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The article discusses how Yaqui Indians of Mexico and Chippewa and Cree Indians of Canada relocated to the U.S. Chippewas and Crees began to migrate south to Montana due to white colonization of Canada and changes in the fur trade. They faced deportation due to opposition from white settlers in the region before gaining a reservation. Yaqui refugees traveled to Arizona, where they were welcomed until an economic recession resulted in tighter border security.

Native Americans from the Amazon, Andes, and coastal geographic regions of South America have a rich cultural heritage but are genetically understudied, therefore leading to gaps in our knowledge of their genomic architecture and demographic history. In this study, we sequence 150 genomes to high coverage combined with an additional 130 genotype array samples from Native American and mestizo populations in Peru. The majority of our samples possess greater than 90% Native American ancestry, which makes this the most extensive Native American sequencing project to date. Demographic modeling reveals that the peopling of Peru began -~12,000 y ago, consistent with the hypothesis of the rapid peopling of the Americas and Peruvian archeological data. We find that the Native American populations possess distinct ancestral divisions, whereas the mestizo groups were admixtures of multiple Native American communities that occurred before and during the Inca Empire and Spanish rule. In addition, the mestizo communities also show Spanish introgression largely following Peruvian Independence, nearly 300 y after Spain conquered Peru. Further, we estimate migration events between Peruvian populations from all three geographic regions with the majority of between-region migration moving from the high Andes to the low-altitude Amazon and coast. As such, we present a detailed model of the evolutionary dynamics which impacted the genomes of modern-day Peruvians and a Native American ancestry dataset that will serve as a beneficial resource to addressing the underrepresentation of Native American ancestry in sequencing studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Puebloan women (if not entire families) were incorporated into Apache Dismal River communities in western Kansas. In at least one site (14SC1), Puebloan people lived in a small masonry pueblo. We evaluate the timing and nature of the Puebloan occupation at 14SC1 and its relationship to the Dismal River population at the site. We use a Bayesian analytical framework to evaluate different models of the pueblo's use history, constraining 12 radiocarbon dates by their stratigraphic data and then comparing this framework with different temporal models based on the historical record. We conclude that Dismal River people lived at 14SC1 prior to the appearance of Pueblo migrants, sometime between cal AD 1490 and 1650. Construction and early use of the pueblo by migrants from the Rio Grande valley occurred between cal AD 1630 and 1660, and the pueblo was closed by burning sometime between cal AD 1640 and 1690. Site 14SC1 lacks Rio Grande Glaze Ware, and its residents seem rarely to have engaged with the groups in the Southern Plains Macroeconomy. Our results contribute to studies of indigenous community formation and Puebloan residential mobility during the Spanish colonial period. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Explaining how and why populations settle a new landscape is central to many questions in American archaeology. Recent advances in settlement research have adopted predictions from the Ideal Free Distribution model (IFD). While tests of IFD predictions to date rely either on archaeologically derived coarse-grained diachronic data or ethnographically derived fine-grained synchronic data, here we provide the first test using historically derived data that is both fine-grained and diachronic. Fine-grain diachronic data allow us to test model predictions at a temporal scale in line with human settlement decisions and to validate proxies for application in archaeological contexts. To test model predictions pertaining to the relationship between population density and habitat quality, we use data from the historical settlement of Utah. The results demonstrate a negative relationship between population density and the quality of habitats occupied. These results are consistent with IFD predictions, suggesting that Euro-American settlement of Utah resulted from individuals attempting to maximize individual returns via agricultural productivity. Our results provide a quantitative and testable explanation for population dispersion over time and explain the spatial distribution of population density today. The results support predictions derived from a general theory of behavior, providing an explanatory framework for colonization events worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Archaeologists have long recognized an important relationship between climate change and the trajectory of the Mississippian polity at Cahokia, with twelfth- and thirteenth-century droughts playing a key role in transforming social relationships and the pace of monument construction. This environmental transition may have spurred emigration from Cahokia and surrounding farming communities. This raises the questions: What was the nature of environmental change and cultural transformations on the Mississippian peripheries and where did these Mississippian emigrants go? This paper provides a case study from the Middle Ohio Valley that brings together spatiotemporal patterns in moisture availability between AD 1000 and AD 1300 and new archaeological data from Fort Ancient villages located in southeast Indiana and southwest Ohio that were occupied during this same temporal interval. We suggest that droughts in the American Bottom region pushed Mississippians to less drought-stricken areas such as the Middle Ohio Valley, which experienced concurrent periods of wetness. This pattern builds on a growing body of data suggesting that the movement of individuals and communities played a large role in the process of Mississippianization throughout the midcontinental and southeastern United States. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article explores the relocation and migration of Native Americans from reservations to U.S. cities such as Chicago, Illinois. Emphasis is given to topics such as the impact of the termination of federal tribal status, migrants in search of stability and employment, and the maintenance of cultural identity in the context of assimilation.

