Studies Find Genetic Signature of Native Australians In the Americas

Applehu Akbar writes: Two new research papers claim to have found an Australo-Melanesian DNA signal in the genetic makeup of Native Americans, dating to about the time of the last glacial maximum. This may move the speculation around the Clovis people and Kennewick man to an entirely new level. Let's hope that it at least shakes loose some more funding for North American archaeology. Ars reports: "The exact process by which humanity introduced itself to the Americas has always been controversial. While there's general agreement on the most important migration—across the Bering land bridge at the end of the last ice age—there's a lot of arguing over the details. Now, two new papers clarify some of the bigger picture but also introduce a new wrinkle: there's DNA from the distant Pacific floating around in the genomes of Native Americans. And the two groups disagree about how it got there."

Comments

Intercourse.

[tysonedwards]

May I venture a guess that some intercourse was involved in the DNA getting there?

Re:Intercourse.

[rubycodez]

I'm going to go out a limb and make more specific predictions: it could even have been unprotected heterosexual intercourse of the vaginal kind

Re:Intercourse.

[Anonymous Coward]

May I venture a guess that some intercourse was involved in the DNA getting there?

Ah yes, but many a grant and journal article are going to be based on rampant speculation about where and when the intercourse took place and under what circumstances.

Re:Intercourse.

[MightyMartian]

My understanding is not that an Austro-Melanesian population contributed to American Indian DNA, but rather that some progenitor population in Asia bequeathed their DNA to both groups. This puts a somewhat different hide on the cat, underlining that the Paleo-Indians were not a homogeneous Siberian population, but rather themselves were descended from a patchwork of groups in Asia who entered and likely interbred for centuries in Beringia.

Re:Intercourse.

[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

May I venture a guess that some intercourse was involved in the DNA getting there?

Well I'm sure they will have it all figured out in the future, but..."We were unable to find any DNA trace of the race of Nerd in any descendant groups."

Re:Intercourse.

[Anonymous Coward]

Funny you should go out a limb, since the current situation would have also required lots of walking. Really lots and lots of walking.

Re:Intercourse.

[cusco]

The last that I read there were at least three major influxes of immigration prior to the arrival of the European barbarians, and almost certainly multiple minor ones. That the Spaniards found people with red hair in South America and black skin in Central America when they arrived would seem to confirm the latter. Some minor influxes from Europe seem inevitable, particularly prior to the Viking domination of the North Atlantic, and Thor Heyerdahl showed that one-way trips from Africa were possible and in fact likely for any raft caught in the North Atlantic Gyre.

Considering that the Aborigines have been in Australia for as much as 60,000 years the antiquity of the progenitor population suggests a very early migration to North America as well. The extremely low population density and the fact that the coastline of the time (the most likely populated area) is now submerged make recovery of any artifacts unlikely, unfortunately.

Re: Intercourse.

[Anonymous Coward]

Probably, but I bet fucking had SOMETHING to do with it.

Re:Intercourse.

[Anonymous Coward]

One way trips . So you are basically syaing the US has been the dumping ground for criminal trash for so long even the Aussies got in on the act? How apt!

Re:Intercourse.

[foreverdisillusioned]

Yeah, that is plausible but I'm hoping for something more dramatic. It would be great if DNA analysis finally ruled out Polynesian trans-Pacific but confirms direct Melanesian contact.

Just another talking point to bring up next time Mormons come to my door. "You found those Nephites yet?" (For a very long time they have tried to square the circle by arguing the Polynesians are the lost tribe of Israel, but obviously not the darker Melanesians because dark skin is the mark of Cain.)

Re:Intercourse.

[MightyMartian]

This does not appear to be the claim. If I'm understanding the research, it's likely that this as yet unidentified progenitor population existed long before the entrance into the Americas, and may be a signal of a very early modern human population in Asia.

Re:Intercourse.

[Will.Woodhull]

The research done on neolithic naval architecture is totally inadequate. The earliest boats we know of from the SE Pacific are already very sophisticated vessels; there must have been earlier boats that were less sophisticated but had trans-Pacific ranges (by island hopping or following coast lines).

