Technical Report: Assessment of the genetic analyses of Rasmussen et al. (2015)

Part of the Archaeology of Kennewick Man project

Author(s): John Novembre; David Witonsky; Anna Di Rienzo

Year: 2016

Summary

The primary aim of the analysis reported in this 22-page report (undertaken with the support of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St Louis District Contract #W912P9-16-P-0010) is to provide an independent validation of the genetic evidence underlying a recent publication by Morten Rasmussen and colleagues on July 23rd, 2015, in Nature (Vol 523:455–58). Based on our analysis of the Kennewick Man’s sequence data and Colville tribe genotype data generated by Rasmussen et al. We concur with the findings of the Rasmussen et al. publication that the sample is genetically closer to modern Native Americans than to any other population worldwide. We carried out several analyses to support this conclusion, including: (i) principal component analysis (PCA; Patterson et al. 2006); (ii) unsupervised genetic clustering using ADMIXTURE (Alexander, Novembre, and Lange 2009); (iii) estimation of genetic affinity to modern human populations using f3 and D statistics (Patterson et al. 2012); and, (iv) a novel approach based on the geographic distribution of rare variants. Importantly, these distinct analyses, spanning three non-overlapping subsets of the data, are each consistent with Native American ancestry.

Cite this Record

Technical Report: Assessment of the genetic analyses of Rasmussen et al. (2015). John Novembre, David Witonsky, Anna Di Rienzo. 2016 ( tDAR id: 439879) ; doi:10.6067/XCV8RR21XN

Keywords

Culture
Archaic • Early Archaic • PaleoIndian

Material
Human Remains

Site Name
Kennewick Man Archaeological Site • Tri-Cities Archaeological District NRHP

Site Type
Burial Pit • Funerary and Burial Structures or Features • Isolated Burial

Investigation Types
Bioarchaeological Research • Ethnographic Research • Heritage Management

General
Corps of Engineeers • Cultural Affiliation • Department of the Interior • Kennewick Man • NAGPRA • the Ancient One

Geographic Keywords
Columbia River • Columbia River Drainage • Kennewick • Pacific Northwest • Tri-Cities Area • Upper Columbia River Basin • Washington (State / Territory)

Temporal Keywords
Early Archaic • PaleoIndian

Spatial Coverage

min long: -119.165; min lat: 46.213 ; max long: -119.128; max lat: 46.231 ;

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Francis McManamon

Record Identifiers

U.S. Corps of Engineers, St. Louis District, Contract #(s): W912P9-16-P-0010

File Information

  Name Size Creation Date Date Uploaded Access
2016-OCR_JNovembre-et-al-Assess-Rsam-etal-genetic-analyses_KMa... 2.19mb Dec 1, 2017 Dec 1, 2017 3:15:57 PM Public
Uploaded by FPMcManamon for citation in EGA essay on Kennewick Man case.