Integrating archaeological and genetic data

Author(s): K. Ann Horsburgh

Year: 2015

Summary

Over the span of his career, Jim O’Connell has shown us by example how advances in genetics can help us better model prehistory when considered alongside archaeological evidence. In this paper I reflect on his career to highlight the way in which science currently considers genetic and archaeological evidence together to (1) create or refine culture historical models of population movement and demography, and (2) to develop insight in to the relationship between hunter-gatherers and their food producing neighbors. To do this I draw on research by O’Connell and others in Africa and in the former continents of Sunda and Sahul that became the islands of modern Melanesia and Australia. Finally I discuss how this work has set the stage for new research agendas that would not have been possible without O'Connell's influence on how we look at prehistory.

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Cite this Record

Integrating archaeological and genetic data. K. Ann Horsburgh. Presented at The 80th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, San Francisco, California. 2015 ( tDAR id: 394833)

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