Tailor Made Holidays in Russia: In the News

4000 year old Siberian found in Greenland: 30-05-2008

A study has revealed a clump of frozen human hair found in permafrost soil in the Disco Bay area of northwest Greenland belonged to a 4000 year old male Paleo-Eskimo's, whose genetic relatives survive today in small pockets in north eastern Siberia and the Aleutian Islands.

The research, published today in the journal Science, suggests that the Paleo-Eskimo's were pioneers who inhabited what is now Greenland and the surrounding lands but are thought to have died away due to climate cooling.

Lead author Tom Gilbert of the Centre for Ancient Genetics at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark said: "Obviously it's an extremely tough environment up there, and it may be that the environments got so harsh that the populations got smaller and smaller and collapsed"

It was originally thought that the Intuits of the region were descended from native North Americans although suggestions had been made that Siberia was another possible origin.

The research seems to prove a mix of both.