributed genetic matter.

Interestingly again, a study of diabetes suggests an association between Mexican Americans and some Finns. Finally, our comparison of data in Finnila et al. (2001) and Brown et al. (1998) shows that the connections between one Finnish individual and several modern X haplotypes in Native Americans may be surprisingly close, even though recent admixture is not suspected.

The origins of the Finns are rather obscure. Some have speculated about lost tribes of ....Israel...., but - based on the most recent archeological and other scientific evidence - a Central European origin appears more plausible.

There may be over 10 000 years old Finnic (or Finno-Ugric) connection with the Native Americans, - and there appears to be a more recent connection as well, provided by the Viking Age voyages across the Atlantic Ocean.  For now, we don't know enough to make any firm conclusions.

The unusual outliers we encounter remind us of the significant diversity in genetic markers. Statements based on averages and typical features of groups may obscure important details, such as the similarity between a Finn and several Native Americans.

And, if there were a link between the modern-day Finns and the pre-Columbian settlers in the New World - such as the two sharing the same genes, - would such a link ever be found, if evidence for it were immediately but erroneously discarded due to "apparent modern admixture" ?

Besides the connection in DNA, a large number of other facts link the Native American and the Finno-Ugric peoples.  The sauna bathing tradition ("sweat houses" in America) is an obvious similarity between the cultures in question - but there is much more:

Throughout known history, tepees of the Sioux Indians have been built much the same way as those of the Finno-Ugric Sami people.  The shamanic rites practiced by the Navajos closely resemble the shamanic rites of Samis. 

Up to modern times, the Lakota Indians have worn decorated hides and skins for their clothing, in a similar way as Samis have, and they've played their skin drums and smoked their peace pipes very much the way Samis have. 

The chanting-like singing of the Native Americans could easily be mistaken with the "joika" singing of the Samis (a.k.a. Lapps).  Their canoe-like sleds, cradle boards on their mothers' backs for baby-carrying, deer skin boots lined with fresh dry grass for replacement of socks, their general lifestyle and many costumes - including hunting habits - are very similar to those of Samis. 

The history and culture of the Native American Indians and the Finno-Ugric Sami people continue to fascinate us today just as much as they have a century ago, and before: 

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, members of the Native American Indians were exhibited to the American and European general public by William Cody, better known as 'Buffalo Bill'.  During the same period, Samis too were displayed in fairs and exhibitions - as strange and exotic natives.

(Note:  Both, the Native American Indians and the Sami people consist of various tribes - with varying languages and much diversity of cultures, art styles, customs and life-styles.)

 

The Finno-Ugric Sami people and the ancestors of the modern-day Finns have inhabited the territories of Northern Scandinavia and Fennoscandia at least since the ending of the last ice age, about 11,000 years ago.

However, the results of the archaeological Susiluola - "wolf cave" - excavation in Finland so far suggest that people were living in the area of the modern-day Finland already over 100,000 years ago, during one - or perhaps two - of the interglacial periods.