sites, and virtually ruled out any close affinity with European sources (the so-called "Solutrean hypothesis"). The DNA also showed strong affinities with all existing Native American populations, which indicated that all of them derive from an ancient population that lived in or near Siberia, the Upper Palaeolithic Mal'ta population.[65]Overlaps between DNA types[edit]Further information: Population genetics and Y-DNA haplogroups in Indigenous peoples of the AmericasPopulations that have a specific combination of autosome, Y and MT-haplogroup mutations can generally be found with regional variations. Autosomes, Y mutations and mt mutations do not necessarily occur at a similar time and there are differential rates of sexual selection between the two sex chromosomes.[66] This combined with population bottlenecks, the founder effect, mitochondrial mutations and genetic drift will alter the genetic composition of isolated populations, resulting in very distinguishable mutation patterns.[67] (i.e. Tainos,[68] Fuegians,[69] Inuit,[70] Yupik[71] and Algonquian[5])The rough overlaps between Y-DNA and mtDNA between the Americas, Circumpolar north, and Siberian indigenous populations are:Y-DNA haplogroup(s) -mtDNA haplogroup(s) -Geographical area(s)Q-M242, R1, C-M217A, X, Y, C, D(M types), (N types)Russian far east, Americas, ArcticOld world genetic admixture[edit]For more details on genetic admixture in the Americas, see Miscegenation Genetic studies of racial admixture.See also: Multiracial American"Las castas" - Painting containing complete set of 16casta combinations. An 18th century socio-racial classification system used in the Spanish American colonies.Interracial marriage and interracial sex and, more generally, the process of racial admixture, has its origins in prehistory. Racial mixing became widespread during European colonialism in the Age of Discovery.[72] Genetic exchange between two populations reduces the genetic distancebetween the populations and is measurable in DNA patterns.[66] During the Age of Discovery, beginning in the late 1400s, European explorers sailed the oceans, eventually reaching all the major continents.[73] During this time Europeans contacted many populations, some of which had been relatively isolated for millennia.[74] The genetic demographic composition of the Eastern Hemisphere has not changed significantly since the age of discovery. However, genetic demographics in the Western Hemisphere were radically altered by events following the voyages ofChristopher Columbus.[74] The European colonization of the Americas brought contact between peoples of Europe, Africa and Asia and the Amerindian populations. As a result, the Americas today have significant and complex multiracial populations.[74] Many individuals who self-identify as one race exhibit genetic evidence of a multiracial ancestry.[75]The European conquest of Latin America beginning in the late 15th century, was initially executed by male soldiers and sailors from the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal).[76] The new soldier-settlers fathered children with Amerindian women and later with African slaves.[77] Thesemixed-race children were generally identified by the Spanish colonist and Portuguese colonist as "Castas".[78] The subsequent North American fur trade during the 16th century brought many more European men, from France, Ireland, and Great Britain, who took North Amerindian women as wives.[79] Their children became known as "Metis" or "Bois-Brules" by the French colonists and "mixed-bloods", "half-breeds" or "country-born" by the English colonists and Scottish colonists.[80] From the second half of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, new waves of immigrants from northern, eastern and southern Europe went