AAPA 2014 abstracts

The program of the 83rd Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists is online (pdf). I list some interesting titles:

• Ancient DNA sequencing on the Ion Torrent PGM and Proton Platforms: Genetic diversity of haplotype D4b1a2a1a at Nuvuk, an ancient Thule Village
• Preliminary analysis of ancient DNA on a late Neolithic population in Northeast China
• Ancient DNA analysis of human remains from Halahaigou, a Neolithic cemetery in China
• Mitochondrial DNA analysis reveals substantial population structure in Hecun, a shell mound in South China
• Kinship analysis of ancient samples in the Noble Family cemetery of the Yuan Dynasty
• Ancient DNA analysis of an infant from Sudanese Nubia (ca 500-1400 C.E.)
• Ancient DNA analysis of human skeletal remains from pre-Columbian Puerto Rico
• Ancient DNA from Early to Mid-Holocene Burials in Northwestern Argentina: Implications for understanding the colonization and early populations of South America
• Ancient DNA from the Schild site in Illinois: Implications for the Mississippian transition in the Lower Illinois River Valley
• Patterns of sequence variation at the pigmentation loci ASIP and OCA2 in Melanesian and African populations
• Evolution of the HERC2 eye color gene in Europeans using linkage disequilibrium analysis in four human populations
• Whole genome sequencing of Turkish genomes reveals functional private alleles and impact of genetic interactions with Europe, Asia and Africa
• The Qesem Cave mandibular premolars and molar from a morphometric perspective.
• Exploring the relationship of Neanderthals and modern humans at various population levels through an analysis of body proportion indices
• Early human dispersal from Africa: A model-based test of two hypotheses

AAPA 2013 abstracts

The program of the 2013 meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists is now online (pdf). As always, there is plenty of interest here, so I'll just highlight a few titles that caught my eye; feel free to add more in the comments.


Neolithic human mitochondrial haplogroup H genomes and the genetic origins of Europeans.

Haplogroup (hg) H dominates present-day Western European mitochondrial (mt) DNA variability (>40%), yet was less prevalent amongst early Neolithic farmers (~19%) and virtually absent in Mesolithic hunter-gatherers. To investigate this haplogroup’s significance in the maternal population history of Europeans we employed novel techniques such as DNA immortalization and hybridization-enrichment to sequence 39 hg H mt genomes from ancient human remains across a transect through time in Neolithic Central Europe. The results of our population genetic analyses reveal that the current patterns of diversity and distribution of hg H were largely established during the Mid-Neolithic, but with substantial genetic contributions from subsequent pan-European cultures such as the Bell Beakers, which expanded out of Iberia in the Late Neolithic (~2800 BC). Using a strict diachronic approach allowed us to reconcile ‘real-time’ genetic data from the most common European mtDNA hg with cultural changes that took place between the Early Neolithic (~5450 BC) and Bronze Age (~2200 BC) in Central Europe. This revealed the Late Neolithic (2800-2200 BC) as a dynamic period that profoundly shaped the genetic landscape of modern-day Europeans. Furthermore, linking ancient hg H genome sequences to specific points in time by using radiocarbon dates as tip calibrations allowed us to reconstruct a precise lineage history of hg H and to calculate a mutation rate 45% higher than traditional estimates based on the human/chimp split.

Preliminary research on hereditary features of Yinxu Population.

... The 37 individuals sampled in this study have been discovered in middle to small size burials, and therefore constitute a representative sample to study Yinxu commoners’ society. Mitochondrial DNA analysis showed that the Yinxu population included the haplogroups D, G, A, C, Z, M10, M*, B, F and N9a. According to the analysis of molecular variance, the distribution frequency and the rare published data, the Yinxu population shows a closest genetic affinity with the populations of Dadianzi and Zhukaigou early Bronze Age sites (Inner Mongolia), but a more distant relation to the historical period populations. The Yinxu population is also very similar to the modern northern Han Chinese. ... 

Investigating lactase persistence in a Medieval German cemetery: A step towards understanding the rise of the European lactase persistence polymorphism (-3910C/T).

Previous ancient DNA-based studies on the Neolithic found that the incidence of LP falls below detection levels in most regions. Our research shows that between the Neolithic and Medieval periods, the frequency of LP rose from near 0% to over 50%. Also, given that the frequency of LP genotypes in modern-day Germany is estimated at 78.5%, our results indicate that rather than being stable by the Medieval period, the lactase persistent genotype has continued to increase in frequency over the last 1000 years. This new evidence sheds light on the dynamic evolutionary history of the European lactase persistent trait and its global cultural implications.

 New Neanderthal remains from Kalamakia cave, Mani peninsula, Southern Greece.

Peeling back the layers: additional evidence for the date of the Petralona skull (Homo heidelbergensis), Greece.

,.. We conclude that there is no white sinter deposited directly on the skull and therefore the initial date of the skull given by Henning et al. and Grun’s revised date of ca. 200 ka are correct.

Analysis of archaic introgression in Ötzi the Tyrolean Iceman, a 5300 year-old prehistoric modern human.

... We carried out a series of comparisons to address these questions. By examining the Neandertal similarity of individuals from the 1000 Genomes Project, we have substantially expanded the sample of Neandertal-human comparisons. We also examined the genome of the Tyrolean Iceman, a European from approximately 5300 years ago. This is the first comparison of Neandertal genomes to the genome of a prehistoric modern human individual.

A quantitative approach for late Pleistocene hominin brain size.

... The results of our study show that Neanderthals have smaller brains than the Pleistocene AMH despite the fact that the latter are smaller in body mass. However, the Holocene AMH (7 populations) have smaller brain sizes than those of Neanderthals. ...

Re-evaluating the functional and adaptive significance of Neandertal nasofacial anatomy.

... Among Middle and Late Pleistocene Homo, there is evidence that nasal morphology varies with climate, albeit within an archaic architectural nasofacial framework. Neandertal internal nasal dimensions are greater in both height and length than archaic humans from sub-Saharan Africa. Furthermore, while other aspects of the nose are relatively broad, superior internal breadth dimensions in Neandertals are narrowed relative to sub-Saharan archaics. These differences parallel those seen in modern humans, indicating that Neandertals had an increased capacity for nasal heat and moisture exchange over their African counterparts and thus exhibit clear evidence for cold-climate adaptation. 

AAPA 2012 abstracts (Part 3)

Continuing from Part 2.


An analysis of the Klasies River hominins using a hybrid model.
LILY MALEKFAR. Anthropology, Northern Illinois University.

Current research indicates that modern Homo sapiens originated in East Africa and then migrated across Africa as well as out of Africa, where they encountered archaic hominins. The Klasies River Main site (KRM) in South Africa is one location where there is evidence that modern and archaic Homo sapiens may have interacted. As Smith and other researchers have suggested, the KRM mandibular sample, in particular, exhibits significant size and morphological variability, which counters claims that the KRM specimens are fully modern.
The null hypothesis predicts that KRM’s range of variation does not significantly differ from the ranges of variation indicated in the comparative samples, including Sima de los Huesos, Krapina, Skhul, Qafzeh, and the Northern Illinois University (NIU) Collection, the latter containing specimens classified as modern Homo sapiens from India. If the null hypothesis is rejected, this would be tentative support that the KRM sample may possibly be a hybrid sample. This study examines first and second mandibular molar lengths and widths as well as mandibular corpus height and breadth in adult hominins and compares patterns of variation using the coefficient of variation.
The results demonstrate that the KRM sample is markedly more variable than any of the comparative samples, which rejects the null hypothesis and is one possible indicator of an admixed sample at KRM. This study is limited by small sample sizes for KRM. This and the fact that KRM spans several thousand years may impact these results.

The origins of dental modernity.

SHARA E. BAILEY1,2 and JEAN-JACQUES HUBLIN2.
Research over the past decade has established that the study of dental morphological characters is a useful and important tool for interpreting the later stages of human evolution. A good deal of this research has focused on identifying dental characters that are relevant specifically to the distinction between Neandertals and H. sapiens, and more broadly to the question of modern human origins. However, while the dental patterns of certain recent H. sapiens populations have been described as primitive (e.g., Sub-Saharan Africans) or derived (Northeast Asians) relative to other groups, no study to date has proposed a dental pattern that characterizes H. sapiens as a species. To this end, this study investigates (1) whether or not there is a unique dental pattern in H. sapiens; (2) if so, which traits comprise this pattern; and (3) when, during the course of human evolution, these traits emerge. Our results show that size notwithstanding, H. sapiens has few uniquely derived dental traits that distinguish them from other hominins. These include the U-shaped fissure pattern of the lower P4, relatively flat, featureless upper incisors that are buccolingually narrow, lower molars lacking a hypoconulid and lower molars lacking any form of trigonid crest on enamel and dentine surfaces. Early H. sapiens from Qafzeh, Klasies River Mouth and Jebel Irhoud possess some of these characters. Interestingly, none of the recently discovered teeth from Qesem Cave, Israel exhibit any derived H. sapiens non-metric traits, while the molars of H. floresiensis are derived toward the H. sapiens condition.

Endocranial shape in early modern humans.

SIMON NEUBAUER, PHILIPP GUNZ and JEAN-JACQUES HUBLIN.
Humans have more globular brains and therefore endocasts than our extant and extinct relatives: chimpanzees and Neanderthals both have anterioposteriorly elongated endocasts. Based on an ontogenetic series of recent modern humans, we have previously shown that this modern human globular shape develops directly after birth during an ontogenetic phase that is absent in chimpanzees and Neanderthals. However, it is unclear at which point in the evolution of our species this unique pattern of brain development appeared.
Here, we aim to trace its evolutionary origin. Based on the shape of fossil adult humans, we investigate the morphological evolution of Homo sapiens endocasts using geometric morphometrics. Investigating representatives of H. sapiens from different time periods (comprising samples from Jebel Irhoud, Qafzeh, Skhul, Mladec, Cro-Magnon) makes it possible to assess when and how (gradually or rapidly) this developmental phase appeared in the course of recent human evolution. As several relevant fossils are fragmentary and partly deformed, they require reconstruction before they can be analyzed. To this end, we generate and reconstruct virtual endocasts based on CT scans. We first use mirror-imaging and segmentation techniques, and then the thin-plate-spline interpolation function for reference-based reconstruction. Generating multiple reconstructions based on landmarks of 60 recent human endocasts, we keep track of the reconstruction uncertainty throughout the shape analysis. We document temporal trends of endocranial shape within anatomically modern humans during the Late Pleistocene and discuss potential implications for the evolution of the modern human brain.

AAPA 2012 abstracts (Part 2)

Continuing from Part 1.

I am quite looking forward to the following study which echoes some of my own thoughts on the subject:


Vindija Neandertals as evidence for gene flow from early modern humans.
FRED H. SMITH and ARIKA M. WARD.

