A book by Inonu University Assistant Professor Tahir Erdogan Sahin, titled 'Archeology and Art History,' challenges the popular claim that Native Americans and Sumerians were of Turkish origin, arguing instead that both groups are better described as Asiatic.
Sahin, based in the eastern Türkiye city of Malatya, contends that while these peoples did migrate from Central Asia, that origin does not make them Turkish. He told the Anatolian Agency that calling them Turkish is a common but potentially mistaken shortcut.
The professor places the earliest human migration to the Americas at around 60,000 years ago, with a later wave of Asiatic-origin peoples arriving roughly 12,000 years ago, a period he links to the end of the last ice age and the establishment of the modern global climate.
Sahin also addresses human origins more broadly, writing that scientific evidence pointing to Kenya as the birthplace of humanity is compelling. He suggests it is highly probable that all people descend from a single ancestral family.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in February 2007, in its own words.