That means that when, exactly, the austral. genetic traits were introduced into the proto Amer. gene pool probably cannot be established. It could have been somewhat later than the first Bering land bridge migrations. I am not saying that there could have been significant migrations by boats. Instead I'm saying there were probably parties of sailors that were too small to establish colonies but who did contribute to the gene pool of distant groups.

By the time of Columbus, there was certainly some small mixture of Viking and Basque genetics into the Amerindian gene pool, and on the Left Coast probably some additions from Polynesia. Humans are very sexy and very adventurist. An exotic adventurer from a distant land is going to leave some trace in the local gene pool.

Re:Intercourse.

[MightyMartian]

For the moment, I think we need to point to the simplest hypothesis, which is these genes were present in at least of the proto-Indian populations that went over the land bridge. That's not to exclude the possibility of new evidence pointing towards some sort of trans-Pacific input into the Americas, but the evidence, as small a body as it is, simply does not support that conclusion. More studies will be needed to determine if there are other loci for these genes, in the hopes of establishing at least the rudiments of a migration pattern.

Re:Intercourse.

[tehcyder]

An exotic adventurer from a distant land is going to leave some trace in the local gene pool.

That's a rather more flattering description than the usual "sex tourist".

Re:Intercourse.

[Will.Woodhull]

I'm not sure that is the simplest hypothesis. It is based on the rather abstract notion that large populations will expand from one place to another. But the reality during recorded history is that lots of individuals move around a lot, but do so as individuals and not as groups large enough to sustain their own cultures. For every Irish or Scandinavian enclave in the USA, there have been a larger number of earlier individuals who welcomed (or at least accepted) cultural assimilation and contributed more to the mixing of gene pools than did the later Little Italies and other isolated enclaves.

I cannot see any reason to believe that this is a recent phenomenon that has only arisen since the beginning of the historical period. I think it much more likely that this is a species trait that was as strongly present in neolithic times as it is now. I think it likely that the idea of mass migrations is a theoretical construct that makes modelling neolithic times easier, but probably those mental models do not reflect what was really going on.

Re:Intercourse.

[MightyMartian]

The Beringia hypothesis has the advantage of not invoking a paleolithic ship construction industry. I know this is all very romantic, but for the moment, there is little evidence beyond some chicken bones that even Polynesians, within the 1,300 to 1,500 years (the settlement date of Easter Island) made it in any significant numbers. The simplest explanation is that multiple groups, some with different genetic heritages, went across the land bridge, some basically settling there until the end of the glacial maximum, and others possibly coming later. Multiple waves don't require multiple routes.

Re:Intercourse.

[Anonymous Coward]

Mmm? They reached America from the South while we were reaching it through the North, or afterwards most likely, then displaced US til America was a legend, or INDIA to Europeans, and left no bone evidence behind. Heyerdahl already proved their trip was possible and we already know the Vikings had no trouble reaching America either...

Re:Intercourse.

[beastofburdon]

I suggest it included a large amount of rowing.
If the Polynesians could make it to Hawaii in canoes then they could have made it to America, north or south. The distance to Mexico from Hawaii is not much farther than Hawaii to the closest Island to it.

Re:Intercourse.

[Half-pint HAL]

For the moment, I think we need to point to the simplest hypothesis, which is these genes were present in at least of the proto-Indian populations that went over the land bridge. That's not to exclude the possibility of new evidence pointing towards some sort of trans-Pacific input into the Americas, but the evidence, as small a body as it is, simply does not support that conclusion.

The evidence doesn't support any conclusion, so we should make any. Choosing a single hypothesis is tantamount to drawing a conclusion. There are precious few operational decisions that rely on a having a hypothesis, so I'm personally happy maintaining a nice wide "search space" of possibilities and admitting that I just don't know.

Someone in America probably opened a pub...

[Harold Halloway]

...and needed some people to work there.

Re:Someone in America probably opened a pub...

[Tablizer]

The first H1B

The ad: "Wanted: fisherman, brewer, chicken farmer, corn farmer, weaver, arrow-point maker, haruspicist, spail chekker, and juggler. C++ a plus (no pun intended). Must not have a family to distract you, can work long hours without complaining, and at 20% below prevailing wages. And won't rat-fink on us to the local labor board."