The Vindija Neandertal remains have played a critical role in discussions on the emergence of modern Eurasians and the possible involvement of Neandertals in that process. Most recently, fragments from Vindija yielded a draft sequence of a Neandertal genome revealing a 1-4% contribution of Neandertals to recent Eurasians. Morphology of the Vindija Neandertals has long been regarded as showing progressive features in a late Neandertal sample, but the interpretation of the meaning of this pattern has varied over time. Although various studies have shown the Vindija pattern is not due to any type of sample bias, that interpretation is still cited. Otherwise the morphology is seen as either reflecting the process of modern human emergence in Eurasia or as just a part of “normal” Neandertal variation. If Vindija does reflect the process of transition to modern humans, the question is how does it reflect this process? We suggest that the Vindija morphology reflects evidence for gene flow from early modern populations into Neandertals. We show how the Vindija cranial and mandibular pattern reflects that process and demonstrate that indications of mixing among stratigraphic levels
at the site do not impact biological interpretations of the Vindija sample. This direction of gene flow has not been detected in genetic studies so far. Our interpretation underscores the importance of using both morphological and genetic data in approaching questions of late human evolution.

Assessing the pattern of Neandertal ancestry in living human populations.
JOHN HAWKS. Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

People living outside Africa today derive 2 to 4% of their ancestry from Neandertal populations. This initial estimate was based on whole-genome sequencing of a small number of individuals, and the pattern of Neandertal ancestry has yet to be characterized. Here I employ the sequencing data from the 1000 Genomes Project to identify Neandertal-derived haplotypes in living human populations. Initial sequence-level comparison allowed development of a genome-wide sample of SNP haplotypes informative of Neandertal ancestry. Humans within a population differ little in the amount of Neandertal ancestry, but the fraction does vary significantly among samples from different regions. Most Neandertal genes today are rare, existing only in one or two copies in the 1000 Genomes sample. However, a few have become majority haplotypes, 50% or higher. Europeans, South Asians, and East Asian populations differ substantially in which Neandertal-derived haplotypes are presently common, so that a haplotype present in one of these regions is very likely to be absent in samples from other regions. This heterogeneity of present-day Neandertal ancestry provides information about the Late Pleistocene dispersals of humans. In particular, today's populations outside Africa differentiated under strong genetic drift. A relatively small proportion of Neandertal-derived haplotypes contain candidates for selection in later human populations, based on their current pattern of extended haplotype heterozygosity and fraction of derived SNP alleles. Additionally, I report on the application of these methods to investigate and visualize Neandertal ancestry at the whole-genome level from commercial SNP genotype data.

Rates of Neandertal introgression in genic versus intergenic regions of the human genome.
KATYA MACK1,2, AMY GOLDBERG1,3 and ABIGAIL BIGHAM1.

The Neandertal genome project recently estimated that 1-4% of the genetic material found in non-African populations is the result of the introgression of Neandertal genes. When populations that were previously isolated admix, incompatibility at the genic level can often result in distinctive patterns of introgression. It can be predicted that intergenic regions will be more likely to introgress into a population than protein coding changes when two populations or species have lowered hybrid viability or fertility. As coding changes are more likely to be associated with inviability and infertility due to epistatic interactions between gene products, these regions are less likely to be exchanged between diverging populations. Coding regions, therefore, should show an earlier divergence time than intergenic regions. To test this hypothesis, we looked at Neandertal introgression in five genic and five intergenic regions from six geographically distinct modern human populations (Han Chinese, Gujarati Indian, Italian, Puerto Rican, Japanese, and CEPH Europeans). We chose regions with similar recombination rates that did not show strong departures from neutrality. Using maximum likelihood estimation, we calculated the time to the most recent common ancestor (TMRCA) for each of the 10 regions separately based on human-Neanderthal-chimp sequence alignments. Our results highlight the patterns of introgression for intergenic and coding regions in different human populations while expanding our understanding of Neandertal population dynamics and raising new questions about human-Neandertal admixture.

AAPA 2012 abstracts (part 1)

Here are some interesting abstracts from the 81st Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists.


Maternal marks of admixture in Cape Coloreds of South Africa.
KRISTINE G. BEATY1, DELISA L. PHILLIPS1, MACIEJ HENNEBERG2 and MICHAEL H. CRAWFORD1.

Previous studies of genetic diversity have suggested that the Cape Coloureds of South Africa are a highly admixed population with genetic roots from indigenous African groups including Khoisans, and the later arrival of Bantu speaking Xhosa farmers. Further genetic contributions came during European colonization of South Africa, which added to the inclusion of largely male European markers to the gene pool. Slaves from Indonesia, Malaysia, Madagascar and India are also thought to have contributed to the genetic makeup of this ethnic group. This study examines the maternal contribution of each of these groups to the genetic diversity of the Cape Coloreds through sequencing of the hypervariable region I of the mitochondrial DNA and through restriction fragment length polymorphism.
A total of 123 individuals were examined for this study. High frequencies of haplogroups L1 and L2 were found at 81.3 percent in this group (100 of the 123 individuals), which indicates that this group has a large African contribution to its mitochondrial makeup. Restrictions of the major European haplogroups identified nine individuals, 7.3 percent of the sample, belonged to haplogroups I and J. Five individuals (4.1 percent of the sample) belonged to the superhaplogroup M, indicating that Asian slaves did contribute to the maternal gene pool. The majority of maternal lineages in this Cape Coloured sample are African in origin, with some European influence and a small contribution from Asian maternal lineages.

Ancient DNA reveals the population origin of the Eastern Xinjiang.
SHIZHU GAO2, HONGJIE LI1, CHUNXIANG LI1 and HUI ZHOU1,3.

Connecting with the Turpan Basin, the Eurasia steppe and the Gansu Corridor, the Eastern region of Xinjiang has played a significant role in the history of human migration, cultural developments, and communications between the East and the West. The population origin, migration and integration of this region have attracted extensive interest among scientists.
In order to research the population origin and movement of the Eastern Xinjiang, genetic polymorphisms studies of the Hami population were conducted. The Hami site is located in the East of Tian-Moutain in Xinjiang, dating back to the Bronze-early Iron Age. Archaeological studies showed that the culture of the Hami site possessed features from both the East and the West. Ancient mtDNA analysis showed that A, C, D, F, G, Z and M7 of the Eastern maternal lines, and W, U2e, U4, and U5aof the Western maternal lines were identified. Tajimas’D test and mismatch distribution analysis show that the Hami population had experienced population expansion in recent time. The demographic analysis of haplogroups suggests that the populations of the Northwest China, Siberia and the Central Asia have contributed to the mtDNA gene pool of the Hami population.
Our study reveals the genetic structure of the early population in Eastern Xinjiang, and its relationships with other Eurasian populations. The results will provide valuable genetic information to further explore the population origin and migration of Xinjiang and Central Asia.

Analysis of Chuvash mtDNA points to Finno-Ugric origin.
ORION M. GRAF1, STEPHEN M. JOHNSON1, JOHN MITCHELL2, STEPHEN WILCOX3, GREGORY LIVSHITS4 and MICHAEL H. CRAWFORD1.

A sample of 92 unrelated individuals from Chuvashia, Russia was sequenced for hypervariable region-I (HVR-I) of the mtDNA molecule. These data have been verified using RFLP analysis of the control region, revealing that the majority exhibit haplogroups H (31%), U (22%), and K (11%), which occur in high frequencies in western and northern Europe, but are virtually absent in Altaic or Mongolian populations. Multidimensional scaling (MDS) was used to examine distances between the Chuvash and reference populations from the literature. Neutrality tests (Tajima’s D (-1.43365) p<0.05, Fu’s FS (-25.50518) p<0.001) and mismatch analysis, which illustrates unimodal distribution, all suggest an expanding population.
The Chuvash speak a Turkic language that is not mutually intelligible to other extant Turkish groups, and their genetics are distinct from Turkic-speaking Altaic groups. Some scholars have suggested that they are remnants of the Golden Horde, while others have advocated that they are the products of admixture between Turkic and Finno-Ugric speakers who came into contact during the 13th century. Earlier genetic research using autosomal DNA markers indicated a Finno-Ugric origin for the Chuvash. This study examines uniparental mitochondrial DNA markers to better elucidate their origins. Results from this study maintain that the Chuvash are not related to Altaic or Mongolian populations along their maternal line, thus supporting the “Elite” hypothesis that their language was imposed by a conquering group —leaving Chuvash mtDNA largely of Eurasian origin. Their maternal markers appear to most closely resemble Finno-Ugric speakers rather than Turkic speakers.

An ancient DNA perspective on the Iron Age “princely burials” from Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany.
ESTHER J. LEE1, CHRISTOPH STEFFEN1, MELANIE HARDER1, BEN KRAUSE-KYORA1, NICOLE VON WURMB-SCHWARK2 and ALMUT NEBEL3.

During the Iron Age in Europe, fundamental social principles such as age, gender, status, and kinship were thought to have played an important role in the social structure of Late Hallstatt and Early Latene societies. In order to address the question of kinship relations represented in the Iron Age “princely burials” that are characterized by their rich material culture, we carried out genetic analysis of individuals associated with the Late Hallstatt culture from Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany. Bone specimens of thirty-eight skeletal remains were collected from five sites including Asperg Grafenbuhl, Muhlacker Heidenwaldle, Hirschlanden, Ludwigsburg, and Schodeingen. Specimens were subjected to DNA extraction and amplification under strict criteria for ancient DNA analysis. We successfully obtained mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region sequences from seventeen individuals that showed different haplotypes, which were assigned to nine haplogroups including haplogroups H, I, K, U5, U7, W, and X2b. Despite the lack of information from nuclear DNA to infer familial relations, information from the mtDNA suggests an intriguing genetic composition of the Late Hallstatt burials. In particular, twelve distinct haplotypes from Asperg Grafenbuhl suggest a heterogeneous composition of maternal lineages represented in the “princely burials”. The results from this study provide clues to the social structure reflected in the burial patterns of the Late Hallstatt culture and implications on the genetic landscape during the Iron Age in Europe.

Genetic snapshot from ancient nomads of Xinjiang.
HONGJIE LI1, SHIZHU GAO2, CHUNXIANG LI1, YE ZHANG1, WEN ZENG3, DONG WEI3 and HUI ZHOU1,3.

Nomads of the Eurasian steppes are known to have played an important role in the transfer commodities and culture among East Asia, Central Asia, and Europe. However, the organization of nomadic societies and initial population genetic composition of nomads were still poorly understood because of few archaeological materials and written history.
In this study, the genetic snapshot of nomads was emerged by examining mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosome DNA of 30 human remains from Heigouliang (HGL) site in the eastern of Xinjiang, which dated 2000 years ago and associated to the nomadic culture by archaeological studies. Mitochondrial DNA analysis showed that the HGL population included both East Eurasian haplogroups (A, C, D, G, F and Z) and West Eurasian haplogroups (H, K, J, M5 and H). The component of Eastern haplogroups is dominant. The distribution frequency and Fst values of Eastern haplogroups indicated the HGL population presented close genetic affinity to the nearby region modern populations of Gansu and Qinghai, while those of western haplogroups showed similar with Mongolia and Siberia populations. The results implied various maternal lineages were introduced into the HGL population. Regarding the Y chromosomal DNA analysis, nearly all samples belonged to haplogroup Q which is thought to be the mark of the Northern Asian nomads. We identified paternal kinship among three individuals at the same tomb by Y-STR marker.
Combined with archaeological and anthropological investigations, we inferred that the gene flow from the neighboring regions was possibly associated with the expansion of Xiongnu Empire.

