Thousands of years ago, a wave of ancient humans embarked on the longest known prehistoric journey in human history—traversing over 20,000 kilometers on foot from North Asia to the southern tip of South America. Their footsteps, now traced through DNA, are rewriting what we know about early human migration.
Key Points at a Glance
- NTU-led study reveals the longest early human migration originated in Asia
- Ancient humans traveled over 20,000 kilometers over generations
- DNA from 1,537 individuals across 139 ethnic groups helped reconstruct the journey
- The migration ended at Tierra del Fuego, Argentina—the last frontier of human settlement
For decades, our understanding of early human migration revolved around movements out of Africa, with later population waves spreading into Europe, Asia, and the Americas. But a groundbreaking international study led by researchers from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore paints a far more ambitious portrait of our ancestors’ travels—one that charts humanity’s longest prehistoric migration, originating not in the West, but deep in Asia.
In a remarkable genomic analysis published in Science, the team tracked how early humans journeyed more than 20,000 kilometers—from North Asia all the way to Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost tip of South America. What’s even more astounding: they did it all on foot, over generations, across an evolving landscape shaped by glaciers, changing coastlines, and land bridges that no longer exist today.
The study analyzed DNA from 1,537 individuals representing 139 distinct ethnic groups as part of the GenomeAsia100K initiative. Through patterns of shared ancestry and slowly accumulating genetic variations, researchers were able to reconstruct ancient population splits and migratory paths. The findings challenge long-held assumptions about who reached the Americas first and from where.
While the story of human migration typically begins in Africa—and it does here too—the unique twist lies in how some groups moved northward through Asia, adapting to new environments and climates, before taking a transcontinental leap into the Americas. These humans didn’t stop at the first landfall. Instead, they pressed onward, generation after generation, through harsh terrain and unforgiving weather, all the way to what is today Argentina’s southern edge.
Their final destination, Tierra del Fuego, represents more than a geographical endpoint. It is, in many ways, the symbolic limit of human expansion across the globe. This isolated, wind-battered region may well have been the last place on Earth to be settled by our species—and this study has uncovered the identities of those early pioneers.
What makes the research so significant is not just the journey it maps, but the sheer complexity it reveals. Rather than a linear movement, ancient human migration emerges as a dynamic web of splitting, merging, and adapting populations. Every branch of this vast family tree tells a story of resilience and exploration. The DNA sequences act like breadcrumbs across time, illuminating routes lost to history but embedded in our genes.
Lead researchers from NTU’s Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering (SCELSE) and the Asian School of the Environment (ASE) collaborated with 48 co-authors from 22 institutions across Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Their findings are a testament to the power of global cooperation in decoding our past.
The study also reshapes how we understand cultural and genetic diversity in the Americas. It suggests that Asian ancestral lineages played a much larger role in populating the Western Hemisphere than previously appreciated. And because these groups likely faced extreme environmental pressures—from frigid climates to unfamiliar ecosystems—they would have needed remarkable adaptability to survive.
As our technologies for decoding ancient DNA become more advanced, studies like this remind us that the story of humanity is still being written. And sometimes, the most profound chapters are hidden in the most remote corners of the Earth—or deep within our own genetic code.
The prehistoric trek from Asia to South America isn’t just a scientific revelation. It’s a reminder of the indomitable human spirit that dares to walk beyond every known horizon.
Source: Nanyang Technological University
