Aram Ter-Ghazaryan — It's official: Native Americans and Siberians are cousins

Scientists have suspected for a long time that Native Americans are closely related to the peoples of Altai. The theory of the Altai peoples migrating from Siberia across Chukotka and Alaska, down to the Tierra del Fuego at the tip of South America, appeared almost a century ago.

Since then researchers have tried to prove this, and in late 2015 the famous Russian geneticist, Oleg Balanovsky, finally confirmed the theory. In addition, Dr. Balanovsky'sstudies also proved that some Native Americans have kinship with the indigenous populations of Australia.

"The current study confirms the theory that the Altai peoples are closely related to Native Americans,'' said geneticist Valery Ilyinsky at the RAS Institute of General Genetics.…

"Besides Siberian ancestors, some Native Americans showed a puzzling relation to the indigenous peoples of Australia and Melanesia in the Pacific Ocean,'' remarked Dr. Balanovsky. "This is astounding because they are located in an almost opposite part on the planet.''

Russia Beyond the Headlines
It's official: Native Americans and Siberians are cousins

Aram Ter-Ghazaryan