Vikings, merchants and pirates at the top of the world: Y-chromosomal signatures of recent and ancient migrations in the Faroe Islands.
ALLISON E. MANN1, EYDFINN MAGNUSSEN2 and CHRISTOPHER R. TILLQUIST1.

The Faroe Islands are a small archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean. With a current population of approximately 48,000 individuals and evidence of high levels of genetic drift, the Faroese are thought to have remained highly homogeneous since the islands were settled by Vikings around 900CE. Despite their geographic isolation, however, there is historical evidence that the Faroese experienced sporadic contact with other populations since the time of founding. Contact with Barbary pirates in the seventeenth century is documented in the Faroes; there is also the possibility of modern migrations to work in the highly productive fishery. This study set out to distinguish the signal of the original founders from later migrants. Eleven Y-chromosomal STR markers were scored for 139 Faroese males from three geographically dispersed islands. Haplotypes were analyzed using Athey's method to infer haplogroup. Median-joining networks within haplogroups were constructed to determine the phylogenetic relationships within the Faroese and between likely parental populations—Danish, Irish, and Norwegians. Dispersal patterns of individuals around Faroese haplogroups suggest different times of haplotype introduction to the islands. The most common haplogroup, R1a, consists of a large node with a tight network of neighbor haplotypes, such that 68% of individuals are one or two mutational steps away. This pattern may represent the early founder event of R1a in the Faroes. Other distributions, especially of non-Scandinavian haplotypes, document more recent introductions to the islands. The overall pattern is one of a strong founder effect followed by minor instances of later migrations.

Date estimates for major mitochondrial haplogroups in Yemen.
DEVEN N. VYAS1, VIKTOR ČERNÝ2, ALI AL-MEERI3 and CONNIE J. MULLIGAN1.

Yemen occupies a key location as the first stop for anatomically modern humans on a theoretical southern migration route out of Africa. If modern humans did pass through Yemen during the first migrations out of Africa and if they left modern-day descendants, we would expect to see deep divergences in the Yemeni mitochondrial gene tree. Alternatively, if modern humans passed through Yemen but did not leave modern-day descendants or if Yemen was not on the path of these ancient migrations, we would expect more recent dates to be associated with Yemeni mitochondrial haplogroups.
Using 44 previously sequenced mitochondrial genomes as well as 24 newly sequenced mitochondrial genomes from samples collected throughout Yemen, several methods were used to estimate divergence dates of major Yemeni haplogroups including L2, M, R0a and HV. Specifically, phylogenetic trees were generated using MrBayes and maximum likelihood methods. Bayesian and ρ statistic based methods were used to estimate dates of Yemeni haplogroups and these dates were compared with each other, previously published dates for these haplogroups, approximate dates of climatic change that might be expected to correlate with population expansions, and estimates based on archaeological and paleontological evidence for the first migrations out of Africa. These comparisons are intended to cover the range of possible haplogroup divergence dates with respect to the history of early modern humans in southern Arabia.

AAPA 2011 abstracts

A draft of the abstracts from the 80th meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists is online. Some titles of interest:

Cristian Capelli et al.
Early Y chromosome lineages in Africa: the origin and dispersal of Homo sapiens.

The study of Y chromosome variation in extant populations has provided significant insights into the genetic history of Homo sapiens. Focusing on sub-Saharan Africa, demographic events associated with the spread of languages, agriculture and pastoralism have been targeted but little is known on the early history of the continent. The first two branches of the Y chromosome genealogy, namely haplogroup A and B, are African specific, with average continental frequencies of 14-34%, reaching up to 65% in groups of foragers . Despite the potential of such lineages in revealing signatures of the ancient peopling of the continent, an exhaustive investigation of their distribution and variation is currently missing. Here we show that their systematic dissection provides novel insights into the early history of our species. We highlighted complex pattern of populations’ dynamics among hunter-gatherer communities, evidence for the peopling of western and southern Africa, and showed the retention of the very early human Y chromosome lineages in eastern and central but not southern Africa. These results open new perspectives on the early African history of Homo sapiens, with particular attention to areas of the continent where human fossil remains and archaeological data are scanty.

Aslihan Sen et al.

The genetic history of the Karachays:Insights from mtDNA and Y-chromosome evidence

The Karachay-Malkar population of the northwestern Caucasus Mountains has an interesting but unclear history. Oral traditions indicate that they descended from the Alans, ancient Iranian tribes who entered the region starting in the 1st century BC. However, they now speak a Kipchak Turkic language, which was purportedly brought to the Caucasus by the Kumans from the Minusinsk Basin (Yenisei River-Altai Mountains). They are also allegedly related to the Hun-Bulgars, with the name Malkar/Balkar being evidence for this affiliation. Therefore, to elucidate their genetic past, we characterized genetic variation in 106 Karachay individuals using a combination of HVS1/ HVS2 sequencing and SNP analysis for mtDNAs and SNP and STR analysis for Y-chromosomes. We observed a predominance of mtDNA haplogroups H and U in this population, along with a minority of East Eurasian lineages, and mostly Y-chromosome haplogroups G, I, J and R1. The mtDNA data suggest that the Karachay are most similar to the Adygei, among Caucasus populations, and have affinities with eastern Iranians, supporting the hypothesized link to Scythio-Iranians (Alans), although being quite distant to Turkic speaking indigenous Altaians. By contrast, Y-chromosome data point to genetic links with populations from Anatolia, the Near East and the Balkans, as well as the Volga-Ural region, Central Asia and Siberia, the source area for ancient Turkic populations. Using these data and associated genealogical and linguistic evidence, we attempt to reconstruct the history of the Karachay population and assess its genetic relationships to the diverse ethnolinguistic groups of the Caucasus.

Jasem Theyab et al.
The genetic structure of the Kuwaiti population: mitochondrial DNA markers.

In the past few decades, researchers using human mitochondrial DNA (mt- DNA) have significantly contributed to our understanding of human evolution and migration. However, little attention has been paid to the Arabian Peninsula which is assumed to be one of the first inhabited regions following the expansion of early Homo sapiens out of Africa. Recently, a number of investigations have started to reconstruct human expansion through the archaeology and the study of the genetic structure of populations of the Arabian Peninsula. Populations of Kuwait, located in the Northeast portion of the Arabian Peninsula, have not been studied from a molecular genetic perspective. This research investigated the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genetic variation in 117 unrelated individuals to determine the genetic structure of the Kuwaiti population and compared the Kuwaiti population to their neighboring populations. Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and mt- DNA sequencing analyses were used to reconstruct the genetic structure of Kuwait. The result showed that the Kuwaiti population has a high frequency of haplogroup pre-HV (18%) and U (12%) similar to other Arabian populations. In addition, the African influence was detected through the presence of haplogroup L (1.6%). Furthermore, the MDS plot showed that the Kuwaiti population is clustered with neighboring populations, including Iran and Saudi Arabia, but not Iraq.

Kristin L. Young et al.
Paternal genetic history of the Basque population of Spain.

This study examines the genetic variation in Basque Y chromosome lineages using data on 12 Y-STR loci in a sample of 158 males from four Basque provinces of Spain. In agreement with previous studies, the Basques are characterized by high frequencies of haplogroup R1b (83%). Five additional haplogroups were identified in this sample: E1b1b (6%), J2a (3%), I2 (3%), G2a (2%), and L (1%). Only 8% of haplotypes were found in more than one province, and the AMOVA analysis shows only a small amount of variation (1.71%, p50.0369) is accounted for between provinces, demonstrating the overall homogeneity of this population. Gene and haplotype diversity levels in the Basques are on the low end of the European distribution (gene diversity: 0.4268; haplotype diversity: 0.9421). Other isolated populations in Europe, including the Swedish Saami, the Roma in Portugal, and Albanians in Kosovo, also exhibit low haplotype diversity levels. Comparison of the Garza-Williamson Index for the Basques and 36 additional European populations shows no significant impact of a recent genetic bottleneck on the continent. A bootstrapped neighbor-joining tree (R2 5 0.922) of Shriver’s genetic distances (DSW) clusters Basque populations with other Atlantic Fringe groups (Galicia, Ireland) and the non- Indo-European Saami. Paleolithic and Neolithic contribution to the paternal Basque gene pool was estimated by measuring the proportion of proposed Paleolithic (R1b, I2a2) and Neolithic haplogroups (E1b1b, G2a, J2a). The Basque provinces show varying degrees of post-Neolithic contribution in the paternal lineages, with 10.9% Neolithic lineages in the combined sample.

Timothy D. Weaver
Did a short-term event in the Middle Pleistocene give rise to modern humans?

It is often stated that modern humans originated 250,000-150,000 years ago. This statement implies, at least implicitly, that something ‘‘special’’ happened at this point in the Middle Pleistocene, such as a speciation event that was perhaps triggered by, or resulted in, a bottleneck in human population size. Two pieces of evidence are usually said to support this contention: that living human mitochondrial DNA haplotypes coalesce _200,000 years ago, and that fossil specimens classified as anatomically modern humans begin to appear shortly afterward. Alternatively, modern human origins could have been a lengthy process that lasted from the divergence of the modern human and Neandertal evolutionary lineages _400,000 years ago to the expansion of modern humans out of Africa _50,000 years ago, and nothing particularly ‘‘special’’ happened 250,000-150,000 years ago. Because this alternative model does not posit a discrete origins event, it may be better able to explain why [50,000-year-old fossils are arguably only ‘‘near modern’’ in anatomy. Here I use computer simulations based on theory from population and quantitative genetics to show that the alternative lengthy-process model also is consistent with a _200,000-year-old mitochondrial DNA coalescence time and the appearance shortly afterward of fossil specimens that, at least for some traits, appear to be anatomically modern. I further discuss how these two models differ in their predictions and whether or not it is possible to distinguish between them with current fossil and genetic evidence.

Steven L. Wang

Regional isolation and extinction? The story of mid-Pleistocene hominins in Asia.

Over the past decade, numerous reviews of the Middle Pleistocene record have taken place in light of new fossil discoveries. However, with primary foci on the Euro- African records, much of the rich fossil evidence in Asia was sidelined and overlooked. It is thus unsurprising that in the minds of many, Asia remains terra incognita— and its hominin record exotic. Moreover, the accuracy of the Asian chronology remains problematic, adding another layer of impediment to our understanding of regional evolution and local adaptation. In this context, I bring a synergistic review of the chronology of mid-Pleistocene hominins from East and South Asia, including recent new dates from key sites such as Zhoukoudian Locality 1 and Hathnora. Using 3-D geometric morphometric data, I examine cranial shape changes between H. erectus and mPH (post-erectus, non- Neandertal mid-Pleistocene Homo), as well as both to later Pleistocene hominins. A large number of not-often-discussed specimens are considered (e.g., Hexian, Nanjing 1, Maba, and Ngawi), many of them original fossils. The cranial anatomy from the Asian mid- Pleistocene suggests the existence of at least two distinctive groups in the region. Additionally, a north-south (geographical) shape difference is observed, hinting the presence of paleodemes each evolving in relative isolation. The shape affinity of mPH to extra-Asian fossils is confirmed; however, depending on the fossil in question (Dali or Narmada), the said affinity to Kabwe and Petralona is exclusive. This, coupled with a limited number of good sample, warrants caution against lumping all Asian mPH within the H. heidelbergensis hypodigm.

