Most scientists now believe that the Sami originate from fishing and hunting people who lived along the border of the melting inland ice in Europe towards the end of the last ice age, around 13,000 BC.

Around 10,000 BC the ice started to retreat and with it the majority of the hunters started to migrate east, following the game towards Russia. However a small group migrated North West following the narrow coastline of Norway that was melting by the Golf Stream. Between these two groups, going east and west, was a huge ice barrier, keeping them separated from each other. This could be the underlying reason to the genetic difference between Sami and other ethnic groups.

Around 8,000 B.C. most of the ice was gone, and the isolation could be broken. Gradually the people from Norway got in contact with those who had migrated towards Russia.

From around 6,000 B.C. this joint culture evolved into the Sami culture of the arctic north, in which the Eastern Finno-Ugric language was adopted and developed into the Sami language of today.