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DNA Link Found Between Frozen Aboriginal Man and 17 Living People
The Globe and Mail is reporting that scientists claim to have found a DNA link between the frozen remains of an aboriginal man and 17 living people. "While the work on the human DNA project has opened new doors and work will continue on establishing a fuller family tree, Long Ago Person Found's descendants said they finally have the opportunity to give their ancestor a proper burial. Because his lineage had never been established, no memorial potlatch could be held. Of the 17 people linked through DNA, 15 self-identify with the Wolf Clan, meaning the young man was most likely Wolf as well."
and here I was thinking lupus was a species, not a clan...
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He could be. And he probably would be if they checked my DNA. But who knows? TFA is really short on information.
There is no mention of the methodology of the study, particularly on how the samples were chosen, or if there was a control group.
Did they decide how close was close enough and then go looking for DNA? Or did they look first and then say "That seems close enough."? To me, the only intellectually honest way to do it would be the former. There has to be a possibility of the answer being "Nobody that we found was close enough".
I don't wish to criticize these researchers based on the absence of information, but it is remarkably convenient for them that they came up with the politically correct and properly ethnically sensitive result. It makes a cynic like me suspicious.
Nicholas Kerensky? Was he buried with his Battlemech?
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Aboriginal of what continent?
...
sending genes to my friends is limited to a select number of females in my case ;)
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What the hell would you do with your DNA on facebook? And the link you gave just sends us mere mortals to the facebook login page, which doesn't say squat about what the "facebook genomics" application does.
I will say though that I do have respect for Genome Alberta, though none whatsoever for facebook.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
If you use this, be sure to use protection, haven't you ever heard of electro-gonorrhea the noisy killer?
Prediction: The real iPhone killer is going to be sex robots from Japan. Think about it.
Of course he would have relatives living today. They all work in advertising at Geico. =)
Sorry. No Refunds.
I read the article and as far as I can tell it doesn't explain how they found those 17 people. Who has a database scientists can check the Aboriginal's DNA against? The police? Did those people sign something that would allow the police to help third parties to search through their DNA?
I'd say this was somewhat scientifically interesting. They found a body between 150 and 350 years old, and found some of his relatives. I wouldn't claim this as a huge scientific success, and there isn't enough information in the article for the scientific element to be enlightening. I wouldn't be surprised if there was no scientific relevance except for doing DNA tests to determine relationships. That would put it on the scale of scientific interest of paternity suits.
The bigger part of the article is about cultural relevance, which is higher, but there still isn't enough to say how valuable that is. Most of the value seems to be for those who are related to him, and the tribe(s) they're from.
Now get me some DNA testing on Kennewick Man, and I'll be interested.
Sure I'm paranoid, but am I paranoid enough?
Due to the lack of a frozen will, the 17 people will now be heading off to court to fight over who inherits the frozen wooden bowl and spoon found with the man.
Perhaps this is a win for genetics research, or perhaps it is indicative of the size of DNA databases, which is more worrisome. Mr. Freeze wasn't really all that old, though. It's like saying they found a genetic link between you and your great great grandfather: Ancestry.com can do that. If they could do the same thing with the frozen remains of a 20,000 year old Neanderthal--now that would be interesting. Not only would it be ground-breaking research, it would mess up all the anthropological theories.
How about a moderation of -1 pedantic.
He doesn't have 17 children but 17 possible decendents (with possibly even more) the article states that scientists believe he died somewhere between 1670 and 1850, assuming he had two kids, who in turn had two kids and we have a generation lifecycle of about 30 years (with the latest possible death date), it wouldn't be that out of place to expect 32 decendents assuming the earliest death date there is the possibility of 2643 decendents.
Of course I've pulled those numbers out of thin air and they could be much higher/lower but finding 17 decendents isn't that surprising.
> He might have only died 160 years ago. I'd be
> more impressed if he'd been dead for thousands of
> years.
Exactly so.
This hardly qualifies as Archeology at all.
Further, in spite of the hand wringing in TFA, is does nothing but discredit native verbal traditions as a source of scientific information.