One of the most striking differences between St. Lawrence Iroquoian assemblages and those of the ancestral Haudenosaunee is the scarcity of stone arrow points in the former and their abundance in the latter. Most St. Lawrence Iroquoian populations lacked direct access to sources of quality chert and therefore used bone- or antler-tipped arrows. We argue that stone arrow points have superior killing power and gave the ancestral Haudenosaunee an advantage over enemies who used organic points. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is great scientific and popular interest in understanding the genetic history of populations in the Americas. We wish to understand when different regions of the continent were inhabited, where settlers came from, and how current inhabitants relate genetically to earlier populations. Recent studies unraveled parts of the genetic history of the continent using genotyping arrays and uniparental markers. The 1000 Genomes Project provides a unique opportunity for improving our understanding of population genetic history by providing over a hundred sequenced low coverage genomes and exomes from Colombian (CLM), Mexican-American (MXL), and Puerto Rican (PUR) populations. Here, we explore the genomic contributions of African, European, and especially Native American ancestry to these populations. Estimated Native American ancestry is in MXL, in CLM, and in PUR. Native American ancestry in PUR is most closely related to populations surrounding the Orinoco River basin, confirming the Southern America ancestry of the Taíno people of the Caribbean. We present new methods to estimate the allele frequencies in the Native American fraction of the populations, and model their distribution using a demographic model for three ancestral Native American populations. These ancestral populations likely split in close succession: the most likely scenario, based on a peopling of the Americas thousand years ago (kya), supports that the MXL Ancestors split kya, with a subsequent split of the ancestors to CLM and PUR kya. The model also features effective populations of in Mexico, in Colombia, and in Puerto Rico. Modeling Identity-by-descent (IBD) and ancestry tract length, we show that post-contact populations also differ markedly in their effective sizes and migration patterns, with Puerto Rico showing the smallest effective size and the earlier migration from Europe. Finally, we compare IBD and ancestry assignments to find evidence for relatedness among European founders to the three populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article summarizes an ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis of 100 burials from the Mississippian Angel Mounds site. Although the DNA recovery rate was poor (25%), a number of interesting results were revealed through this project. The maternal genetic status of the "conjoined twins" and female immigrants to Angel Mounds was determined, a relatively rare mitochondrial haplogroup (C4c) was identified, and evidence of regional gene flow was identified. DNA degradation was attributed to the sun drying of human remains during the excavations at Angel Mounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The earliest known dates (A.D. 1300s and 1400s) for ancestral Athabascans are found along the Rio Grande valley in the Southwest and in the bordering mountains of southern New Mexico and Arizona. This evidence suggests that there was at least one mountain or intermontane route into the Southwest, probably in addition to Plains routes. Still unanswered has been why the earliest Athabascan sites are located where they are and not in adjacent areas. New, geographically specific information about restrictions to travel suggests that early Athabascan site distributions may result from more than just sampling deficiencies. Limited access routes (or gateways) were available to the migrants in low-lying areas west of the Rocky Mountains owing to deeply incised and impassable canyons. Recent investigations of these restricted passageways provide clues as to why ancestral populations were funneled through the Four Corners area (and not further west), which brought them down the Rio Grande valley and into the adjacent mountains. This information is important for those who study Athabascans or who are concerned with ethnicity and culture change in the terminal Prehistoric and Historic periods on the Plains. These data indicate that parallel or even earlier developments were occurring in the mountains that must now be considered [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The early prehistory of the Susitna River region, near the place where three major rivers, the Susitna, Talkeetna, and the Chulitna, converge, provides important regional information about the movement of small-scale foraging societies in southcentral Alaska as well as specific data concerning lithic use. Since 2004, ongoing research at the Trapper Creek Overlook (TCO) and Susitna River Overlook (SRO) sites has revealed three primarily lithic artifact assemblages from stratigraphically sealed cultural occupations spanning the early to middle Holocene (ca. 10,000-5000 cal B.P.). Radiocarbon, tephrochronology, and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating techniques provide context for interpreting these sites with a focus on geomorphic and stratigraphic contexts, geochronology, and lithic analyses. Results suggest an initial migration from the north and similarities between early and middle Holocene lithic industries in the period prior to the development of riverine salmon economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hypothesis that Athapaskan speakers in Alaska, British Columbia, and the Yukon Territory were displaced by volcanic eruptions at 1147 and 1830 cal B.P. is tested using radiocarbon dates as a proxy for population. Published data concerning the extent of the ash lobes were digitized in GIS to select dates recovered from anthropogenic contexts from within the affected areas and from regions thought to have absorbed the immigrant populations. Changes in the frequency of calibrated, taphonomic-bias-corrected radiocarbon dates from the areas of the White River Ash (WRA) eruptions suggest that both eruptions precipitated migration events. Results are tentative due to limited sample sizes, but demonstrate the potential to use radiocarbon dates to track regional abandonment and migrations caused by catastrophic events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article assesses the health of a sample of the Moundville population before and after population dispersal and resettlement from the paramount site of Moundville (1TU500). Patterns of chronic and acute infections, trauma, degenerative conditions, and generalized health stress are explored. As gauged by these paleopathological indicators, it seems that dispersal had little, if any, effect on health. These results throw doubt on the applicability of a generalizing model which predicted improved health and nutrition in the wake of population dispersal due to improved access to a more diverse diet and reduced exposure to pathogens and parasites. Instead, the conditions of material, social, and political negotiations regarding authority and action within and among the subgroups of the Moundville constituency appear to have mitigated modeled expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the effects of disease-induced depopulation on the social organization of Native American tribes living in the North American Northern Plains. Alterations to Plains Indians' kinship networks and medical practices due to tribal consolidation following epidemiological disasters are therefore explained by the author. Particular emphasis is given to the effects of a smallpox epidemic on Missouri tribes such as the Mandan and Arikara. Changes to Native politics and religious systems due to depopulation, migration, and village consolidation are also detailed.