John Hawks
Deep genealogy, Neandertal ancestors, and our accelerating evolution

Anthropologists have long confused genealogical and behavioral definitions of humanity. At least five out of six living living humans have Neandertal ancestors, which comprise an estimated 1 to 4% of their ancestry. Human genes have divergent genealogical histories, representing multiple "archaic" populations inside and outside of Africa. Late Pleistocene populations show comparable technical and symbolic abilities within and outside of Africa. A humanlike vocal-auditory channel had appeared before 600,000 years ago. Yet humans of the last 40,000 years have evolved extremely rapidly, in some instances diversifying; in others paralleling each other. Using new visualization methods, I examine the genealogical patterns of human genes. The impact of our rapid Holocene evolution simplifies some genealogical relationships while partially obscuring earlier ones. The genetic echoes of Neandertals and other archaic populations emerge against a slim network binding all living people. These networks show the impact of adaptive potential in ancient human populations. A broad view of human cultural and technical records suggests that gene-culture interaction may be a fundamental aspect of Pleistocene human evolution.

Abstracts from AAPA 2010

Some abstracts from the upcoming (April 14-17) meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists.

Why are pygmies small? An anthropometrical and anthropogenetical question

NOEMIE BECKER et al.

Pygmy populations from central Africa have the shortest stature worldwide. The name “pygmy” indeed comes from the Greek “pugmaios” that is a measure of length. This reduced stature has been the subject of numerous endocrinological studies and many evolutionary hypotheses have suggested that this phenotype was an adaptation to the rainforest (hot, humid and dense environment), to alimentation or due to life history trade-offs (high mortality). We have anthropometrical data for a sample of more than 1000 individuals from 7 pygmy populations and 3 neighbouring farmer populations from Gabon, Cameroon and Central African Republic. DNA samples are also available for a large number of individuals. The analysis of anthropometrical data shows that all pygmy groups have a male mean stature under 160 cm (this was used in the definition settled by Cavalli-Sforza in1986) and that a high variability exists between various pygmy populations. Verdu et al. (2009) published a genetic analysis based on neutral microsatellites on the same populations and found that pygmies present a variable admixture proportion with nonpygmies. Comparing this data with our anthropometrical data at the individual level we find a strong correlation between level of admixture and stature, thus strongly supporting the existence of a genetic component in pygmy short stature. We developed a candidate-gene approach to search for such genetic factor and will present current results on various genes located in the GH-IGF1 axis.

New evidence on headshaping from the Early Byzantine Maroneia in Thrace, Greece.

PARASKEVI TRITSAROLI

The first case of headshaping from Early Byzantine Greece was identified in 2006 at the cemetery of Maroneia (5th-6th c. A.D.). Biocultural evidence suggested the presence of a female individual culturally linked to Hunic traditions. This paper analyzes the second case of headshaping on a female skeleton uncovered in 2009 and allows for the wider discussion of the presence of a larger group related to the Huns in the city of Maroneia. The skull was examined by combining macroscopic observation and x-ray. Points of pressure are recorded in the frontal, post-coronal and occipital regions resulting in an undulation of diploic bone. Possible bilateral pressure on the frontal bone has produced an artificially narrowed frontal. The skull extends posterosuperiorly. These features suggest the application of bandaging producing circular modification. Both headshaped skulls exhibit the same type of modification. Similarly, both women were buried in a supine position, without offerings, just like the remaining 36 deceased individuals in the cemetery of Maroneia. Headshaping was unknown among Byzantine customs. On the contrary, the Huns who attacked the Balkans twice and who unsuccessfully threatened Maroneia in 411 practiced a pronounced form of circular headshaping. Consequently, biocultural evidence strongly supports the hypothesis that a group linked to the Huns was installed at the city and was assimilated into this Early Byzantine society. Future biogeochemical analysis needs to be undertaken in order to investigate migration patterns. However, headshaping reflects the cosmopolitan character of Maroneia, an important urban center in a province of the Byzantine Empire.

The genetic legacy of indigenous Caribbean peoples: Evidence from autosomal and mitochondrial data.

JADA BENN TORRES et al.

Archeological evidence suggests that autochthonous peoples began to migrate into the eastern island chain in the Caribbean, known as the Lesser Antilles, as early as 7200 years BP. Upon the arrival of Europeans, an estimated 2-4 million people lived on these islands. Within 32 years of contact, the native populations had virtually disappeared from the region due to European-introduced disease, abuse, and genocide. This lead many scholars to conclude that indigenous Caribbean people had become extinct. However, small pockets of indigenous communities have survived and are present today on several Lesser Antillean islands. Furthermore, ethnohistoric data suggests that gene flow occurred between autochthonous peoples and enslaved Africans beginning in the colonial period. In this study, we examine the genetic legacy of autochthonous Caribbean peoples from the Lesser Antilles in contemporary African- Caribbean populations as evidenced from mitochondrial data and novel autosomal data. A total of 516 individuals from eight Caribbean islands were typed for 109 ancestry informative markers and a subset of individuals were also typed for their mitochondrial haplogroup. Mitochondrial haplogroups indicate that 5% of the sample has indigenous ancestry while admixture estimates from autosomal markers show 4% indigenous ancestry. Both lines of data suggest that despite the dramatic postcontact decline in population size, indigenous Caribbean people have made notable genetic contributions to contemporary African-Caribbean populations. Furthermore, these genetic contributions vary according to the genetic system typed and across the islands.

Chuvash origins: Evidence frommtDNA Markers.

ORION M. GRAF et al.

A sample of 96 unrelated individuals from Chuvashia, Russia was sequenced for hypervariable region-I (HVR-I) of the mtDNA molecule. The Chuvash speak a Turkic language that is not mutually intelligible to other extant Turkish groups, and their genetics are distinct from Turkic-speaking Altaic groups. Some scholars have suggested that they are remnants of the Golden Horde, while others have advocated that they are the products of admixture between Turkic and Finno-Ugric speakers who came into contact during the 13th century. Earlier genetic research using autosomal DNA markers suggested a Finno-Ugric origin for the Chuvash. This study examines non-recombining DNA markers to better elucidate their origins. The majority of individuals in this sample exhibit haplogroups H (31%), U (22%), and K (11%), all representative of western and northern Europeans, but absent in Altaic or Mongolian populations. Multidimensional scaling (MDS) was used to examine distances between the Chuvash and 8 reference populations compiled from the literature. Mismatch analysis showed a unimodal distribution. Along with neutrality tests (Tajima’s D (-1.43365) p less than 0.05, Fu’s FS (-25.50518) p less than 0.001), the mismatch distribution is suggestive of an expanding population. These tests suggest that the Chuvash are not related to the Altai and Mongolia along their maternal line but supports the “Elite” hypothesis that their language was imposed by a conquering group-- leaving Chuvash mtDNA largely of Eurasian origin with a small amount of Central Asian gene flow. Their maternal markers appear to most closely resemble Finno-Ugric speakers rather than fellow Turkic speakers.

Population history and substructure of Anatolia and Turkey as evidenced by craniofacial diversity.

NORIKO SEGUCHI et al.

Anatolia, the Asian segment of Turkey, is an area of evolutionary importance for human groups who used this corridor as a bridge for migration between the Caucasus, Western Asia and Europe since Lower Paleolithic times. Historically, Anatolia has been occupied by diverse civilizations, including the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires. This study is an attempt to understand Turkish population substructure and history by examining craniofacial diversity through several temporal periods framed within a population genetic model. If the region of Anatolia has been used as a migratory corridor for peoples spanning disparate geographic areas (Balkans, Central Asia, and East Asia), then gradual craniofacial change is expected due to these migrations coupled with extensive admixture. Studies using mtDNA indicate a pre-Neolithic expansion resulting in extensive migration, while Y chromosome studies reveal haplogroup clustering and gene flow from the Caucus with less admixture from Central and East Asia. Overall, our results indicate minimal Turkish population substructure. When crania were separated into sex, our results are consistent with uniparental marker population history. Female crania show a distinctness with modern groups and are actually more similar to Neolithic European and Near Eastern populations. This would indicate a relatively stable female population in Anatolia since Neolithic times. Male crania are more heterogeneous and cluster within a larger geographic zone of Eurasia and the Near East consistent with greater male migration. There is little support for admixture from Central or East Asian groups. These results support the hypothesis for a Turkic language displacement with insignificant genetic exchange.

Genetic analyses reveal a history of serial founder effects, admixture between longseparated founding populations in Oceania, and interbreeding with archaic humans.

SARAH JOYCE, KEITH HUNLEY

Genetic anthropologists continue to debate whether human neutral genetic variation primarily reflects a continuum of demes connected by local gene flow or colonization and serial founder effects. A second unresolved issue concerns the genetic contribution of archaic species to the modern human gene pool. Some studies suggest that this contribution was substantial and that it played an important role in human adaptation. These issues remain unresolved because of inadequacies and biases in datasets, problems in statistical methodology, and the failure to recognize that different evolutionary processes may produce similar outcomes. This study redresses these limitations by analyzing gene identity within and between populations in a dataset comprised of 614 STRs assayed in 1,983 people from 99 widespread populations. Our strategy is to fit hierarchical models to these data and examine residual deviations from the models. Each model involves nesting smaller units such as populations into larger units such as continental regions. It is possible to restate many of these models as either expansions or reductions of each other and thereby identify aspects of population structure that have had a major impact on the overall pattern of diversity. The strong fit of a model estimated using the Neighbor Joining algorithm indicates that human genetic diversity primarily reflects a history of successive founder effects associated with our exodus from Africa, not a continuum of demes connected by gene flow. Residual deviations from the model suggest: 1) the genomes of Oceanic peoples are the product of two independent waves of migration to the region and admixture, and 2) genetic exchange occurred between archaic and modern humans after their initial divergence.

Correlations between genetic ancestry and superficial traits indicate substantial admixture stratification in Brazil.

LAUREL N. PEARSON et al.

Brazil is one of the most admixed countries in the world. How this admixture affected the distribution of genetic ancestry across Brazilian ethnic (“Color”) groups is a fundamental question which to date has only received minimal attention. In an effort to systematically study variation in genetic ancestry in Brazil, we collected DNA and various phenotypic measures from 596 volunteers in Brasilia, Brazil. Participants were asked to provide their self-described “Color” as defined by the Brazilian census (Preta/Black, Parda/Brown, Branca/White, Indigena/Indigenous, Amarela/Yellow). Phenotype data was collected from each subject including hair texture, highresolution eye photographs, skin and hair color by reflectometry, and three-dimensional facial photographs. To estimate genomic ancestry, DNA from each participant was genotyped using 176 ancestry informative markers (AIMs), autosomal SNPs with large frequency differences between parental populations known to contribute to Brazilian admixture (West African, East Asian, European and Indigenous American). Although genomic ancestry shows significant overlap across “Color” groups, there are highly significant differences in average proportional ancestry. Additionally, analyses comparing trait values and genetic ancestry show significant correlations consistent with expectations of populations stratified with respect to genetic ancestry. Ethnographic research indicates that designations of “Color” are fluid and largely based on physical traits as opposed to known ancestry. This likely contributes to the observed ancestry overlap between ethnic groups and the strong association between phenotype and group. This study emphasizes the importance of genetic marker based estimates of ancestry as well as objective assessment of superficial traits in understanding the admixture process.

