The Genetic Diversity of the Americas

[Angela]

Uruguayans and Argentineans have significant Italian blood but there is some Amerindian even there.

For a long time my closest "relative" in terms of IBD sharing at 23andme was an elderly Argentinian who had been part of a disease study of some kind. His ancestry was all from the LaSpezia/Lunigiana area. His children were also in 23andme, and they carried Amerindian mtDna.

I think that's very common. The amount varies, though.

 

[Wheal]

@Angela do you think that it's possible that the Amerindian is actually from when the America's were populated over the land bridge?

 

[Angela]

@Angela do you think that it's possible that the Amerindian is actually from when the America's were populated over the land bridge?

I'd say the Americas were populated mostly but not completely through one migration from Siberia which may have begun with coastal water routes after the last Ice Age.

You might be interested in this paper by Pontus Skoglund and David Reich of Harvard:

"A genomic view of the peopling of the Americas"
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5161672/