Sep 27, 2016
In this episode, Dave and his
favorite certified genetic counselor, Katey Mayberry, take a look
at the genetic evidence for the settlement of the Americas. The
first article, by Rasmussen et al in Nature, deals with the
controversial origins of Kennewick Man/the Ancient One, a skeleton
found in Washington State and dating back at least 8400 years. The
second article, written by Llamas et al in Science Advances, deals
more generally with the early migrations into the Americas. Over a
couple Canadian beers, we talk about Y-DNA, mtDNA, haplotypes,
TMRCA, single-nucleotide polymorphism, and high posterior density
with varying levels of success! Follow along at home as I try to
make sense of the charts on p.4 of Llamas et al! This is a
highly specialized field, but as Katey makes clear, if used
carefully it can be extremely useful to world historians of all
types. Recommendations are:
Katey – Genetics Home
Reference
Dave
– Dillehay, The Settlement of the Americas