Geographic structure of genetic variation in North America: Population fissions and European admixture.

KARI BRITT SCHROEDER et al.

A satisfactory understanding of how modern Native North America populations are biologically related to each other requires increased sampling of populations and/or genetic markers and testing of the fit of different models of population structure. To this end, we combine new autosomal microsatellite data from Native North American populations with previously published data. Using J.C. Long’s Generalized Hierarchical Modeling software, we evaluate the fit of different trees to the data. Although we observe a correlation between population pairwise genetic and geographic distances, as expected with a long-term process of isolation by distance, we show that this correlation likely results from geographically-structured population fissions. This pattern could result from the initial peopling of North America or from a later process. The magnitude of European ancestry in the sampled populations, as estimated with the software structure, varies drastically among geographic regions, and may limit our ability to use modern genetic variation to investigate Native North American prehistory.This study was funded by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, grant number 7580 to K.B. Schroeder and D.G. Smith, and by the National Science Foundation, grant BCS- 0422144 to R.S. Malhi, B.M. Kemp, and D.G. Smith.

Coalescent modeling of Yakut origins points to small founding population based on mtDNA variation.

MARK ZLOJUTRO et al.

Based on archaeological and ethnohistorical evidence, the Yakut people of northeastern Siberia are considered to be descendants of ancient Turkic-speaking populations once living in the distant Altai- Sayan region on the Russian- Mongolian border. The results of phylogeographic studies on Siberian mtDNA variation have been generally concordant with a southern Yakut origin, although the timing of the northern migration, the size of the founder group and the degree of genetic admixture with non-Turkic Siberian populations are less apparent. In an effort to better understand Yakut origins, we modeled 25 demographic scenarios, including parameters such as effective population size, growth rate and gene flow, and tested by coalescent simulation whether any are consistent with the patterns of mtDNA diversity observed in present-day Yakuts. The models consist of either two simulated demes that represent Yakuts and a South Siberian ancestral population, or three demes that also include a regional Northeast Siberian population that served as a source of localized gene flow into the Yakut deme. The model that produced the best fit to the observed data defined a founder group with an effective female population size of only 150 individuals, migrating northwards approximately 1,000 years BP and undergoing significant admixture with neighboring populations in Northeastern Siberia. These simulation results indicate a pronounced founder effect that was primarily kin-structured and reconcile reported discrepancies between Yakut mtDNA and Y chromosome diversity levels.

The role of selection-nominated candidate genes in determining Indigenous American skin pigmentation.

ELLEN E QUILLEN et al.

World-wide variability in skin pigmentation has been a subject of anthropological inquiry from the beginning of our discipline. Recent genomic studies indicate that skin pigmentation is one of the most rapidly evolving phenotypes in many human populations and that genes underlying skin pigmentation have been subject to some of the most extreme selective pressures of any genes in the human genome. Unlike previous research, this study both identifies pigmentation genes that have undergone selection in Indigenous American populations and tests the influences of these genes on skin color in admixed individuals. 906,600 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were surveyed for signatures of selection in indigenous populations from Central and South America. Evidence of selection was identified by comparison to HapMap Phase I populations using reduction in heterozygosity (lnRH), Locus- Specific Branch Length (LSBL), Tajima’s D, and haplotype block structure. In the 12 pigmentation candidate genes that show the strongest evidence of selection (ADAM17, POMC, AP3B1, OPRM1, SILV, OCA2/HERC, PLDN, MYO5A, RAB27A, CYP1A2, ATRN, and ASIP), 48 SNPs selected to represent the overall variation in the selection nominated candidate genes were genotyped in individuals of admixed Indigenous American and European ancestry. These SNPs show substantial allele frequency differences between the parental populations. Using admixture based regression model analyses, genes contributing to darker skin pigmentation in Indigenous Americans were found. This study not only identified skin pigmentation genes contributing to skin color variation in previously understudied Indigenous American populations, it validated the usefulness of using population genetic tests of selection to identify functional genes. This study was generously funded by the National Science Foundation Dissertation Improvement Grant 0925976

AAPA 2009 abstracts

The book of abstracts (pdfs) from the 2009 conference of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists has many interesting and important topics. I list the titles of those that caught my eye, with the full abstracts and some comments on some of them.

The first one is very important since it shows continuity between ancient Etruscans and medieval/Renaissance Tuscans, and discontinuity between the latter and modern Tuscans.

Recent demographic changes account for the genealogical discontinuity between Etruscan, Medieval and modern Tuscans. GUIDO BARBUJANI, SILVIA GUIMARAES, ANDREA BENAZZO, LUCIO MILANI , DAVID CARAMELLI.

The available mitochondrial DNA
data appear incompatible with the
view that modern Tuscans are
descended from the Etruscans who
inhabited the same region 2,500
years ago. To understand how and
when such a genetic discontinuity
may have arisen, we extracted and
typed the mtDNAs of 27 medieval
Tuscans from an initial sample of
61, spanning a time period between
the 10th and 15th centuries A.D..
Etruscans and medieval Tuscans
share four mitochondrial
haplotypes, and serial coalescent
simulations show a clear
genealogical continuity between
them. By contrast, it was
impossible to fit into the same
mtDNA genealogy modern
inhabitants of the same area,
including those (Murlo, Volterra,
Casentino) who were recently
claimed to be of Etruscan descent.
These data strongly suggest that the
Etruscans did not get extinct when
their culture disappeared with the
Roman assimilation. However, they
contributed little to the modern
mitochondrial gene pool, probably
because of extensive immigration
after 1500 A.D.. No evidence of
excess mutation was found in the
ancient DNA by a Bayesian test,
and so there is no reason to suspect
that these results be biased by
laboratory artefacts in the ancient
sequences. Genealogical continuity
between ancient and modern
populations of the same area does
not seem a safe general assumption,
but rather a hypothesis that should
and can be tested using ancient
DNA analysis.

Stable isotope and mtDNA evidence for geographic origins at the site of Vagnari
(2nd- 4th centuries AD), Italy. T.L. PROWSE, T.E. VON HUNNIUS, AND J.L. BARTA.

Arsinoe IV of Egypt, sister of Cleopatra identified? Osseous and molecular challenges. F. KANZ, K. GROSSSCHMIDT, J. KIESSLICH.

Arsinoe IV of Egypt, the younger
sister of Cleopatra, was murdered
between the ages of 16 and 18 on
the order of Marc Antony in 41 BC
while living in political asylum at
the Artemision in Ephesus
(Turkey). Archaeological findings
and architectural features point to
the skeletal remains found in the socalled
Oktogon - Heroon in the
center of ancient Ephesus - to being
those of Arsinoe IV. Respective
remains were dated and
investigated by forensic osteology,
radiology and ancient DNA
analysis to assess identification:
Radiocarbon dating (VERA-4104)
isolated the period between 210 and
20 BC (94 % prob.).
Morphological features suggest a
female with an estimated body
height of 154 cm (+/- 3 cm) and
with limbs in good proportion to
one another. Epiphyseal closure and
histological age estimation (femoral
cross sections) revealed a consistent
age at death between 15 and 17
years. The whole skeleton appeared
to belong to a slim and fragile
individual (soft tissue
reconstruction was applied and
compared to ancient sources).
Stress markers, like Harris’ lines
were absent and no sings for heavy
workload or pre- or perimortal
traumas were found. Ancient DNA
analysis was carried out for several
bone samples. No nuclear DNA
was detected, most likely due to
diagenetic factors and storage
conditions. Endeavors to find
mitochondrial DNA are currently in
progress. Investigations could
neither verify nor disprove the
theory on the origin of the remains.
However, after successful mtDNA
typing a maternal relative reference
sample would be required for final
identification.

The importance of slavery in agriculture: paleopathological evidence from Classical Thebes, Greece. E. VIKA

A hypothesis endorsed by many
writers is that, in the social system
of Classical times, citizens did not
work for a living. This is supported
by iconography and literary
evidence, which presents a wellestablished
life of leisure for the
free. Therefore, slaves were solely
responsible for the cultivation of
land, forming a powerful
workforce.
However, social organization in
Classical Thebes may have been
very different from what is known
for Classical Athens, and indeed
many writers caution against
applying the Athenian model to all
Greek cities of the period. It may be
more likely that in Thebes, were
population density was such, that
people lived under maximum land
capacity, the need for labor force
was extreme. In this case, slaves
would have joined families and
worked with them.
Physical anthropology can provide
compelling evidence in the matter
of the division of labor in antiquity,
clearly portraying individuals not
involved in manual labor. The
present study examined 50
skeletons from Thebes’ most
extensive historical cemetery. The
results show that activity-related
skeletal alterations, traumas and
pathologies had affected the entire
population, verifying that slaves
and freemen were equally involved
in agricultural activities. This
evidence is important in
reconstructing social structure in
Thebes, moves away from the
domination of the paradigm of
Classical Athens and provides apt
information for the extreme need of
agricultural labor in the area during
this time.

Identification of infanticide in the Greco-Roman world: a contrary view from the Agora of Athens. M.A. LISTON.

The identification of infanticide in
perinatal skeletons is a topic that
has engendered considerable
controversy; distinguishing normal
infant mortality from catastrophic
death or large-scale infanticide is
difficult at best. Roman-era infant
skeletons deposited in a sewer at
Ashkelon, Israel (Smith and Kahila
1992) have been identified as
victims of infanticide, based
primarily on the age-at-death
distributions and the lack of formal
burial. Similar age distributions
from Roman cemetery burials have
been interpreted both as infanticide
in Britain (Mays 1993) and natural
infant mortality in Egypt (Tocheri
et al. 2005). Analysis of a late
Hellenistic/early Roman group of
perinatal infant skeletons (n=457)
deposited in a well in the Athenian
Agora, suggests that infanticide
may not be the appropriate
interpretation of perinatal mortality,
even in the absence of formal
burial. The frequency distributions
of long bone lengths indicate that
all of these sites have similar
patterns, but the Agora infants also
have been demonstrated to have
died from a variety of natural
causes including premature birth
and infectious disease (Liston
AAPA 2007). The age distribution
is similar to that found in other
collections of infants, all identified
as natural perinatal mortality. As
further evidence against widespread
infanticide, morphological
evaluation of the 321 preserved ilia
from the Agora tentatively suggests
a nearly balanced sex ratio as
expected with natural deaths, in
contrast to a subsample from
Ashkelon (Mays and Faerman
2001). However, the identification
of developmental defects in at least
nine Agora infants suggests that
infanticide may be implicated in
some infant deaths.

