Early Tribes in Alaska

The earliest tribes in Alaska were primarily the Paleo-Eskimos, who settled the region around 5,000 to 6,000 years ago. They were later joined and largely displaced by the Neo-Eskimo Thule people, ancestors of the modern Inuit, around 1,000 years ago.

:: Paleo-Eskimos ::

The Paleo-Eskimos were the first known settlers in the American Arctic, including Alaska, arriving around 5,000 to 6,000 years ago. They represent a single migration pulse from Siberia into the Americas, distinct from other Native American and Inuit expansions. Despite cultural differences over time, they maintained genetic continuity for over 4,000 years.

:: Ancient Beringians ::

Genetic evidence from remains at the Upward Sun River site in Alaska suggests the presence of a distinct Ancient Beringian population around 11,500 years ago. This group is considered a basal population to all Native Americans, indicating an early and separate lineage.

:: Neo-Eskimo Thule ::

Around 1,000 years ago, the Thule people migrated into Alaska, replacing the Paleo-Eskimos. They are the ancestors of the modern Inuit and represent a distinct cultural and genetic lineage.

Migration Patterns

The genetic data suggest that the Alaskan North Slope served as an origin point for migrations eastward into Canada and Greenland, involving both Paleo-Eskimo and Neo-Eskimo populations.

Study of the Pleistocene Alaskan Genome

A study of the terminal Pleistocene Alaskan genome reveals the first founding population of Native Americans, suggesting a long-term genetic structure in ancestral Native Americans.

This from science journal Nature:

The Ancient Beringian population and ancestors of other Native Americans descended from a single founding population that initially split from East Asians around 36 ± 1.5 ka, with gene flow persisting until around 25 ± 1.1 ka.

Gene flow from ancient north Eurasians into all Native Americans took place 25–20 ka, with Ancient Beringians branching off around 22–18.1 ka.

Our findings support a long-term genetic structure in ancestral Native Americans, consistent with the Beringian ‘standstill model’. We show that the basal northern and southern Native American branches, to which all other Native Americans belong, diverged around 17.5–14.6 ka, and that this probably occurred south of the North American ice sheets.

We also show that after 11.5 ka, some of the northern Native American populations received gene flow from a Siberian population most closely related to Koryaks, but not Palaeo-Eskimos, Inuits or Kets, and that Native American gene flow into Inuits was through northern and not southern Native American groups.

Our findings further suggest that the far-northern North American presence of northern Native Americans is from a back migration that replaced or absorbed the initial founding population of Ancient Beringians.