15. First Ancient-Human Genome Sequence Answers Anthropological Riddle

Source:

Keim B. First Ancient-Human Genome Sequence Answers Anthropological Riddle. Wired [Internet]. Wired Science. 2010 Feb 10 [cited 2010 Feb 19]. Available from: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/02/inuk-genome/

Inuk is a 4000 year old man found in Greenland permafrost. The tuft of hair he left behind was frozen in the permafrost. Luckily, the frozen strands still contained DNA which revealed that Inuk migrated from Siberia to the New World. Inuk was found to have brown eyes, brown skin, facial hair. He was also found to have a tendency to baldness. The amount of hair they found on Inuk was large, thus scientist assume that Inuk died young. The name Inuk itself derives from an Inuit word that means human. The Saqqaq people were one of the earliest inhabitant of the North American arctic. They leave behind evidence contained in small amount of bones and hair. The saqqaq’s people origin are unclear at the moment. Some believe they come from North Americans who wandered north, while others believe that they descended from modern Inuit. However, genetic analysis revealed that Inuk was from the Siberian area.