This article explores the aftermath of the Pequot War of 1636-38. The Pequot War has sometimes been characterized as so staggering a blow to New England Indians that it, in effect, secured several decades of peace. But by following the soldiers and survivors of the war, and by surveying the psychological climate in postwar New England, this article argues that the period following the Pequot War was anything but calm; it was instead marked by fear, suspicion, and violence. Following ripple effects of the war beyond New England and even into New Netherland, this article also makes connections between the violence of the Pequot War and Kieft's War, the devastating Indian war that convulsed the Dutch colonies in the 1640s. Most broadly, this study suggests the lingering costs of war and conquest—not only for the "losers," but for the conquerors, as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the trajectories of culture change of Plains Indian groups of the western Great Plains immediately prior to contact is crucial to developing a true understanding of the impacts of European technologies and peoples. This article analyzes late precontact culture change and movement using the Comanche as a case study in order to better understand this crucial portion of indigenous history so critical to the proceeding postcontact processes. The postcontact ramifications of Comanche expansionism are the subject of considerable scholarship, but prior to the first historical documentation of this group in 1706, little is known about these people. The Shoshone-Comanche schism and the route that Comanche groups took to arrive on the Spanish frontier are discussed using information derived from historic and ethnographic accounts, oral traditions, and paleoenvironmental and archaeological data. This discussion highlights the current lack of archaeologically derived data about the late precontact lifeways of many of the historically known Plains Indian groups of the western Great Plains. Keywords: Comanche, migration, precontact, postcontact, Shoshone [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses an academic conference titled "Viajes y Viajeros en la América Indígena," part of the Seminario Internacional de Viajes en América, which was held at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in Spain from December 9-10, 2010. The author examines several studies and presentations relating to themes such as cultural and commercial exchange, displacement, and migration patterns of indigenous populations in North America.