This seems quite interesting, the frequency of J2 (12%) and G (6%) seem to be quite high in this sample compared to white Americans and Britons.

Finding the Scot in the Scottish-American: Examination of ethnic identity through the Y-chromosome. K.G. BEATY AND M.L. MEALEY.

It is estimated that over 12 million
Americans claim Scottish ancestry.
To determine whether individuals
self-identifed as Scottish carry
Scottish genetics markers in their
genes, samples were collected from
50 males at the 2006 Kansas City
Highland Games. All individuals in
the sample identified themselves as
“Scottish.”. To determine possible
contribution from a paternal line,
surnames where analyzed. All but
6% of the individuals have
surnames that are currently found in
Scotland, with most surnames
having been present in the historical
records the since the mid 1500’s.
Analysis of 9 short-tandem repeats
on the Y-chromosome (YSTRs)
identified probable Y haplogroup
assignment. Individuals in this
sample represented the following
haplogroups: R1b, R1a (3%), I
(11%), J2 (12%), G (6%) and E3b
(4%). Haplogroup R1b dominates
the sample at 64%, as would be
suspected of a population with
origins in Western Europe.
Haplogroup frequencies are found
at those similar to the current
Scottish population, as well as in
similar frequencies to the rest of the
British Isles. All but six Y-STR
haplotypes matched individuals in
the current Scottish population.

Paleoamericans in a Late Pleistocene context: assessing morphological affinities. M. HUBBE, K. HARVATI, W. A. NEVES.

Biological variation resulting from Inka imperialism. J.D. BETHARD.

Craniometric divergence of Japanese inhabitants due to gene flows from Prehistoric Northeast Asians. H. ISHIDA, T. HANIHARA, O. KONDO.

The Swatis of northern Pakistan—Emigrants from Central Asia or colonists from peninsular India?: a dental morphometric investigation. B.E. HEMPHILL.

Considerations for the Population History of the Wakhan Corridor: An Odontometric Investigation of Wakhi Biological Affinity and Diachronic Analysis of Biological Interaction Between Northern Pakistan and South Asia. P.W. O’NEILL AND B.E. HEMPHILL.

The people of the Xiongnu culture (3rd century B.C. to 2nd century A.D.): Insights into the biological diversity of the earliest Eurasian nomadic steppe empire. R.W. SCHMIDT, B. CHRISTY, A. BURCH, A.R. NELSON, N. SEGUCHI.

Rome if you want to: immigrants in the Empire. K. KILLGROVE.

Recognizing population displacements and replacements in prehistory: A view from North Africa. C.M. STOJANOWSKI.

The working class at Hierakonpolis. Nubian or Egyptian?. K. GODDE.

Craniofacial evolution in Polynesia: A geometric morphometric study of population diversity. T.J. BUCK, U. STRAND VIÐARSDÓTTIR

The state of health of Roman Republic to Imperial Roman period burials from the necropolis of Aquinum, Italy. R.R. PAINE, R. VARGIU, G.R. BELLINI, D. MANCINELLI, P. SANTORO, A. COPPA.

Health and lifestyle of ancient pastoralists from Mongolia. J.J. BEACH, M.L. MACHICEK, A.R. NELSON.

Regional patterns among Holocene hunter-gatherers of southern Africa. SUSAN PFEIFFER AND JUDITH SEALY

Ecogeographic variation in the ontogeny of hunter-gatherer physique and skeletal robusticity. JAY STOCK

Hunter-fisher-gatherer dietary adaptations in Neolithic and Bronze Age Siberians. M.A. KATZENBERG, H.G. MCKENZIE, A.W. WEBER AND O.I. GORIUNOVA.

Basques in an Indo-European sea: a perspective from tooth crown morphology. SCOTT GR

Session 5. Reconstructing Health and Disease in Europe: The Early Middle Ages through the
Industrial Period. Invited poster symposium. River Exhibition Hall B.

Stable isotope analysis of diet among Bronze Age and Iron Age inhabitants of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China. J.T. ENG, Q. ZHANG, H. ZHU.

The nasal cavity of Pleistocene hominins: implications of climate-related variation among modern humans. M.L. NOBACK, F. SPOOR.

Inferred body proportions of a southern European Neandertal, Palomas 92. E. TRINKAUS, M.J. WALKER, J. MAKI, M.V. LÓPEZ, J. ORTEGA.

Buccal dental microwear and tooth crown morphology in Neandertals and modern humans show significant correlations with prevailing climatic conditions throughout the Middle and Upper Paleolithic in Europe. B. PINILÑLA, A. PÉREZ-PÉREZ.

Geographic structure of global craniometric variation. J.H. RELETHFORD

Australian craniofacial evolution: drift, selection, or all of the above? E.A. CARSON.

Identifying selection and genetic drift in the landmark-based 3D cranial morphology of modern humans. H.F. SMITH

The paradox of human cranial variation. T.D. WEAVER

Geographic structure of craniofacial variation in modern human populations: an R-matrix approach. T. HANIHARA, H. ISHIDA.

Population history and cranial morphology in a large human skeletal dataset. K. HARVATI, M. HUBBE, D.V. BERNARDO, T. HANIHARA

Natural selection, random genetic drift, and the study of morphological variation. C.C. ROSEMAN.

Quantitative genetic insights on the evolutionary processes operating on human skull shape. N.
MARTÍNEZ ABADÍAS.

Ancient demography, not climate, explains within-population phenotypic diversity in humans. A.
MANICA, L. BETTI, F. BALLOUX, W. AMOS, T. HANIHARA.

Evidence for the influence of diet on cranial form and robusticity. R.A. MENEGAZ, S.V. SUBLETT, S.D. FIGUEROA, T.J. HOFFMAN, M.J. RAVOSA, AND K. ALDRIDGE.

New Frameworks of Understanding for the Origins of Agriculture. BRUCE SMITH

Natural selection, longevity, and the Neandertal-modern interface. J. HAWKS.

The Neanderthal face is not cold adapted. T. C. RAE, T. KOPPE, C. B. STRINGER.

Functional implications of the unique Neandertal face. A. MAROM, Y. RAK.

Using 3-D geometric morphometric techniques to further understand the relationship between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. J.A. MINETZ.

Qualitative and quantitative analyses of the Holocene Khoesan dentition. W. BLACK.

The brain morphology of Homo Liujiang cranium fossil by 3-D CT. X.J. WU, W. LIU. W. DONG, J.Q. QUE, Y.F. WANG

Scurvy in a Late Roman Greek child: multiple lines of evidence. S. GARVIE-LOK, C. PENNYCOOK, R. STARK.

Genetics, Selection, Perception and the Human Face. M.D. SHRIVER, D. LIBERTON, AND K. MATTHES, J. BOSTER AND D.A. PUTS.

Evolution and natural selection of skin color. E.J. PARRA

Late Pleistocene/Holocene human populations transition in Old World: the analysis of morphological dental traits. A. COPPA, F. CANDILIO, A. CUCINA, F. DEMETER, A.KUTTERER, M. LUCCI, F. MANNI, A. OUJAA, S. ROUDESLI-CHEBBI, R. VARGIU.

Morphometric analysis of the Herto cranium (BOU-VP-16-1): Where does it fit? K.D. LUBSEN, J.L. MAYHER, R.S. CORRUCCINI.

Assessing the relationship between craniofacial morphology and genetic variation in a population with admixed ancestry. F.I. MARTINEZ, D. BUSEL, M. MORAGA, G. MANRÍQUEZ, M. BELLATTI, F. LAHR, M.M. LAHR

A genetic association study of normal variation in facial features. D.K. LIBERTON, K.A. MATTHES, B. MCEVOY, R. PEREIRA, T. FRUDAKIS, M.D. SHRIVER.

Dissimilarity fraction for metrical traits of human skull: comparison with genetic studies. A.M. STRAUSS, M. HUBBE.

Cranial nonmetric study of archaeological populations from different historical periods of Mongolia ERDENE MYAGMAR.

Genetic and Linguistic Coevolution in Native Latin America. N.J. SCHNEIDER, K.L. HUNLEY,

Analysis of aDNA From Maya Skeletal Remains Using the Mitochondrial Control Region. ELIZABETH LAVOIE.

Search for founder mitochondrial lineages in Holocene human remains in Patagonia. M. MORAGA, E. ASPILLAGA, F. MENA.

Genetic diversity in South Amerindian populations. M.L. PAROLIN, A.S. GOICOECHEA, C.B. DEJEAN, S.A. AVENA, F.R. CARNESE.

Global human population structuring seen from craniometric data. D. V. BERNARDO, T. F. ALMEIDA, W. A. NEVES, T. HANIHARA

MHC and mate choice in humans. RAPHAËLLE CHAIX, CHEN CAO, PETER DONNELLY.

The operational sex ratio (OSR) among hunter-gatherers: cause or effect of male-male competition? MARLOW, FW AND BERBESQUE, JC

Mitochondrial DNA diversity of Yemenite and Ethiopian Jewish populations. NON, AMY L.

Genetic structure of the Spanish populations: the end of the Basque singularity? F. CALAFELL, H. LAAYOUNI, P. GARAGNANI, A. GONZÁLEZ-NEIRA, J. BERTRANPETIT.

Inferring human gene flow over Mediterranean space towards Iberian Peninsula based on Y-chromosomal haplogroups E and J in a coastal Andalusian population (Southern Spain). R. CALDERÓN, B. AMBROSIO, J.M. DUGOUJON, C. HERNÁNDEZ, D. DE LA FUENTE, A. GONZÁLEZ-MARTÍN, J.N. RODRÍGUEZ, A. NOVELLETTO.

Evidence supporting two centers of population differentiation in East Asia: Siberia and SE Asia. M.S. SCHANFIELD, S. MILLER, R. SHYU,M. MOUNT, H.F. POLESKY, R. CASTRO, H. EHRLICH, U. EKE, S. MACK, R.J. MITCHELL, M. COBLE, K. MELVIN, M. H. CRAWFORD.

Climate and Craniofacial shape variation among major human populations: a geometric morphometric approach. M. FRIESS.

Sign, sign, everywhere a sign: high density haplotype maps of the dog, human, and cow genomes reveal extensive human reorganization of domesticated genomes. CARLOS D. BUSTAMANTE, ELAINE A. OSTRANDER, MAGNUS NORDBORG, MATTHEW R. NELSON, MICHELE CARGILL, RICHARD A. GIBBS, AND ROBERT K. WAYNE

Insights from sequencing the Neandertal genome. J. KRAUSE, R. E. GREEN, A.W. BRIGGS, U. STENZEL, K. PRUEFER, T. MARICIC, M. KICHNER, J. KELSO, D. REICH, J. C. MULLIKIN, M. EGHOLM & S. PÄÄBO

Layers of history within humanity's genomes. J.L. MOUNTAIN.

The genetic basis of phenotypic variation in Africa: Evidence for local adaptation. S. A. TISHKOFF, M. CAMPBELL, A. FROMENT, J. HIRBO, M. IBRAHIM, S. OMAR, A. RANCIARO.

Seasonality and Brain Size: What’s the Link? J.T. VAN WOERDEN, K. ISLER, C.P. VAN SCHAIK.

