What does this research mean for the field?

Humans colonized the Americas more than 30,000 years ago, prior to the Last Glacial Maximum, and subsequent post-LGM demographic expansions originated in South America rather than North America. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.CONTRADICTORY. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.CHALLENGES_CONSENSUS.

What question did this study set out to answer?

Evaluate the timing and geographic pathways of prehistoric human colonization in the Americas using uniparental genetic markers to assess pre-Last Glacial Maximum entry.

September 14, 2026Annals of Human GeneticsOpen Access

What Uniparental Lineages Tell Us About the Prehistoric Human Colonization of the Americas

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Authors

VCVicente M. CabreraUniversidad de La Laguna

Discussion

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Implication

Phylogeographic analysis uncovers human settlement of the Americas prior to the Last Glacial Maximum with initial post-glacial expansions in South America, challenging single-migration models.

Key Points

Evaluate the timing and geographic pathways of prehistoric human colonization in the Americas using uniparental genetic markers to assess pre-Last Glacial Maximum entry.
Reanalyzed all publicly available mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosome haplogroups from American populations.
Applied phylogenetic and phylogeographic methodologies to estimate the founding and expansion timelines of maternal and paternal lineages.
Lineage divergence indicates human arrival occurred more than 30,000 years ago, predating the Last Glacial Maximum and involving contributions from at least two ancestral Asian populations.
Founding and expansion ages demonstrate post-glacial demographic expansions originated from multiple centers in South America—including the Colombian isthmus, the Andes, the Southern Cone, and the Amazon—followed by secondary dispersals into North America.

Cite This Study

Vicente M. Cabrera (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6aa7b3ee0926e14a848b33ba https://doi.org/10.1111/ahg.70053

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Implication

Phylogeographic analysis uncovers human settlement of the Americas prior to the Last Glacial Maximum with initial post-glacial expansions in South America, challenging single-migration models.