New Study <br />Sheds Light , on the Early History, of the First Americans.<br />'The New York Times' reports that scientists <br />have extracted DNA samples from 9,600-year-old <br />human remains found in the jungles of Belize. .<br />The findings have shed light <br />on the genetic history of <br />people in the Maya region. .<br />Scientists identified a previously-unknown mass migration <br />that occurred 5,600 years ago, which contributed over <br />50% of the ancestry of Mayan-speaking peoples today. .<br />Scientists identified a previously-unknown mass migration <br />that occurred 5,600 years ago, which contributed over <br />50% of the ancestry of Mayan-speaking peoples today. .<br />Three distinct genetic groups were identified: , one which lived 7,300 to 9,600 years ago, .<br />another living between 3,700 and <br />5,600 years ago, and a third group <br />identical with modern Maya people. .<br />According to scientists, the oldest group <br />is evidence of a southward migration through <br />the Americas during the Pleistocene. .<br />The research also illuminates how <br />the region transitioned from hunting and <br />gathering to the cultivation of crops. .<br />In a 2020 paper, the researchers described evidence <br />of maize consumption in the remains of humans <br />who lived 4,000 to 4,700 years ago. .<br />People were actually moving into the region <br />from the south, carrying these domesticated <br />plants and also the systems of knowledge <br />about how to grow them, Douglas Kennett, an archaeologist at the University <br />of California, Santa Barbara, via 'The New York Times'.<br />The paper was published in the journal <br />'Nature Communications' on March 22. .<br />Lisa Lucero, an anthropologist who<br />specializes in the Maya, said the new findings , “have the potential to revise and rewrite <br />the early history of the First Americans.”
