Tag: austronesian

South-East Asia samples include shared ancestry with Jōmon

pca-south-east-asia-jomon

New paper (behind paywall) The prehistoric peopling of Southeast Asia, by McColl et al. (Science 2018) 361(6397):88-92 from a recent bioRxiv preprint.

Interesting is this apparently newly reported information including a female sample from the Ikawazu Jōmon of Japan ca. 570 BC (emphasis mine):

The two oldest samples — Hòabìnhians from Pha Faen, Laos [La368; 7950 with 7795 calendar years before the present (cal B.P.)] and Gua Cha, Malaysia (Ma911; 4415 to 4160 cal B.P.)—henceforth labeled “group 1,” cluster most closely with present-day Önge from the Andaman Islands and away from other East Asian and Southeast-Asian populations (Fig.

… Read the rest “South-East Asia samples include shared ancestry with Jōmon”

Complex history of dog origins and translocations in the Pacific revealed by ancient mitogenomes

remote-oceania-vanuatu-lapita

Open access Complex history of dog (Canis familiaris) origins and translocations in the Pacific revealed by ancient mitogenomes, by Creig et al., Scientific Reports (2018).

Abstract:

Archaeological evidence suggests that dogs were introduced to the islands of Oceania via Island Southeast Asia around 3,300 years ago, and reached the eastern islands of Polynesia by the fourteenth century AD. This dispersal is intimately tied to human expansion, but the involvement of dogs in Pacific migrations is not well understood. Our analyses of seven new complete ancient mitogenomes and five partial mtDNA sequences from archaeological dog specimens from Mainland and Island

… Read the rest “Complex history of dog origins and translocations in the Pacific revealed by ancient mitogenomes”

Mitogenomes from Thailand offer insights into maternal genetic history of mainland South-East Asia

Open access New insights from Thailand into the maternal genetic history of Mainland Southeast Asia, by Kutanan et al. Eur. J. Hum. Genet. (2018) 26:898–911

Abstract (emphasis mine):

Tai-Kadai (TK) is one of the major language families in Mainland Southeast Asia (MSEA), with a concentration in the area of Thailand and Laos. Our previous study of 1234 mtDNA genome sequences supported a demic diffusion scenario in the spread of TK languages from southern China to Laos as well as northern and northeastern Thailand. Here we add an additional 560 mtDNA genomes from 22 groups, with a focus on the

… Read the rest “Mitogenomes from Thailand offer insights into maternal genetic history of mainland South-East Asia”

Linguistic continuity despite genetic replacement in Remote Oceania

oceania-ancient-migration

Review of recent papers on East Asia, quite relevant these days: Human Genetics: Busy Subway Networks in Remote Oceania? by Anders Bergström & Chris Tyler-Smith, Current Biology (2018) 28.

Interesting excerpts (emphasis mine):

Ancient DNA is transforming our understanding of the human past by forcing geneticists to confront its real complexity [1]. Historians and archaeologists have long known that the development of human societies was complex and often haphazard, but geneticists have persistently tried to explain present-day patterns of genetic variation using simple models.

Early genetic analyses of present-day populations revealed a mix of Asian (Taiwanese) and Papuan (New

… Read the rest “Linguistic continuity despite genetic replacement in Remote Oceania”

Model for the spread of Transeurasian (Macro-Altaic) communities with farming

macro-altaic-japanese

Austronesian influence and Transeurasian ancestry in Japanese: A case of farming/language dispersal, by Martine Robbeets, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.

Abstract

In this paper, I propose a hypothesis reconciling Austronesian influence and Transeurasian ancestry in the Japanese language, explaining the spread of the Japanic languages through farming dispersal. To this end, I identify the original speech community of the Transeurasian language family as the Neolithic Xinglongwa culture situated in the West Liao River Basin in the sixth millennium bc. I argue that the separation of the Japanic branch from the other Transeurasian languages and

… Read the rest “Model for the spread of Transeurasian (Macro-Altaic) communities with farming”

Ancient genomes document multiple waves of migration in south-east Asian prehistory

southeast-asia-reich

Open access preprint at bioRxiv Ancient genomes document multiple waves of migration in Southeast Asian prehistory, by Lipson, Cheronet, Mallick, et al. (2018).

Abstract (emphasis mine):

Southeast Asia is home to rich human genetic and linguistic diversity, but the details of past population movements in the region are not well known. Here, we report genome-wide ancient DNA data from thirteen Southeast Asian individuals spanning from the Neolithic period through the Iron Age (4100-1700 years ago). Early agriculturalists from Man Bac in Vietnam possessed a mixture of East Asian (southern Chinese farmer) and deeply diverged eastern Eurasian (hunter-gatherer) ancestry characteristic

… Read the rest “Ancient genomes document multiple waves of migration in south-east Asian prehistory”

Genomics reveals four prehistoric migration waves into South-East Asia

Open access preprint article at bioRxiv Ancient Genomics Reveals Four Prehistoric Migration Waves into Southeast Asia, by McColl, Racimo, Vinner, et al. (2018).

Abstract (emphasis mine):

Two distinct population models have been put forward to explain present-day human diversity in Southeast Asia. The first model proposes long-term continuity (Regional Continuity model) while the other suggests two waves of dispersal (Two Layer model). Here, we use whole-genome capture in combination with shotgun sequencing to generate 25 ancient human genome sequences from mainland and island Southeast Asia, and directly test the two competing hypotheses. We find that early genomes from Hoabinhian

… Read the rest “Genomics reveals four prehistoric migration waves into South-East Asia”

Signal of recent positive selection for African ancestry in the admixed population of Madagascar

african-ancestry-madagascar-admixture

Open Access Strong selection during the last millennium for African ancestry in the admixed population of Madagascar, by Pierron, Heiske, Razafindrazaka, et al. Nature Communications (2018) 9: 932.

Abstract (emphasis mine):

While admixed populations offer a unique opportunity to detect selection, the admixture in most of the studied populations occurred too recently to produce conclusive signals. By contrast, Malagasy populations originate from admixture between Asian and African populations that occurred ~27 generations ago, providing power to detect selection. We analyze local ancestry across the genomes of 700 Malagasy and identify a strong signal of recent positive selection,

… Read the rest “Signal of recent positive selection for African ancestry in the admixed population of Madagascar”

Population turnover in Remote Oceania shortly after initial settlement

oceania-ancient-migration

Open Access article Population Turnover in Remote Oceania Shortly after Initial Settlement, by Lipson, Skoglund, Spriggs, et al. (2018), based on the recent preprint at bioRxiv.

Summary:

Ancient DNA from Vanuatu and Tonga dating to about 2,900–2,600 years ago (before present, BP) has revealed that the “First Remote Oceanians” associated with the Lapita archaeological culture were directly descended from the population that, beginning around 5000 BP, spread Austronesian languages from Taiwan to the Philippines, western Melanesia, and eventually Remote Oceania. Thus, ancestors of the First Remote Oceanians must have passed by the Papuan-ancestry populations they encountered in New

… Read the rest “Population turnover in Remote Oceania shortly after initial settlement”