The article discusses the possible seafaring abilities of Native Americans along the North American Pacific Coast. In this way, the author engages with the coastal migration theory concerning the arrival of prehistoric peoples on the continent, which stipulates that people utilized seafaring craft to inhabit coastal locations. Various archaeological sites providing evidence of early Holocene epoch maritime culture are detailed. The author presents information on the climate of the north Pacific shoreline during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene epochs. The study of mitochondrial DNA to support the coastal migration idea is outlined by the author. Various types of Native American watercraft are described, such as canoes and umiaks.

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This article presents an overview of intertribal relations which were seen among Native American tribes in the Ozark Mountain region between 1800 and 1865 and discusses the impact that the intertribal relations had on the region's identity. It discusses several tribal migrations that were made into the Ozark Mountain region between 1800 and 1865. The influence that Native American tribes had on non-Indian explorers in the region, and continues to have on culture and politics in the Ozark Mountain region in 2010, is discussed.

The article examines the contemporary relative dearth of Native American tribes in the state of Illinois, comparing the number of Native Americans in the state to other former states of the U.S. Northwest Territory. The effect of traditional Native American tribal migration patterns on the Indian presence in the state following the Indian removal process is analyzed. The history of the Illinois Indian Tribal Confederation is also provided, with a focus on the presence of the Miami, Potawatomi, and Mesquakie tribes, among others, in these various states. The author documents Indian military alliances with various colonial powers, as well as fur trade relationships. The author concludes that Illinois' position is unique among the former states of the Northwest Territory.

