Greenland Eskimos

The Eskimo-Aleut language phylum is distributed from coastal Siberia across Alaska and Canada to Greenland and is well distinguished from the neighboring Na Dene languages. Genetically, however, the distinction between Na Dene and Eskimo-Aleut speakers is less clear.

See also

 hypervariable segment I (HVS-I) of the mitochondrial DNA
 mtDNA
 RFLP sites

Facts

 Major mtDNA types are shared between Na Dene and Eskimo, indicating a common Beringian history within the Holocene.(10924403)

 There is an Eskimo-specific mtDNA subgroup characterized by nucleotide position 16265G within mtDNA group A2. This subgroup is found in all Eskimo groups analyzed so far and is estimated to have originated @<@3,000 years ago. (10924403)

 A founder analysis of all Eskimo and Chukchi A2 types indicates that the Siberian and Greenland ancestral mtDNA pools separated around the time when the Neo-Eskimo culture emerged. (10924403)

 The Greenland mtDNA types are a subset of the Alaskan mtDNA variation: they lack the subhaplogroup D2 and subhaplogroup D3 found in Siberia and Alaska and are exclusively subhaplogroup A2 but at the same time lack the A2 root type. (10924403)

 Present Greenland Eskimos essentially descend from Alaskan Neo-Eskimos. (10924403)

References

 Bosch E, Calafell F, Rosser ZH, Norby S, Lynnerup N, Hurles ME, Jobling MA. High level of male-biased Scandinavian admixture in Greenlandic Inuit shown by Y-chromosomal analysis. Hum Genet. 2003 Apr;112(4):353-63. PMID: 12594533

 Saillard J, Forster P, Lynnerup N, Bandelt HJ, Norby S. mtDNA variation among Greenland Eskimos: the edge of the Beringian expansion. Am J Hum Genet. 2000 Sep;67(3):718-26. PMID: 10924403