Amerinds

Discover Magazine (I'll try to find a link to a more direct website as this item isn't up at theirs yet) had a snippet of an article in their news section that discussed a set of skulls from Mexico. These skulls are unique for a couple reasons. The first is that they are from more than 12,000 years ago. One skull is 12,700 years old - 700 years older than any human remains found to date in North America. The second thing unique about them is that they are a different shape from the skulls you'd tend to find in that area. The skull shapes have similar bone structure as Japan's indigenous Ainu people. The researcher who analized these skulls think they are from an early migration seperate from the one we generally attribute the Americas' population to.

As for possible relatives to these skulls, there's the Pericu people who became extinct in the 18thC who lived in Baja, CA. DNA testing will decide if they're one big extinct family.

The Skulls from Mexico City:
Penon III Woman
Pericus

they have also found the same skull types in Nevada, current theory holding that an early migration occured prior to racial typing had occured in asia ie pre mongolian, which means that a migration had occured prior to the estimated 12,000 years ago that accounts for the current amerinds.

It'll be fun to see how the results play out.

Too bad the Mexican City skulls were found as the city itself was expanding - it'd prolly be impossible to continue a dig at that spot now.