TY - JOUR
T1 - Faunal record identifies Bering isthmus conditions as constraint to end-Pleistocene migration to the New World
AU - Meiri, Meirav
AU - Lister, Adrian M.
AU - Collins, Matthew J.
AU - Tuross, Noreen
AU - Goebel, Ted
AU - Blockley, Simon
AU - Zazula, Grant D.
AU - van Doorn, Nienke
AU - Guthrie, R. Dale
AU - Boeskorov, Gennady G.
AU - Baryshnikov, Gennady F.
AU - Sher, Andrei
AU - Barnes, Ian
PY - 2013/12/11
Y1 - 2013/12/11
N2 - Human colonization of the New World is generally believed to have entailed migrations from Siberia across the Bering isthmus. However, the limited archaeological record of these migrations means that details of the timing, cause and rate remain cryptic. Here, we have used a combination of ancient DNA, 14C dating, hydrogen and oxygen isotopes, and collagen sequencing to explore the colonization history of one of the few other large mammals to have successfully migrated into the Americas at this time: the North American elk (Cervus elaphus canadensis), also known as wapiti. We identify a long-term occupation of northeast Siberia, far beyond the species's current Old World distribution. Migration into North America occurred at the end of the last gla-ciation, while the northeast Siberian source population became extinct only within the last 500 years. This finding is congruent with a similar proposed delay in human colonization, inferred from modern human mitochondrial DNA, and suggestions that the Bering isthmus was not traversable during parts ofthe Late Pleistocene. Our data imply afundamental constraint in crossing Beringia, placing limits on the age and mode of human settlement in the Americas, and further establish the utility of ancient DNA in palaeontological investigations of species histories.
AB - Human colonization of the New World is generally believed to have entailed migrations from Siberia across the Bering isthmus. However, the limited archaeological record of these migrations means that details of the timing, cause and rate remain cryptic. Here, we have used a combination of ancient DNA, 14C dating, hydrogen and oxygen isotopes, and collagen sequencing to explore the colonization history of one of the few other large mammals to have successfully migrated into the Americas at this time: the North American elk (Cervus elaphus canadensis), also known as wapiti. We identify a long-term occupation of northeast Siberia, far beyond the species's current Old World distribution. Migration into North America occurred at the end of the last gla-ciation, while the northeast Siberian source population became extinct only within the last 500 years. This finding is congruent with a similar proposed delay in human colonization, inferred from modern human mitochondrial DNA, and suggestions that the Bering isthmus was not traversable during parts ofthe Late Pleistocene. Our data imply afundamental constraint in crossing Beringia, placing limits on the age and mode of human settlement in the Americas, and further establish the utility of ancient DNA in palaeontological investigations of species histories.
KW - Ancient DNA
KW - Bering isthmus
KW - Beringia
KW - Pleistocene
KW - Wapiti
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84890104194&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1098/rspb.2013.2167
DO - 10.1098/rspb.2013.2167
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 24335981
AN - SCOPUS:84890104194
SN - 0962-8452
VL - 281
JO - Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
JF - Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
IS - 1776
M1 - 20132599
ER -