Genetic evidence points to individuals from South America having possibly floated on a raft to Polynesian islands about 500 years before Europeans navigated there.

Prehistoric Andeans seemed especially fond of trepanation—holes drilled in the skull as a treatment for various ills.

Divergent human lineages of North America intermingled before setting off to establish populations of Central and South America.  

The genome of an infant who lived in Alaska thousands of years ago represents a previously unknown group of humans called Ancient Beringians, who share a common lineage with other Native Americans. 

A 2015 ancient DNA study determined that the 8,500-year-old skeletal remains belonged to an individual of Native American ancestry. Now, the US Army Corp of Engineers has begun the process of returning the bones to their rightful owners.

Researchers decode mitochondrial DNA from the 500-year-old remains of a native South American child, revealing a new line of maternal ancestors.

Genomic analysis suggests that the skeleton’s closest living relatives are Native American after all.

Analysis of approximately 12,000-year-old human remains supports the idea that modern Native Americans evolved from ancestors who migrated out of Asia.

An analysis of ancient DNA from a 24,000-year-old Siberian skeleton generates a new model for the original peopling of the Western Hemisphere.