Little Salt Spring: a maternal line "not previously known to exist among Native Americans" (North Port, Florida; 1988)

SUMMARYLittle Salt Spring: a maternal line "not previously known to exist among Native Americans" (North Port, Florida; 1988) [Connections: Genetics (honest), Nov 5, 2026]

RECORDPääbo, Gifford and Wilson, "Mitochondrial DNA sequences from a 7000-year old brain," Nucleic Acids Research 16(20) (1988), from a Middle Archaic woman dated 6860 ± 110 radiocarbon years BP (calibrated 7592–7794 BP per Wentz and Gifford 2007). The authors say she belonged to a maternal lineage "rare in the Old World and not previously known to exist among Native Americans," and that the first peopling of the Americas "involved a minimum of three distinct maternal lineages." One marker (position 8251) appeared in 3 of 241 people in a world survey and in a clade of Japanese types. Their own caution: "indisputable proof that the amplified human sequences reported here are of ancient origin must await more extended work"; a double reading may reflect contamination. The collection is "housed in its entirety at the University of Miami" (Wentz and Gifford 2007)

PATTERNFlorida's oldest DNA result does not fit neatly into the standard picture, and the authors flagged it as provisional

LENS (WW9)an unexplained line in the oldest Florida woman is a door, not a dead end. DISPUTED /

OPENa 1988 result from three markers, never confirmed on a fetched page; it does not point to Africa. Needs deep research: has it been re-tested with modern methods?

SOURCEPääbo, Gifford & Wilson 1988 (PDF); Wentz & Gifford 2007, Southeastern Archaeology 26(2).