AAPA 2008 abstracts

The 2008 meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists will take place this April, and the book of abstracts for the conference is online in pdf format. As usual, there is a great variety of exciting research to be announced in the meeting; here is my sampling thereof:

A seemingly very important new piece of work on Central Anatolia:

O. Gokcumen et al., The Land of the Tired Ox: Ethnogenetic Insights into Rural Central Anatolian Population History

Excerpt: "For example, in one study area in the vicinity of Ankara, we have observed at least four distinct groups based on historical and ethnographic observations. Their self-claimed ancestries trace back to Afsar, Kurdish, Caucasian Cherkess, and Karaman groups. These groups came into the same area from different source regions and at different moments in history. Indeed, our data indicate that there were significant disparities between the paternal and maternal genetic diversity among these groups. These data also allow us to more accurately reconstruct the population history of the study area, as well as begin to provide new perspectives on the regional history of Central Anatolia in relation to historical Turkic invasions and perhaps the Neolithic transition. Finally, we discuss the utility of a more focal and detailed sampling approach for elucidating Anatolian population history."

I can only hope that more researchers will look into historical processes that have shaped modern populations. Too often I see research published which tries to infer human prehistory from modern populations, seemingly oblivious to the complex set of events in historical time that have shaped these populations. Anatolia, so often discussed in the context of the origin of the Neolithic is a prime example of this, as it contains multiple layers of population settlement and ethnic change.

M. C. Dulik et al. Y-chromosome variation in Altaian ethnic groups

Excerpt: "A large portion of all Altaian haplotypes belonged to haplogroup R. Differences in haplogroup frequency between the northern and southern Altaian populations were also observed, with more individuals from northern groups belonging to haplogroups N and Q, and haplogroup C being more prevalent in southern populations. In addition, there were village level patterns of NRY variation, while the overall diversity of NRY haplotypes suggested a significant cultural influence on the partitioning of genetic variation (i.e., patrilocality)."

The three elements involved in Siberian prehistory are indeed haplogroup R, in particular R1a1 which (in my opinion) represents the Western-derived Caucasoid element of likely Iranic affiliation, haplogroups N and Q which represent the Palaeo-Mongoloid element indigenous to Siberia and which has radiated from Siberia to the west (in the case of N) and to the east and into the Americas (in the case of Q), and the Mongoloid proper element which is associated with haplogroup C in this region, and which reflects the Eastern-derived movements of Mongoloid(-influenced) Altaic speakers such as the Mongols.

L. Pipes et al. Analysis of mtDNA in Mongolian Populations

J. Hawks. "Adaptive evolution of human hearing and the appearance of language"

Language requires not only a detailed anatomical and neurological system of language production, but also a highly adapted system of reception. Considering the frequency and amplitude range of human speech, the necessity of perceiving a large number of distinct speakers, the extended life history of humans, the need for children to learn phonemic distinctions at an early age, and the spatial distances covered by vocal communication in humans compared to other primates, it is likely that humans have distinctive auditory adaptations to language. This study tests the hypothesis of selection on the human auditory system, by interspecific genomic comparisons and genome-wide selection scans in living people. A set of hearing-related human genes shows clear signs of recurrent selected substitutions in humans compared to chimpanzees and macaques. These recurrent substitutions may have occurred at any time during human evolutionary history, but they were repeated with several selected variants for each gene. A smaller set of genes shows signs of significant population differentiation within the past 50,000 years, due to recent strong selection. Further, a relatively large set of hearing-related genes have segregating variants under recent strong selection in one or more human populations. These genes reflect continuing selection on hearing within the last 2000—3000 years. Together, these results suggest that human vocal communication exerted repeated selection pressures on the auditory system, that the system of human language continued to evolve during the Late Pleistocene, and that humans may still be adapting to language.

It seems that Hawks et al. paper on accelerated recent human evolution was just the beginning...

B.E. Hemphill. Are the inhabitants of Madaklasht an emigrant Persian population in northern Pakistan?: a dental morphometric investigation.

The answer: "Madaklasters share closest affinities to prehistoric Central Asians and more distant affinities to prehistoric inhabitants of the Iranian Plateau. Such results support the claim that the inhabitants of Madaklast are an intrusive population into Pakistan whose origins most likely may be found in northeastern Afghanistan and Tajikistan."

Someone should look at their genes. Human history is a giant jigsaw puzzle and it is populations that differ from their neighbors and came from somewhere else that allow us to catch a glimpse of the past (in this case prehistoric Central Asia).

N. Seguchi. "Re-analysis of the ainu-samurai hypothesis using population genetic analysis."

The conclusion: "The result shows that the Kamakura ties to the Ainu first, before it ties to the other ethnic Japanese. In addition, the Kamakura group shows more variability,indicating that the Kamakura group may have experienced significantly more gene flow. This indicates the Ainu-derived people who lived in East Japan at that time made a genetic contribution to the warrior class of Kamakura."

J. K. Rilling et al. "Abdominal depth as a principal determinant of human female attractiveness."

Excerpt: "Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that the depth of the lower torso at the umbilicus, or abdominal depth, was the strongest predictor of attractiveness, stronger than either BMI or WHR, and that its impact was significantly greater for video and side view stimuli in which it was clearly visible compared with front and back view stimuli. Women with shallow abdominal depth are more likely to be healthy, fertile and non-pregnant, suggesting that this may be an adaptive male preference that has been shaped by natural selection."

AAPA 2007 abstracts

The 2007 meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists will be held in about a month. As in previous years, here are some interesting abstracts to be presented at the meeting (pdf).

(up to page 94)

Homo floresiensis Cranial and Mandibular Morphology
J.Y. Anderson, University of New Mexico
These results suggest the Flores material does not represent a population derived from Australomelanesians, and do not represent a non-pathological dwarfed population of Homo sapiens. These results do not completely rule out a representation of a microcephalic dwarfed population, at the same time it is suggested possible affinities to earlier hominin groups is equally parsimonious.

Do Qafzeh and Skhūl represent the ancestors of Upper Paleolithic modern humans? A dental perspective.
S.E. Bailey et al.
If these fossils represent the source of early Upper Paleolithic people, there is no need to invoke admixture with Neandertals to explain archaic dental features observed in some early Upper Paleolithic humans.

Ancient Cemetery Social Patterning Project: Ancient DNA in Tirup Cemetery.
L.E. Baker et al.

Reconstructing the settlement history of the central Andes from mitochondrial DNA analyses.
K. Batai et al.
We found that among central Andean ancient and modern population samples, haplogroup B frequencies increased through time, while haplogroup A frequencies declined. At this point, we do not yet have sufficient data to determine whether these patterns indicate different population histories between ancient coastal and modern highland populations, or a larger temporal trend in entire central Andes region

Analysis of Genetic Diversity in Ethnic Populations of Afghanistan
P. Bermudez et al.
The Middle East has the distinction of being a major crossroads of human migration. The genetic diversity of Afghanistan, however, has long remained a missing piece to this rich and complex puzzle. To explore both the diversity within Afghanistan and to understand the relative genetic contributions from various groups throughout the Eurasian continent, buccal swabs were collected from 252 unrelated Afghani men for mitochondrial DNA analysis. Each of these men hailed from
one of four major ethnic groups inhabiting the region: the Pashtun, Hazara, Tajik or
Nooristani. The Indo-Iranian speaking Pashtun represent the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan; the Tajiks have a complex genetic history that likely involves admixture between Turkic groups and smaller distinct ethnic groups within Afghanistan; the Hazara, on the other hand, are thought to represent remnants of Ghengis Khan’s army left behind as it expanded through Asia; and the Nooristani have biological links to populations in northern Pakistan and the
claim of descent from Alexander the Great’s army. All samples were analyzed for HVS1
and SNP variation. In all of these populations, Western Eurasian haplogroups (H, HV, R, J, I, U, X) were most common, with the highest frequency occurring in the Nooristanis, while the remaining East Eurasian haplogroups including D, G, and various other M types. The results of this study will be instrumental in expanding our knowledge of Afghani genetic history, in addition to broadening our understanding of population migrations throughout West and Central Asia.

Dental variation in Holocene Khoesan populations.
W. Black et al.

Are the Koh an indigenous population of the Hindu Kush? II: a dental morphology investigation.

S. Blaylock and B.E. Hemphill

Little is known about the population history of the ethnic groups in Chitral District, Pakistan, an area long been regarded as the “crossroads of Asia.” Some scholars emphasize that the Koh lifeway is the consequence of long-standing indigenous isolation. Others stress the equestrian
tradition among Koh villagers indicate they are descendants of Central Asians who emigrated across the Hindu Kush Mountains during the second millennium BC. To still others, an array of Persian linguistic inclusions indicates the Koh are more recent emigrants from the Iranian Plateau. This investigation tests these hypotheses for Koh origins through assessment of dental
morphology variations of the permanent dentition scored as 17 tooth-trait combination in accordance with the Arizona State University Dental Morphology System in a sample of 134 Kho school children from Chitral City. These data were contrasted with 17 additional samples. Comparisons are in two stages and include cluster analysis, multidimensional scaling and principal coordinates analysis. First, sex-pooled and sex-specific data compared Koh to six contemporary ethnic groups from India. Results indicate the Koh share equidistant affinities to Indo-European speaking west-Central Indian and Dravidianspeaking South Indian ethnic groups.
Second, sex-pooled data compared the Koh to 13 prehistoric samples from Neolithic to Early Iron Age sites located in the Indus Valley, Central Asia and the Iranian Plateau. Results indicate that the Koh share little affinity to prehistoric Indus Valley groups. Rather, the Koh share nearly equal affinities to prehistoric inhabitants of the Iranian Plateau and Central Asia.

A Howells grasp on prehistoric and recent Japan: A precursor to the Kennewick connection.
C. L. Brace, N. Seguchi.
Using many more samples, our results are compatible with what Howells showed for his Japanese comparisons, and,using the neighbor-joining technique, we can go on to show that Kennewick ties with the Ainu who are the descendants of the Jōmon.The Jōmon then are the probable ancestors of
the first inhabitants of the western hemisphere.

Admixture in Mexico City: implications for admixture mapping.
E. Cameron et al.
"The average proportions of Native American, European and West African admixture were estimated as 65%, 30% and 5% respectively."

"In a logistic model with higher educational status as dependent variable, the odds ratio for higher educational status associated with an increase from 0 to 1 in European admixture proportions was 9.4 (95% credible interval 3.8 – 22.6). This association of socioeconomic status with individual admixture proportion shows that genetic stratification in this population is
paralleled, and possibly maintained, by socioeconomic stratification."

Intracontinental Distribution of Haplotype Variation: Implications for Human Demographic History.
M.C. Campbell et al.
"These results suggest that diverse African populations were more subdivided with lower levels of gene flow during human history."

Social stratification in a Christian cemetery? An assessment of stress indicators and social status at Anglo-Saxon Raunds.
E.F. Craig, J.L. Buckberry
"The occurrence of statistically more individuals with both cribra orbitalia and tibial periostitis in plain graves rather than graves with stone arrangements, and LEH in plain graves rather than graves with a cover or marker, suggests that individuals buried in more elaborate graves enjoyed better levels of health and may been of higher social status than those buried in plain graves."

