April 27, 1997 Office of the Editor: Human Biology Michael H. Crawford, Ph. D Department of Anthropology 622 Fraser Hall University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas 66045 To the Editor, Is there an alternative explanation for interpreting similarities between Native American and Siberians? Holocene Amerindian migrations and admixture with Northeast Asian Populations could provide another direction for testing this relationship if an archaeology based chronology supporting movements of Native Americans into deglaciating North America were entertained. What must accompany the verified presence of glacially isolated human populations south of the Wisconsin Ice Sheets is a willingness to test an alternative direction for population movements following the end of the last Ice Age. Ethnology studies play a decisive roll in understanding the present distribution and early source of any population in question. In this letter I wish to venture westward in exploring an alternative direction of gene flow. Merriweather et al. (1995) touch on this alternative, "or from migrations back into the area [Northeast Asia] from within the New World" though little has been done (before or sense) to actually test this possibility. Shared markers (be they linguistic, genetic, dental, or mtDNAs) do not define who had them first. Steven Ousley's article, Human Biology (June 1995), brings back to life Boas' groundbreaking efforts in this field and with it Boas' conclusions defined in his "Eskimo wedge theory." This alternative direction, pre-supposing Native American migrations into Siberia following the removal of glacial barriers less then 11,500 years ago, compliments the relevance of addressing this alternative today. Moreover, this alternative can find others, including archaeologists, who share this persuasion (Dixon 1994; Lewis Binford personal comm.). The implications of Boas' "Eskimo wedge theory" has lingered behind the wake of verifying mid-Pleistocene human occupations of the Americas. Archaeological data can be cited to define, chronologically, a more recent Holocene origin for maritime adapted sea mammal hunting cultures and boreal adapted deglaciated inhabitants of interior Western North America, both (see Dixon 1993). Is it not plausible that Paleoindian Traditions found first in southeastern North America could have been carried north given the now widespread acceptance of a mid-Pleistocene habitation of the Americas (Dillehay 1989; Chrisman et al. 1996)? Now-as the tide carrying the Clovis First model ebbs-is the time to identify and test alternative models (and sources) of human migrations. Given the existence of human populations in refugia isolated by glacial barriers, human movements from them, following the end of the Pleistocene, could find "biogeographic" equivalents since "Patterns of variation of certain North American mammalian species have been interpreted as a product of biological differentiation arising from isolation in these refugia (Rogers et al. 1991; p 623)." One would think that mitochondrial DNA, with its high mutation rate, would be the ideal genetic candidate for identifying human "biological variation". Subsequent variants in mtDNAs would eventually interface, and be detected, in the admixing of once isolated populations. Rogers et al. (1991b) imply that human movements could mimic that of other mammalian species. Taking this to its logical conclusion is my belief that scientists should peruse Boas contention that; Native American populations were isolated in Ice Age refugia south of the Ice Sheets during the Pleistocene and later migrated into Siberia following the end of the last Ice Age. A southeastern origin for Paleoindian Traditions is compatible with archaeological dates that specifically suggests that Clovis hunters migrated north into degalciating North America (Dixon 1993). In abandoning the Clovis First model-one directional eastward movements of people into the Americas across Beringia-achaeologists may now entertain new concepts including, Boas' "Eskimo wedge theory". That is, the traditional model of "Clovis First" failed to address the impact pre-existing Amerindian populations could have had in contributing to the Holocene formation of Beringian Populations. A discussion of Holocene population interface in Siberia by geographically isolated populations would seem to be next step, one identified by Boas (1905). We will never know if Boas' idea (reverse migration) offers a valid relationship unless we agree to test it using state of the art genetic agents like mtDNA. Native Americans, archaeologists, and biologists may find plenty of common ground if compatible interpretations can be found to justify what each believes occurred in pre-history. The source for many Northeast Asian mtDNA haplotypes and my summation that they could represent Amerindian admixture conforms with mtDNAs high mutation rate and the genetic detection of interface between once isolated populations. The frequencies of many common Amerindian mtDNAs in eastern Siberians may be evidence of a substantial Amerindian contribution (admixture) to Northeast Asian population structure. Since these Haplotypes are found primarily in Northeast Asia and the New World they most likely originated in one of these two regions. Could they be isolated Amerindian lineages developed in-situ in the New World. Dates for the movements of Paleoindians Traditions would concur with an Amerindian migration-north-in both space and time. Holocene migration from the Americas and admixture in northeast Asia removes the requirement that AAM1, CAM43, DAM88 and "other" mtDNAs be specifically defined as the "founding lineages" for each Amerindian haplogroup containing them. A final point. The "single migration theory" suggests that one wave led to the formation of the Eskimo, Athapascans, and southern Native Americans. As Peter Forester asserts concerning the Holocene occupation of deglaciated North America, "'We call it a re-expansion. It's a matter of taste whether you call it a separate migration' (see Ann Gibbons, Science October 4 pg. 33)." The "single wave" alternative to the "three wave migration theory" could adopt options like those identified by Boas at the turn-of-the-century. This "re-expansion" could defer to the principal component (Holocene reverse migration) outlined in this letter. Certainly, Amerindians are older than the populations presently occupying deglaciated North America. In light of all the choices presented in creating a second, or third, wave (from Asia) for the Eskimo and Athapascans, it would seem worthy to test the significance of finding shared mtDNAs with Boas' alternative. In paralleling Boas' long abandoned contention, mtDNA types could delineate an Amerindian contribution to the formation of Eskimo and Athapascans with evidentiary Asian/Amerind admixture in eastern Siberia resulting from a western expansion of Native Americans out of the Americas. I have been trying to draw attention to Boas' alternative because I believe it can find compatible interpretations by linking Amerindian myths and archaeological chronologies with mtDNA data. Is it time to unconditionally test this hypothesis and make it walk the thin ice that accompanies scientific scrutiny? Sincerely yours, Alvah M. Pardner Hicks Lakoya Sespe Foundation 9788 Random Canyon Way Creston, CA 93432 Phone (805) 438-4142 Fax 438-4156 e-mail alvah@thegrid.net