First, no verbal traditions provided the slightest clue as to his id or even his clan/tribe. The fact that he was extracted from a glacier, reasonably intact, and NOBODY could pin down his tribe/clan from his clothing, and personal effects says the traditions are little more than stories.
Second, a certain racism rears its ugly head with regard to the new found relatives statement that he could ONLY NOW be given "the respect and dignity he deserves." Really? Heaven forbid the native people accorded a white man the dignity of a proper native ceremony.
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Remarkably narrow by western European standards perhaps, but the arctic is thinly populated, and far more inbred than you might imagine.
These people did not have horses, and walked most places except along rivers and coasts. They did not go far to find a wife, and individual villages were often deeply inbred. Everybody within 100 miles was kin in one way or another, and usually closer kin than would be accepted in anywhere in the rest of North America.
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> his dude supplied genetic material to SEVENTEEN living people..
Go back and re-read TFA. There have been no descendants identified.
He shares ancestors with 17 people, through his mother's side.
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Y'know, I'm all for DNA sequencing and more medical research in that area in general, but couldn't the scientists' time (which if I'm not mistaken is ridiculously hard to come by if you need any kind of DNA sequencing done) have been better spent than trying to identify the living relatives of a long, long, long dead guy.
Like seriously... we could spend time either using DNA sequencing to help solve cold-case murders, or we could sequence this ancient dead guy and a whole pile of people, and see if any of 'em are similar.
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Planet Zebeth - Metroid with a twist
Because the summary didn't bother to explain what Wolf Clan....
This would be the Wolf Clan of the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations in Yukon, Canada. Their traditional territory is about an hour and a half from Whitehorse, around Haines Junction. I live in Whitehorse but I'm not of this first nation. I believe they had strong trade ties with coastal first nations, I want to say Tlingit but I'm probably wrong.
It's an interesting discovery and an interesting moment for that first nation.
This is clearly the Ancient Technology Activation gene
Who is this WE you speak of?
Inuit/Inupiat and Eskimo people have never had their culture attacked, discredited or suppressed. They have never been defeated in battle, and never have been made war upon.
Not in Alaska and not in Canada. If anything, native cultures of the far north are celebrated far in excess of their actual accomplishments.
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That's also one of the goals of traditional social networking.
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
Kudos for the math and statistics, but this was meant to be humorous....my bad!
Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
I did not read it the first time.(Hey- it's a /. tradition!!)
Bad joke on my part...sorry to disturb you.
See here:http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=537124&cid=23232364
*voice over: Foghorn Leghorn: I made a funny son, now that 4-legged dog-looking critter over there is a CHICKEN and you are a Chicken Hawk-get it?*
Has everyone here lost their sense of humour but me, or am I just not PC?
Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
Public relations, public relations, public relations. If this increases DNA sequencing visibility in the general public's eyes, there might be more funding acquired.
It's never lupus.
What the hell are you talking about? Their cultures and languages are dying rapidly, killed off by American and Canadian encroachment. They are healthier than most indigenous groups of North America, and they have some of the more effective revitalization programs in place; but to say they were never "discredited" or "suppressed" is just silly.
Well, pretty soon with Google Genetics, you'll (or at least someone) will be able to see that his descents search for the term 'back hair removal' 15% more than the general population, that the average income of people with those genes is ~18,500USD, and that they have a 85% higher chance of left nostril cancer. Convenient links to scrollable/zoomable views of their houses also available.
30 years living in Alaska tells me you are just wrong, and ignorant of the facts.
The language is dyeing because it is largely useless to them, preserved mostly for historical purposes.
It is still taught, both at home, and in schools. You can even enroll in college courses teaching these languages.
Just as Norwegian is lost to by the second generation after immigration from Norway, so too is Inuit. Not by suppression. Simply thru disuse. A choice made by the peoples themselves.
These people have never been beaten. Their pride is intact. I've lived there. Have you? Or is this just more liberal ranting?
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One of the interesting things is that we might start looking at how much the sequences have changed over the generations. It would give us an idea of mutation and generatic drift. In addition, if done right, we might be able to pull some virus from his body, which would show that drift as well. THough to be honest, on the later, I think that we might want to be careful. No sense bringing back live small pox.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
I am a specialist in North American indigenous languages. I work with multiple reservations on language and cultural revitalization, and while I do not work with any of the Alaskan communities, we attend the same symposiums, training sessions, conferences, etc.