Variability of the Stature of the Central European Population from the Neolithic Age to Present
M. Dobisíková, S. Katina, P. Velemínský
The aim of our contribution is to characterize the changes of the stature in adult populations that have lived in Central Europe from the Neolithic period up to the present. Our sample consisted of 802 male and 704 female skeletons. The evaluation was conducted taking into account the demographic structure of the groups studied. We confronted the findings with the living
conditions of the populations known to have a significant impact on human stature, in
addition to genetic factors. We thus considered the socioeconomic status of the populations that might have influenced the quality of nutrition. We focused our attention on the socioeconomic aspect of populations of the early Middle Ages and the recent population. We compared socially higher placed part of the society with socially poorer classes (agricultural groups) (177 male, 178 female) in the early-medieval population of Great Moravia. No statistically significant
differences were found among individual social groups. To calculate the stature of last populations we used the regression equations developed by Breitiger (1937) and Bach (1965). The
calculation was based only on the length of the femur that is directly involved in body length. The impact of the secular trend was evaluated in the recent population. We compared two autopsy skeletal samples from the beginning and ends of the 20th century (107 male, 53 female). Statistically significant differences between them was found. Finally, we proposed regression equations for calculating the stature of the contemporary Czech population usable in forensic practice.

A phylogeographic analysis of haplogroup D5 and its implications for the peopling of East Asia.
M.C. Dulik
While genetic studies have focused on the Altai region of South Siberia as a possible place of origin for Native Americans, it is also possible that it played a similarly significant role in the peopling of East Asia. A Siberian connection to other East Asian populations has already been proposed based on archaeological, linguistic and classical genetic marker evidence. In this study, we examined a rare and ancient haplogroup, D5c, in an effort to elucidate early population movements in East Asia. Previous studies suggested that D5 first emerged in China and
spread northwards from there. However,given the number of D5c individuals (12) and the range of variation in D5 from the Altai region, it is conceivable that this haplogroup instead originated in South Siberia and spread from there during the initial movements of Paleolithic peoples. To est this hypothesis, we obtained complete mtDNA sequences for individuals represented by aplogroups D4 and D5 and acquired additional sequences available through GenBank and published literature. We then analyzed the entire dataset with the reduced median network approach and
phylogeographic modeling. Our results suggest that Southern Siberia did play a
critical role in the spread of the D5 haplogroup. This focus on relatively unique
mtDNA lineages specific to certain populations allowed us to better understand
the processes of ancient settlement and subsequent population movements that helped shape the current genetic landscape of East Asia.

More than meets the eye: LB1, the transforming hominin.
R.B. Eckhard et al.

LB1 is not a microcephalic.
D. Falk1 et al.

Is there biological meaning to “Hispanic” in New Mexico?
H.J.H. Edgar, C.M. Willermet

Establishing the nature of the differences between skull samples from two populations.
S.P. Evans et al.
A sample of 1188 skulls from the Romano-British site at Poundbury shows differences from the 18th century sample of 822 skulls from Spitalfields. Both sites are in the south of England, but 1400 years apart in time. The differences between the sites could be due to immigrations over time and/or to adaptation to the environment. The aim of the study was to establish the nature of the differences, in particular the relative importance of genetic and acquired traits.
Frequencies of 22 selected non-metric traits in juvenile, female and male skulls were analysed. Initial logistic regression analyses established that there was a substantial difference between the two sites and between juveniles and adults, with some sexual dimorphism. The modified mean
measure of divergence, used to calculate overall distances between the groups, showed the juvenile groups to be closer to each other than to adults from their respective sites. Across sites, males were most distant from each other. The largest distance was between Spitalfields juveniles and males. Principal coordinate analysis, followed by a jackknife stability analysis, revealed a pattern indicating that this came about through growth and adaptation. Omitting traits in turn, procrustes methods were used to identify the most influential, all of which
were acquired through ageing or lifestyle. Without these traits there was no significant
difference between the two juvenile groups and no sexual dimorphism. These results show the importance of the behavioural environment in determining morphology, and the resilience of populations to genetic change.

Peopling of the Pacific: resolving the controversy.
J.S. Friedlaender et al.
"Our survey of mitochondrial DNA, Ychromosome, and over 600 short tandem repeat polymorphisms and 200 insertiondeletions from over 40 Pacific populations indicates Polynesians have their genetic
origins to both Melanesian and Taiwanese (Southeast Asian) populations in significant degrees. In Island Melanesia, there is a small but clear ancient genetic footprint in certain Oceanic-speaking populations (i.e., linguistically related to Polynesian). The survey results underscore the extraordinary diversity of Island Melanesian populations from one language group to another, and from island to island. This is the result of the small sizes of the populations and the very long extent of modern human settlement there (over 30,000 years)."

Multivariate studies of cranial form: the impact of Howells' research on defining Homo sapiens.
J.B. Gaines et al.

Demographic simulations of the admixture between foragers and farmers in central European Neolithic.
P. Galeta, J. Bruzek.

William White Howells: A physical anthropologist in the making.
E. Giles

The relationship of Nubians with their neighbors, the Egyptians.
By, K. Godde.

The Phylogeography of Haplogroup N1a
Gokcumen O et al.
Recent studies have revealed a complex geographic distribution of haplogroup N1a. This rare and distinctive lineage is widely distributed across Eurasia and Africa, but always found at very low frequencies. However, despite its rarity, the genetic diversity within N1a has remained relatively high (h=0.9605). The reduced median network of N1a haplotypes not only reflects
this level of diversity, but also exhibits several relatively well-defined branches. The
distribution of N1a is intriguing because of revealing previously unrecognized connections between populations. What makes N1a even more interesting is the prevalence of this lineage in ancient European populations. Haak et al. (2005) found that 25% of their European Neolithic
samples belonged to N1a and dated to ~5000 BCE, whereas the frequency of this lineage in contemporary Europeans is only ~0.2%. In addition, an Iron Age skeleton from Kazakhstan had an N1a haplotype, suggesting the existence of this lineage in the Altai Republic in ~500BCE (Ricaut et al. 2004). Indeed, we found several haplogroup N1a mtDNAs in indigenous Altaians and Altaian Kazakhs. To further elucidate the phylogeography of this lineage in Central Asia, we sequenced the whole mtDNA genomes of our N1a haplotypes, and analyzed the resulting data with several quantitative methods and simulation programs to estimate their expansion times and spatial
distribution in Eurasia. Our findings suggest that there are two well-defined sublineages
within N1a, and that the dispersal of this haplogroup could be associated with the Neolithic expansion and with prehistoric interactions between Central Asian and European populations.


Understanding human races: the retreat of neutralism.
Henry Harpending
Discussion and debate about human races has been dominated for decades by neutral theory and statistics. Since this literature never posed a real question, it has never produced an answer. Lewontin's 1972 paper with its claim that a value of 1/8 of a statistic like Fst is “small” and that this means that human race differences are insignificant is a staple of our textbooks. Recently geneticists have had a closer look and pointed out that Fst of 1/8 describes differences among sets of half sibs and few claim that half sibs are insignificantly related. Anthony Edwards has shown that the significance of differences is in the correlation structure of a large number of traits, again denying the Lewontin assertion that human differences are small. Alan Templeton in 1998 claimed that human races were less differentiated that races of some other large mammals, but he compared human nuclear DNA statistics with statistics from mtDNA in the other species. An appropriate comparison shows that human are more, not less, differentiated than other large mammal species. Since neutral differences are a passive
record of demographic history they are not very significant for issues of functional biology. Newly available data sources allow us to study the natural selection of race differences instead of their drift. It appears that there is a lot of ongoing evolution in our species and the loci under strong selection on different continents only partially overlap. Human race differences may be increasing rapidly.

Acceleration of adaptive evolution in modern humans.
J. Hawks and G. Cochran
Humans vastly increased in numbers during the past 40,000 years. Recent surveys of human genomic variation have suggested a large surplus of recent positive selection, indicated by excess linkage disequilibrium and skewed SNP frequency spectra. We applied estimates of prehistoric and historic population sizes to estimate the importance of population growth in explaining the number of recent adaptive mutations. Our estimates are consistent with genomic evidence in suggesting that the rate of generation of positively selected genes has increased as much as a hundredfold during the past 40,000 years.

Do skeletal features reflect this genomic evidence of selection? Under positive
selection, rapid appearance of new variants during the terminal Pleistocene and early
Holocene would cause maximal phenotypic change during the last 2000-4000 years. We compared original and published series of Holocene cranial data from Europe, Jordan, Nubia, South Africa, and China, in addition to Late Pleistocene samples from Europe and West Asia, to test the hypothesis that the genomic acceleration in positive selection correlates with phenotypic evolution during this time period. A constellation of features in the face and cranial vault, notably including endocranial volume, changed globally during this time period and documents common patterns of selection in different regions. Holocene changes were similar in pattern and chronologically faster than those at the archaic-modern transition, which themselves were rapid compared to earlier hominid evolution. In genomic and craniometric terms, the origin of modern humans was a minor event compared to more recent evolutionary changes.

Patterns of admixture in Mexican Americans assessed from 101,150 SNPs.
M.G. Hayes et al.
"No significant differences were observed between the 10 subsets, allowing us to average the admixture estimates across the subsets: 68% European, 27% Asian (as a proxy for Native American), and 6% African."

Gender, wealth, and status in Bronze Age Central Asia: a dental pathology investigation.
B.E. Hemphill.

Sahara passage: the post-glacial recolonisation of North Africa by mitochondrial L* haplotypes.
AD Holden. P Forster.

Secular trends of the European male facial skull from the Migration Period to the present.
E. Jonke et al.
We examined secular trends in the facial skull over three Central European samples spanning more than 13 centuries. Data are 43 conventional cephalometric landmark points for samples dating from 680–830 CE, from the mid-19th Century, and from living Austrian young adult males. Methods of geometric morphometrics demonstrate shape differences across the samples, and also
differences in allometry. There is a stronginteraction between these, so that group mean differences are different for small and large individuals (equivalently, allometry is
different from period to period). The oldest sample, from the Migration Period, exhibits
allometric features that may possibly be Turkic. There are implications for the
craniofacial biologist interested in growth trends or growth predictions in ethnically
mixed populations. There are also implications for the discussion concerning the morphology of the Avars (an ethnic group of probably Central Asian origin who conquered large parts of Central Europe during the Migration Period and who interbred with other incoming groups after their conquest by Charlemagne), and also the relation of these findings to current thinking on gnathic reduction trends.

Roman Gladiators - The Osseous Evidence.
F. Kanz, K. Grossschmidt

Paternal heritage for the Indonesian peoples.
T. M. Karafet et al.

Feeding the children: Isotopic evidence for weaning practices in the ancient Greek colony of Apollonia (5th-2nd centuries BC).
C. Kwok, A. Keenleyside.

Misconceptions about the postcranial skeleton of Homo floresiensis.
S.G. Larson et al.

A comparison of mitochondrial DNA and Y chromosome DNA variation on Manus Island.
K.E. Latham et al.