In the local people's tongue, her name means 'sunrise girl-child', and even though she only lived for six fleeting weeks, she's already told scientists more than we ever knew about the very first Native Americans.
Sunrise girl-child ("Xach'itee'aanenh T'eede Gaay") lived some 11,500 years ago in what is now called Alaska, and her ancient DNA reveals not only the origins of Native American society, but reminds the world of a whole population of people forgotten by history millennia ago.
"We didn't know this population existed," says anthropologist Ben Potter from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
"It would be difficult to overstate the importance of this newly revealed people to our understanding of how ancient populations came to inhabit the Americas."
[...] "[This is] the first direct evidence of the initial founding Native American population," Potter says. "It is markedly more complex than we thought."
Source: http://www.sciencealert.com/dna-11-000-years-ago-reveals-origins-native-americans-ancient-beringians
J. Víctor Moreno-Mayar, et. al. Terminal Pleistocene Alaskan genome reveals first founding population of Native Americans. Nature, doi:10.1038/nature25173
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 09 2018, @02:22AM (4 children)
White people cannot be native Americans, not ever, not even when whites are born on American soil.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 09 2018, @02:36AM (3 children)
Out in the country, far from a highway
There is this land here, and it is my way
Don't ever come here, or you'll be sorry
This land was made just for me
This land is my land, it isn't your land
I got a shotgun, and you don't got none
If you don't get off, I'll blow your head off
This land was made just for me
So keep away now, Don't ruin my day now
My property's private, you cannot buy it
Go find your own land, Just be a lone man
This land was made just for me
This land is my land, it isn't your land
I got a shotgun, and you don't got none
If you don't get off, I'll blow your head off
This land was made just for me
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 09 2018, @02:44AM (2 children)
Let me guess...you are squatting on federal grazing land and not paying rent, amirite?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 09 2018, @02:58AM
You pay my rent into the one armed bandit.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 09 2018, @05:32PM
oh that's hilarious. "squatting" on county or state land in a county and state your family helped build that some thieving feds now say is theirs.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday January 09 2018, @03:31AM (12 children)
In other discussions, we have discovered that the Americas were settled by many different groups, at many different times, at many different locations. Yes, it IS complex. Polynesians found South and Central America, Siberian people found Alaska, and other people found their way here by different routes. There is nothing to indicate that all Native American's ancestors came across from Siberia. Nothing at all.
It seems a lot of scientists concentrate on US-centric populations, most of whom are more closely related to each other, than they are to various South American tribes. Because they concentrate on these populations, they fail to see the "big picture". Wave after wave after wave of settlers have come to the Americas, from many different places, over tens of thousands of years. Some died out, others flourished, while others met and mingled.
Yes, it's complex. They got that part right.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Arik on Tuesday January 09 2018, @05:15AM (2 children)
"other people found their way here by different routes."
"There is nothing to indicate that all Native American's ancestors came across from Siberia."
At this point there's a fairly strong absence of evidence argument. Of course it's perfectly possible that Polynesians, Phoenicians, and whoever else actually set foot on the continent at some point in time (we can be pretty sure the vikings and chinese did of course,) but there's a pretty complete lack of any evidence for most of it. I'm not aware of any proof that Polynesians made it west of Easter Island, are you? Genetically if any of those groups did exist on the continent in the past they appear to have died out without leaving recognizable descendents, or artifacts, much like the settlers in Vinland (and more recently Roanoke.)
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 09 2018, @06:27AM (1 child)
But what about that "lost tribe" of Israel that sailed from Egypt to the New World and build paramids to God under their leader Nephi and his bothers until they all fell away from the Heavenly Father and got turned Red because Lamanites, and then got all saved by a bunch of white people with Golden Plates handed down by the angel Morony, and a White Salamander with a Seer-Stone. Totally legit.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 09 2018, @12:32PM
LOL sure, and next you'll be saying Jesus wasn't blond and white skinned!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday January 09 2018, @05:19AM (5 children)
The term Native American needs to die in a fire. It's fucking retarded. Anyone born here is a native American.
We're fucking Indians.
Why Indians when it's just as wrong as Native Americans? Because it's wrong because a white guy was stupid and we get to laugh at him instead of being wrong because some blue haired cunts spending daddy's money at Berkeley think we're fragile little snowflakes who need protected from hurtful words.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2, Informative) by petecox on Tuesday January 09 2018, @08:23AM (1 child)
In Canada they seem to prefer the term "first nation"
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday January 09 2018, @11:48AM
Better but then they probably don't play Cowboys and First Nationals as kids up there what with no serious history of cattle ranching.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Touché) by jimshatt on Tuesday January 09 2018, @11:15AM (2 children)
We use a lot of terms that are incorrect in a literal sense, and you don't complain about them (AFAIK), so why start now? Maybe someone stepped on your snowflaky toes?
(Score: 3, Informative) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday January 09 2018, @11:46AM (1 child)
Why this one? Because it sounds retarded and was created for nonexistent hurt feelz. I don't give a happy damn if a term isn't precise so long as it doesn't hit those criteria as well. African American annoys me as well, though it does make me laugh when the media has to figure out how to not say "black" when they're talking about a black person that's not from America.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Funny) by FatPhil on Tuesday January 09 2018, @09:14PM
And yes, that's Idris Elba, the Londoner. And yes, that quote contains some truly terrible, as well as the absurdity.
And as you can tell from my surname, Carmody, I have paternal Irish roots, and very pale skin to go along with it, so I'm now particularly now traumatised by the terrible racist triggering in that quoted sentence.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by jimshatt on Tuesday January 09 2018, @11:21AM (1 child)
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday January 09 2018, @02:29PM
Well, of course they would. I've been told that the most dissimilar people on earth have more in common that they have differences. We share 99+% of the same genetic material, and so on. I guess when you get right down to it - it doesn't matter if one group or another dies off. There's someone almost like them to take their place, right?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 09 2018, @05:39PM
every time these jackasses find something they "rewrite history" with more asinine assumptions and PC lies. how about just publishing the finding without all the BS?