Goebel Ted, Waters Michael R, O'Rourke Dennis H
Center for the Study of the First Americans, Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University, 4352 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843-4352, USA.
Science. 2008 Mar 14;319(5869):1497-502. doi: 10.1126/science.1153569.
When did humans colonize the Americas? From where did they come and what routes did they take? These questions have gripped scientists for decades, but until recently answers have proven difficult to find. Current genetic evidence implies dispersal from a single Siberian population toward the Bering Land Bridge no earlier than about 30,000 years ago (and possibly after 22,000 years ago), then migration from Beringia to the Americas sometime after 16,500 years ago. The archaeological records of Siberia and Beringia generally support these findings, as do archaeological sites in North and South America dating to as early as 15,000 years ago. If this is the time of colonization, geological data from western Canada suggest that humans dispersed along the recently deglaciated Pacific coastline.
人类何时开始在美洲殖民?他们来自何处,又采取了怎样的路线?数十年来,这些问题一直困扰着科学家,但直到最近,答案仍难以寻觅。目前的基因证据表明,人类从单一的西伯利亚群体向白令陆桥扩散的时间不早于约3万年前(也可能在2.2万年前之后),然后在1.65万年后的某个时间从白令陆桥迁移到美洲。西伯利亚和白令陆桥的考古记录总体上支持了这些发现,北美和南美早至1.5万年前的考古遗址也是如此。如果这就是殖民的时间,来自加拿大西部的地质数据表明,人类沿着最近冰川消退的太平洋海岸线扩散。