Abstract: Eight human interments were excavated in the 1990s beneath the Acropolis at the Classic Maya site of Copan in Honduras, which was the capital of a Maya kingdom from ca. AD 400 to 800. These human remains come from both royal tombs and less elaborate burials dating to the early part of this period and lie deep in the accumulated architectural layers of the Acropolis. We present a brief summary of the context, contents, and external links represented by these interments. Several lines of evidence point to connections between early Copan and Teotihuacan in the Central Highlands of Mexico, and Tikal in the central Maya lowlands of the Petén in Guatemala. The bioarchaeology of the interred individuals from the Copan Acropolis is summarized in terms of major characteristics and life history. The focus of this study is the isotopic investigation of these individuals, which included both light and heavy isotopes. We have measured carbon and nitrogen in some of the burials along with strontium, carbon, and oxygen in tooth enamel. In addition, we have a substantial database of strontium isotopes from human burials and both ancient and modern fauna at the site that help to characterize the local isotope ratio at Copan. This information is compared with the larger Maya region and the site of Teotihuacan in the Central Highlands of Mexico to examine questions of human migration and interaction in the Classic Maya period. Focus is on the primary burial identified as K’inich Yax K’uk’ Mo’, the first dynastic ruler of Copan. Epigraphic information on his early years and subsequent events in his life are compared to isotopic data on his place of birth and possible movements. The isotopic evidence suggests that several of the individuals buried in the Acropolis at Copan, including K’inich Yax K’uk’ Mo’, were not born in the local area, but came to this ancient city from elsewhere. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Comparison of regional tree-ring cutting-date distributions from the southern Colorado Plateau and the Rio Grande region with tree-ring-based reconstructions of the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) and with the timing of archaeological stage transitions indicates that Southwestern Native American cultures were periodically impacted by major climatic oscillations between A.D. 860 and 1600. Site-specific information indicates that aggregation, abandonment, and out-migration from many archaeological regions occurred during several widespread mega-droughts, including the well-documented middle-twelfth- and late-thirteenth- century droughts. We suggest that the demographic response of southwestern Native Americans to climate variability primarily reflects their dependence on an inordinately maize-based subsistence regimen within a region in which agriculture was highly sensitive to climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early Spanish documentary sources refer to a number of mobile groups in southern Arizona and southern New Mexico, including but not limited to the Jano, Jocome, Manso, and Suma. These groups have remained unidentified archaeologically, and their history is often conflated with that of ancestral Apachean groups. Investigations aimed at identifying and distinguishing the suite of mobile and semisedentary groups who occupied the southern Southwest have resulted in the identification of an archaeologically definable complex that likely belongs to one or more of these historically referenced groups. Brief presentation of this suite of traits is designed to elevate the evidence of these mobile groups from obscurity and to encourage further investigations into the distribution and nature of this complex. Absolute dates, artifacts, and features on open sites and in rock shelters provide the basis for definition of this complex that has remained invisible because of its general similarity to and mixing with Archaic assemblages. This article focuses specifically on the expression of this complex in the southern Southwest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper traces the movements and population losses of the five main Wichita groups—Kichais, Tawakonis, Iscanis, Guichitas, and Taovayas—from 1719 when they first encountered Frenchmen to 1901 when the tribe was forced to give up reservation life. During this period the Wichita population dropped from about 200,000 people to only about 1,000 and the various groups moved in a huge semicircle from the present boundary of Kansas and Oklahoma south to central Texas and then ultimately northwest to southwestern Oklahoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaeological accounts of the spread of agriculture tend to favor either (im)migration/demic diffusion or in situ development/stimulus diffusion. Having moved away from the early twentieth-century's community-wide migration model for lroquoian origins in the Lower Great Lakes region and southern Ontario in particular, orthodox archaeological belief over the past half-century had come to place Northern lroquoian speakers in the area since at least 2,000 years ago and likely much earlier. In what appear to be modified versions of the older migrationist arguments, contemporary thought within archaeology once more seems to allow that wholesale relocations were responsible for bringing farming into the region. It has been suggested, for example, that Northern Iroquoian speakers entered southern Ontario as recently as the early or middle centuries of the first millennium A.D. In this paper, I recount the routes this debate has taken and show that the appearance of maize (Zea mays) agriculture, alongside a few other materials, has come to be bound up with documenting the arrival of Northern Iroquoian-speaking communities. I conclude by reiterating the cautions advised by a number of researchers for how we read past ethnicity from archaeological materials and the role this plays in contemporary political discourse between First Nations and others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovative methodological and theoretical approaches are required to tackle the difficult problem of discovering and interpreting mobile group sites in the protohistoric Southwest. Traditional and outmoded practices that may be appropriate for study of sedentary peoples are not amenable to the study of mobile groups. I use a syndetic approach with the goal of extending the analysis and discussion further than any one source can go alone, by weaving together critically assessed data from a series of sources, including from the historic and ethnographic records, to inform on archaeological finds. Inference building that relies on explicit archaeological theory should not be confused with speculation. I use a rich body of comparative data and cumulative knowledge, that, when considered, lend not to over-interpretation but rather to a more nuanced and more firmly based understanding of a poorly understood lifeway and period. New concepts constitute the minimal level of innovation required to investigate this extremely difficult archaeological period. The Cerro Rojo site was but one of many sites examined to explore the Protohistoric period in the southern Southwest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The archaeological site of Aztalan in southeastern Wisconsin is a large, palisaded complex of mounds and other structures along the banks of the Crawfish River in Jefferson County. The unusual nature of this settlement has been noted for many years and the origin of the inhabitants has been the subject of considerable debate. The similarities between the materials at Aztalan and other Mississippian period sites to the south in Illinois have long been noted. The largest center of the Mississippian culture at Cahokia near East St. Louis, Illinois, has often been cited as the likely home of the founders of Aztalan. Using strontium isotopes in human teeth and bone we examine the question of migration and the possibility of nonlocal individuals among the skeletal remains from Aztalan. Our results suggest that there were a number of foreign individuals among the locals. The isotopic signal for some of the foreigners matches values from Cahokia, but does not prove that this was their place of origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The timing and degree of reliance on maize agriculture in the Four Corners region of the American Southwest has been a central issue in studies that examine the origins of Puebloan society. Both diffusionist (various, but see Wills 1995) and migrationist (Berry, and Berry, 1986; Matson 1991) models have been proposed to explain the processes responsible for the movement of maize (Zea mays) north into the Four Corners region. This paper reports bone collagen stable carbon and nitrogen isotope values with paired accelerator radiocarbon dates on a large collection of human remains from western Basketmaker II/III sites in Marsh Pass and other areas of northeastern Arizona, as well as data on a small number of Puebloan remains including Chacoan Great House burials. The results make clear that Basketmaker II people were heavily dependent on maize by 400 B.C. Moreover, their degree of dependence is similar to that of Pueblo II and III farmers of the Four Corners region. These findings and the apparent rapidity of maize dependence support a migrationist model for the origins of maize farming in the northern Southwest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many researchers assume that the greater flake tool production efficiency of bifacial versus amorphous cores helps explain the prevalence of biracial core technology among mobile populations. This paper describes experiments that test whether bifacial cores are more efficient carriers of flake cutting edge than amorphous cores. The first experiment established a size threshold of flake cutting efficiency. The second experiment reduced ten biracial and ten amorphous cores to exhaustion and calculated the amount of usable and total flake edge produced by each core type, excluding flakes beneath the size threshold. Results indicate that biracial cores are not significantly more efficient producers of usable or total flake edge than amorphous cores. Bifaces do produce flakes with significantly higher edge-to-weight ratios than do amorphous cores, but more of the weight of biracial cores is lost to waste during the flake production process. Flake production efficiency, therefore does not explain the use of bifacial cores among mobile populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the evidence supporting a single wave of migration into the New World which consisted of multiple variants of the four founding lineage haplotypes. Typing of the mitochondrial DNAs of Native Americans for diagnostic restriction sites; Population descriptions and references; Distribution of the four founding lineages; Divergence times.