Re:Someone in America probably opened a pub...

[Anonymous Coward]

...and needed some people to *drink* there.

FTFY

Oh, and some shrimp on the bar-b.

Re:Someone in America probably opened a pub...

[tehcyder]

...and needed some people to *drink* there.

FTFY

Oh, and some shrimp on the bar-b.

Only Americans say shrimp. Everyone else says prawns.

Re:DNA Is for cows.

[Harold Halloway]

That's a low commwnt.

Why should this be funded?

[Anonymous Coward]

Sure, it's interesting that American ancestors included native Australians. The summary indicates a desire for more funding to be allocated to such research. I'm failing to understand why this work is worth funding and how it affects us today. We face a lot of dire problems including food and water shortages, climate change, antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and deadly viruses like Ebola. Even projects like exploring space result in new technology being developed that eventually makes its way into our lives. I just don't see any of those benefits from throwing more funding at researching our ancestry. Why should this work be funded? Most proposals to government agencies don't get funded because the money is just so scarce. Why should something like this be funded, quite possibly at the expense of other research?

Re:Why should this be funded?

[Anonymous Coward]

Scientific progress thrives in a diverse climate of research projects. Also, direct utility is in genetic disposition to disease showing patterns in existing populations.

Re:Why should this be funded?

[MightyMartian]

That you're imagination is so limited should not reflect on science's need for basic research. Unless you have a crystal ball that accurately reports what basic research taking place now is going to blossom into value further down the road, all you have is a pretty goddamned mindless anti-intellectual rant.

Re:Why should this be funded?

[Anonymous Coward]

The post above yours was a much better response. A lot of research like this is funded by the National Science Foundation. Whenever you apply for NSF funding, you're required to explain the "broader impacts" of the research. That's what I asked about, because the broader impacts of this work is far less obvious than many other avenues of scientific research. The justification of understanding the distribution of genetic material and its relationship to the spread of disease is a good answer to the question. I hadn't thought of it when I made my post. I also understand that sometimes the benefits aren't immediately clear. I specifically mentioned the space program for this reason. However, any scientist should be able to explain the broader impacts of their research. It's a basic question that nobody should be angry about being asked.

Re:Why should this be funded?

[K. S. Kyosuke]

Why eat rich food when you can eat bland one?

Re:Why should this be funded?

[Applehu Akbar]

Because archaeology is not a high-cost science, we could do a lot of basic research for not much money. It just takes a focusing of interest, raised by questions like this one. My local area (rural northern Arizona) contains several hundred ruin sites, both cliff dwellings and pit houses, representing a rich culture that in approximately 1200 simply vanished. No one really knows why. It established relations sufficiently distant that red macaw feathers have been found among their trade goods. We need to do more digging.

Re:Why should this be funded?

[Anonymous Coward]

Also, direct utility is in genetic disposition to disease showing patterns in existing populations.

Yes, but massive understatement.

It's now possible to get your entire genome sequenced for only $1,000 - by sending (e.g. FedEx) a small tube of saliva to a sequencing facility (e.g. Macrogen in Korea). In another few years, millions of people are going to have had their genomes sequenced. And people are going to be using their genome sequences to understand everything from rare genetic disorders (i.e. inherited birth defects) to the most effective treatment for their cancer.

In most cases, you're going to want to compare your own genome to a reference genome. And this comparison will be more informative if you can choose a reference that matches your whatever ancestral population(s) you are descended from.

And you're also going to want to know about pathogenic variants that may cause disease for you or your descendants. So, let's say your have an A at position 12,143,021 on chromosome 15 where most people have a T. In fact, let's say that 10 million genomes have been sequenced at that point and only 100 people share that variant. Well, maybe all those people are a little bit sick with the same symptoms that you have. But suppose you know more about the populations. Suppose you know that all those 100 people are members of a larger population of 10 million people - and that this variant is likely to occur in most of the 10 million people in that population. In that case, you can be pretty sure that the variant is benign - that it's not the cause of your symptoms.

