DNA analysis of a 4,000-year-old clump of hair preserved in Greenland's permafrost has solved a mystery about the original human inhabitants of the frozen north.
The surprising answer is that they are genetically distinct both from today's Native Americans (American Indians) and from the current Eskimo population of Greenland and the Canadian Arctic.
The analysis shows that the "paleo-Eskimos", who arrived in the region about 4,500 years ago, came from a Siberian population closely related to people living today in the Aleutian Islands. The results appear in the journal Science.
"They must have crossed the ice from the Aleutian Islands via Alaska and Canada and then on to Greenland," said Eske Willerslev of the University of Copenhagen, who led the research.
The findings suggest that the paleo-Eskimos either died out, perhaps because they could not cope with the extreme cold, or were wiped out by a new wave of migrants whose descendants make up today's Eskimo population.
对格陵兰岛永久冻结带中4000年前的一绺头发进行的DNA分析，揭开了有关北方严寒地区人类居民起源的谜底。
答案令人惊讶：这些居民的基因与今天的印第安人，或如今居住在格陵兰岛和加拿大北极区的爱斯基摩人都截然不同。
分析显示，这些约4500年前到达该地区的"古爱斯基摩人"属于西伯利亚人种，与今天阿留申群岛上的居民是近亲。该结果发表在《科学》(Science)杂志上。
该项研究负责人、哥本哈根大学(University of Copenhagen)的埃斯基•威勒斯莱夫(Eske Willerslev)表示："他们一定是穿越冰原，从阿留申群岛取道阿拉斯加和加拿大，到达格陵兰岛的。"
这一发现表明，古爱斯基摩人或是因为无法应对苦寒而灭绝，或是被新一批移民所消灭--这些新移民的后代就构成了今天的爱斯基摩人。
关键字:双语新闻
生词表:
The surprising answer is that they are genetically distinct both from today's Native Americans (American Indians) and from the current Eskimo population of Greenland and the Canadian Arctic.
The analysis shows that the "paleo-Eskimos", who arrived in the region about 4,500 years ago, came from a Siberian population closely related to people living today in the Aleutian Islands. The results appear in the journal Science.
"They must have crossed the ice from the Aleutian Islands via Alaska and Canada and then on to Greenland," said Eske Willerslev of the University of Copenhagen, who led the research.
The findings suggest that the paleo-Eskimos either died out, perhaps because they could not cope with the extreme cold, or were wiped out by a new wave of migrants whose descendants make up today's Eskimo population.
对格陵兰岛永久冻结带中4000年前的一绺头发进行的DNA分析，揭开了有关北方严寒地区人类居民起源的谜底。
答案令人惊讶：这些居民的基因与今天的印第安人，或如今居住在格陵兰岛和加拿大北极区的爱斯基摩人都截然不同。
分析显示，这些约4500年前到达该地区的"古爱斯基摩人"属于西伯利亚人种，与今天阿留申群岛上的居民是近亲。该结果发表在《科学》(Science)杂志上。
该项研究负责人、哥本哈根大学(University of Copenhagen)的埃斯基•威勒斯莱夫(Eske Willerslev)表示："他们一定是穿越冰原，从阿留申群岛取道阿拉斯加和加拿大，到达格陵兰岛的。"
这一发现表明，古爱斯基摩人或是因为无法应对苦寒而灭绝，或是被新一批移民所消灭--这些新移民的后代就构成了今天的爱斯基摩人。
关键字:双语新闻
生词表:
- eskimo [´eskiməu]
n.&a.爱斯基摩人(的) 六级词汇
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