The article discusses the link between American Indian migration decisions and geographic differentials in public welfare benefits over the 1985-1990 period. Unemployment on Indian reservations averages close to 45 percent, and welfare in its various forms is a more significant source of income for reservations inhabitants than employment. The case of the American Indian is unique from that of other population groups in the United States in several respects. The American Indian is very poorly endowed with human capital. Unemployment is extra ordinarily high among the population group. In the 1950s a major move by federal government to encourage relocation off the reservations was initiated. Thus the American Indian was being pushed into labor market for which he was poorly prepared and which was less than enthusiastically receptive to him. The location decisions of American Indians over the 1985-1990 time period have been significantly influenced by geographic welfare benefit differentials in the form of Aid to families with Dependent Children differentials.

The article discusses the migration of Indians in the New England region and Canadian coastal provinces during the arrival of European settlers. The author notes the presence of Algonkian Indians in Canadian provinces and Iroquois Indians outside New England. Archaeological investigations, which revealed stone tools, potter sherds and other objects in shell heaps as well as graves, indicate the presence of different tribes in the regions. Different Indian languages spoken throughout the provinces and New England included Micmac and Abnaki and suggest that Algonkian Indians in the area migrated from the Ohio River Valley and other areas south of the Great Lakes. The Micmac may have migrated from the St. Lawrence Valley.

The article discusses the history of the Jumano Indians. The author notes the first contact between the Jumano and explorer Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca near Mexico and his observations on their dress and diet. Explorer Antonio de Espejo encountered the Jumano near the Rio Grande, while colonist Juan de Oñate found Jumano villages in New Mexico. Missionaries Juan de Salas and Diego Lopez visited the Jumano. The author suggests missionary work with the Jumano was hindered by their migration to the plains. The Jumano cooperated with Spanish soldiers to defeat the Cuitoas Indians and visited El Paso, Texas to request ministers to convert members of the tribe. The author suggests the Jumano may have later been known as the Tawehash, explaining their apparent disappearance.

The article looks at the origins of Native Americans, discussing two recent studies using DNA to try to determine when and from where humans came to the Americas from Asia, one led by archaeologist David Meltzer, reported in the journal "Science," and one led by geneticist David Reich, reported in the journal "Nature." Topics include genetic evidence among some Native Americans of links to native Melanesians and Australians and competing theories of the number of Native American migrations.

The article discusses immigration in the study of U.S. history. The author talks about the need to comprehend the complexity of North American migration processes. The author also discusses the evolution of societies since contact with Native Americans and their interactions with the initial European arrivals. Migration relations with immediate neighbors throughout history are mentioned. The author states that Mexican migrants should assess their place in each society in a transnational context. Several reports published within the issue are also discussed.