Genetic Study Reveals Humanity's Longest Migration

upstart writes:

Genetic Study Reveals Humanity's Longest Migration:

Modern humans are thought to have walked out of Africa around 60,000 years ago, and they kept going until they reached every habitable part of the planet. Researchers have now revealed more about the longest migration in human history. Reporting in Science, a new study has indicated that early Asians embarked on the longest prehistory migration of humans in history. This trek was over 20,000 kilometers long (12,427 miles), and took multiple generations of people traveling over thousands of years, as they moved from North Asia to the southernmost part of South America, on foot. Ice bridges are thought to have made this route possible.

This study involved a genetic analysis of over 1,537 individuals who are meant to represent 139 diverse ethnic groups. Patterns of ancestry were analyzed, such as sequences that were shared among individuals, or variations that arose and accumulated over time. These differences and similarities showed how various groups moved, adapted, and split apart as they encountered new environments during their journey from Africa, to North Asia, and finally to Tierra del Fuego in what is now Argentina.

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