Historic Genome from the First Baptist Church on Nassau Street: Reflections on Process and Product

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Individuals Known and Unknown: Case Studies from Two Burial Contexts at Colonial Williamsburg" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Community members, stakeholders, and congregation members expressed interest in pursuing DNA testing of the Ancestral Individuals from the Historic First Baptist Church. In collaboration with the Let Freedom Ring! Foundation, successive community engagement meetings were held to explain the process of ancient DNA testing and answer questions from the community. The descendant community elected to uncover three burials for osteological analysis and DNA testing. Preservation of the bone was variable, and DNA was successfully extracted, indexed, and whole genome enriched for one Ancestral Individual at the University of Connecticut. The enriched DNA library was sequenced on an Illumina HiSeq. Results showed typical patterns damage and low amount of exogenous mitochondrial contamination. The Ancestral Individual was affiliated with African reference populations and displayed a R1b Y chromosome haplogroup and L3d mitochondrial DNA haplogroup. The results were shared with the community by explaining the testing process and outcomes. The community elected to not continue DNA testing, as the harm of destructive testing outweighed the likelihood of successful results. In summation, a stepwise community engagement model centered the descendant community as the decision-makers in the direction and duration of the study. ***Images of human remains may be shown in this presentation.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Individuals Known and Unknown: Case Studies from Two Burial Contexts at Colonial Williamsburg   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39214.0