Primer of the Ancient Mariner: New Perspectives on aDNA Research and the Prehistoric Colonization of Islands
Part of: Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)
The extraction and amplification of ancient DNA (aDNA) is a relatively new technique that is being increasingly utilized in archaeological research. Not only can aDNA provide a wealth of important information related to the presence and dispersal of ancient humans, animals, and plants, but also disease transmission, domestication of various biota, and long-term ecological relationships on multiple geographic scales. Islands are a particularly interesting setting for aDNA research as their colonization required a number of cultural, technological, and biological developments involving seafaring, exchange systems, and adaptations to new environments. Additionally, the development and use of commensal models using faunal aDNA as a proxy for human movement has proven especially useful in island contexts for exploring questions related to initial colonization and population movements. This session will explore the myriad ways in which human, animal, and plant aDNA is being used to explore such topics in island regions across the globe, as well as how newer sequencing technologies are expanding the range of research questions that geneticists, archaeologists, and other scientists can use to examine the origins and dispersal of modern humans in the ancient past.
Other Keywords
ancient DNA •
aDNA •
Puerto Rico •
Preservation •
Disease •
Migrations •
Genetics •
Dental Calculus •
Pacific •
Alaska
Geographic Keywords
Caribbean •
Oceania •
North America - NW Coast/Alaska •
North America - California
Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-9 of 9)
- Documents (9)
-
Ancient mtDNA: both Amazonian and Andean migrants in western Puerto Rico by late Saladoid times (2016)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
The Machuca archaeological site in western Puerto Rico is found in the Añasco river flood-plain, next to one of the presumed ancient mouths of the river, less than half a kilometer east of the shoreline. The first burial was found in a fetal position together with ceramic remains of the Late Saladoid or Cuevas period. Radiocarbon dating on bone collagen placed the burial at AD 550 to 660 (2-sigma calibration) whereas that on charred material found inside one of the pots placed it at AD 650 to...
-
Ancient Taino genome sheds new light on the peopling of the Caribbean (2016)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
The Tainos were the first people to encounter Columbus when he set foot in the New World. The Taino culture emerged in the Caribbean around 1200 CE but the ancestral origins of the Tainos remain a matter of debate. Some scholars believe that the ancestors of the Tainos originated in the Amazon Basin, while others contend that they may have spread from the Colombian Andes via a Circum-Caribbean route. Theoretically, the ancestors of the Tainos could have entered the Caribbean from, any or all...
-
Archaeogenomics and the Mammals of California’s Channel Islands (2016)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
As many recent genetic and archaeological studies have shown, humans have intentionally and unintentionally moved plants and animals around the world. The California Channel Islands provide a unique environment to explore ancient translocations due to their close proximity to the California mainland, long human occupation (~13,000 years) and limited terrestrial diversity. Here we present our interdisciplinary approach to investigating the origins of California Channel Island terrestrial mammals...
-
Challenging environments: ancient DNA research in the circum-Caribbean (2016)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
Ancient DNA (aDNA) studies have had a major impact in archaeology. However, until now most aDNA studies have been conducted on samples from cold or temperate environments, as DNA degrades more rapidly at higher temperatures. With average annual temperatures of over 25°C, the Caribbean represents a particularly challenging environment for aDNA research and very few aDNA studies have been conducted in the Caribbean to date. Yet, there are many questions in Caribbean archaeology that could be...
-
Ghost of the Navigator: Tracking Initial Human Population Dispersal to the Palauan Archipelago (2016)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
While Micronesia was one of the last geographical areas to be colonized by humans prehistorically, the timing, direction, and origins of initial settlement in many ways still remains unclear. The Chelechol ra Orrak site in Palau, which contains the oldest known human remains in Micronesia, (dating back to at least 2800 BP)—and that is one of only two burial sites in the Pacific Islands to pre-date 2500 BP —provides an excellent opportunity for direct study of population dispersals into the...
-
Insights from Neandertal dental calculus: tracking Pacific colonization events using ancient bacteria (2016)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
Interpreting the evolutionary history of bacterial communities within the human body (microbiota) is key to understanding multiple aspects of disease transmission and human health. This tight association between humans and their microorganisms can also be exploited to track past human interactions, providing information on past human movements and their introductions to new locations or environments. Using a shotgun sequencing approach on ancient DNA from the dental calculus in Neandertals,...
-
Preliminary ancient DNA analysis suggests a complex origins scenario for pre-contact Puerto Rican populations (2016)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
Recent archaeological research suggests that indigenous groups in Puerto Rico stemmed from multiple and continuous migrations of continental indigenous populations. This view is supported by contemporary genetic studies, which have found evidence of genetic affinity between multiple modern Native American groups and the native ancestry components of modern, admixed Puerto Ricans. Overall, these findings challenge the traditional single-migration model for the peopling of Puerto Rico, and suggest...
-
Sweet aDNA O'Mine: The Rise and Fall of Ice Sheets and the Arctic Peopling from Beringia (2016)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
The peopling of the North American Arctic was made possible after the full retreat of the Laurentide ice sheet. The archaeological record supports multiple migrations beginning approximately 6,000 years BP, thousands of years after the initial colonization of the Americas. Modern Iñupiat/Inuit peoples are the descendants of a recent (~800 ybp) and rapid (<200 years) migration by the Neo-Eskimo Thule. The Thule brought with them specialized technological developments adapted for the exploitation...
-
Welcome to My Nightmare - Ancient DNA from Pacific Islands (2016)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
Recent reports of ancient DNA recovery from samples that are 10s if not 100s of thousands of years old attest to the amazing developments in aDNA technology in recent years. Unfortunately, most aDNA from the Pacific Islands is poorly preserved and highly degraded. Despite the relatively short history of settlement on many Pacific Islands, ancient DNA is often difficult, if not impossible, to obtain from archaeological samples recovered from Pacific sites. Still, we are able to recover aDNA...