You say the natives of Alaska have never been beaten or suppressed? Then why don't they have local sovereignty? They used to. Why are the lands of culturally distinct bands like the Tlingit and Haida controlled by Corporations (albeit natively owned), like Sealaska Inc.? Are you suggesting they asked for that socio-political structure? Just because we didn't just flat-out kill 95% of them (like in California), we didn't beat or suppress them? If there was no issue, why have there been two major acts of Congress designed to fix the situation?
Russia, Canada, and the United States took their lands, and changed their entire system of social organization, politics, and economics. (Only the last was inevitable.) They didn't get the same level of warfare, forced boarding schools, and outlawed religions as other groups further east and south, but to say that equals "not suppressed" doesn't follow. We forced upon them a socio-economic system that discourages the continuation of their ways and language. That's suppression, even if it is a "nicer" form of it than often otherwise practiced.
The irony is that one of them is Kevin Bacon!
I read about this yesterday in the Vancouver Province. It seems this guy regularly traveled back and forth between the Yukon and the Coast. That is quite a bit more then a 100 miles and very rugged terrain.
Also according to the article I read about half of these relatives were in BC and half in the Yukon. The paper left you with the impression that he had a wife in each locality.
Of course this is a tabloid type paper so I wouldn't trust the science reporting to far.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
When someone asks me that question I respond with, "The Allies - Great Britain, the US, the Soviet Union, Canada, China, Australia, New Zealand, France, and Poland."
I don't take credit for accomplishments that I didn't make, and I don't take responsibility for errors that I didn't make either.
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is usually crucified.
Ironically, all 17 people have GEICO for their auto insurance.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
"This reaffirms the integrity of our oral history," Chief Strand said. "Our oral history needs to have a place in your scientific world."
What?! Most other "oral histories" have been written down by now. Hey, you! Chief Strand! Get yourself a laptop and start write! If you also install LaTeX you won't have to worry about not being scientific, as "LaTeX is the de facto standard for the communication and publication of scientific documents." as read on http://www.latex-project.org/.
I can't read 'First Nation' without wanting to stick a long finger down my throat.
Can't we come up with a better phrase to describe them. Why do we need to describe them at all, anyway. Isn't the label part of what makes segregation and discrimination work.
What happens when their ('First Person' tribes) claim as the first settlers is found to be incorrect; and evidence is uncovered showing that - actually - a Previous People (let's call them that already) were established in central and south America for 10,000 years before the 'First People' arrived in North America from Asia (Yes, you read it here first, they migrated from Australia)
A...nd I want his bones back! I can see someone trying this as his bones are valueable.
quis custodiet ipsos custodes
> He might have only died 160 years ago. I'd be
> more impressed if he'd been dead for thousands of
> years.
Exactly so.
This hardly qualifies as Archeology at all.
Not long ago at all, probably had a milk carton with his picture on it printed somewhere.
Use your head, can't you, use your head,
You're on earth, there's no cure for that - S. Beckett
Well, I for one, am glad this happened in Canada. Now the family can give him a proper send-off without having to file a lawsuit and wait another generation for conclusion.
The cost of that cleanup, of course, will be borne by taxpayers, not industry.
A better analogy might be Irish. We've had independence since 1922 yet Irish-speaking has never been in a sorrier state. Contrast to say, Finland, or Israel. Even Wales fares better than Ireland.
Where there's a will there's a way. No need to give up one's language just because English or some other majority language is useful or indeed necessary.
-- *~()____) This message will self-destruct in 5 seconds...
Out of curiosity, if his/hers is "liberal ranting", then I'm curious to know how you'd classify YOUR ranting?
Additionally, your use of the phrase "These people" leads me to believe that you aren't "one of them" so then the other question I have is: How can you be so familiar with another person's culture that you feel it's acceptable to speak on their behalf?
Assuming that you're a "white guy" (I know I could be wrong...), I'd say that many of "us black folks" speak of and about "white people" in ways that you will probably never be aware of because, well, you're not "one of us". I would think it very likely to be the same for these people.