Clinical genome sequencing is going to be one of the biggest revolutions in the history of medicine - right up there with aseptic surgery and antibiotics. And understanding how human genetic variation is distributed across populations is going to be key to interpreting these genomes.

Re:Why should this be funded?

[Anonymous Coward]

Because history is important to know who and what we are. Most of the food and water shortages we face today is because of some superior nationalistic, religious or ethnic feeling. There is enough food on the world to feed everyone, but because of these feelings not everyone gets access to food.
 
If we can proof with archaeological studies that we are nothing more than the descendants of one and the same tribe that was lucky to survive in a post-apocalyptic world, we might offer a (scientific) alternative to the tales written by star worshipers a couple of millenniums ago that claim that one tribe is chosen above the other by some imaginary super natural being. It's partly because of digging in history through archeology that western society managed to become enlightened.

Arabic kings paid lots of money to Greek Christians and Aramaic Jews to translate ancient texts from Greek and Aramaic into Arabic while there was still so much poverty in the world. Much later, European kings paid Spanish Arabic writers big sums of money to translate the same ancient texts from Arabic into Latin. And while there was so much poverty and inequality, and there were so many diseases like the plague, they preferred to spend so much money on useless archeology...

Re:Why should this be funded?

[Anonymous Coward]

- right up there with aseptic surgery and antibiotics.

Hmm, future doesn't look so bright for antibiotics at this moment.

Re:Why should this be funded?

[Anonymous Coward]

Hmm, future doesn't look so bright for antibiotics at this moment.

You're probably right - but for the wrong reasons.

It's true that we're still a long way off from being able to design entirely new "artificial" antibiotics entirely by computer (although computers can help a lot to assist the experimental process of antibiotic discovery). And there are intriguing and important questions as to whether most of the families of naturally occurring antibiotics have already been discovered.

But the real threat to antibiotics isn't antibiotic resistance. It's next-gen sequencing.

In roughly another decade it will be possible to determine whether a person is contagious in just a few minutes by sequencing the relevant biological fluids (e.g. saliva). It would then be possible to eliminate the vast majority of infectious disease by requiring people to spit in a sequencing tube before they go out into any public areas. Of course, it may be a bit like video phones: even though the technology is available, people will prefer not to use it. But, in another decade or so, infectious disease could be already fading into a distant ugly memory - assuming people are willing to accept the necessary loss of personal privacy.

One thing I would expect to see see in another decade would be personal pathogen detectors that monitor the environment for the infectious aerosols that are generated when someone with an upper respiratory infection sneezes. It will be like how dash-cams are becoming popular in cars to provide a measure of protection against hit-and-run accidents. In another decade or so, it will often be possible to identify the particular transmission event the infected you with your cold (e.g. someone with a cold in the seat in the bus behind you let out a big sneeze that enveloped you in a cloud of cold-virus aerosol).

Re:Why should this be funded?

[Jack Griffin]

Clinical genome sequencing is going to be one of the biggest revolutions in the history of medicine - right up there with aseptic surgery and antibiotics.

Even though I sort of knew this, it wasn't until you wrote it down that it hit me. As much as it sounds like a bad time travel movie script, I think our ancestors will look back on this as a golden age. Man on the moon, the PC/Internet, Genome/DNA, AI etc. Epoch defining firsts for technology that will be remembered for Millenia

Re:Why should this be funded?

[sg_oneill]

Sure, it's interesting that American ancestors included native Australians. The summary indicates a desire for more funding to be allocated to such research. I'm failing to understand why this work is worth funding and how it affects us today. We face a lot of dire problems including food and water shortages, climate change, antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and deadly viruses like Ebola. Even projects like exploring space result in new technology being developed that eventually makes its way into our lives. I just don't see any of those benefits from throwing more funding at researching our ancestry. Why should this work be funded? Most proposals to government agencies don't get funded because the money is just so scarce. Why should something like this be funded, quite possibly at the expense of other research?

Science boo!

Re:Why should this be funded?

[BlackPignouf]

Man on the moon, the PC/Internet, Genome/DNA, AI etc.

+ affordable oil and a non-screwep up climate.
Golden age indeed.

Re:Why should this be funded?

[Hognoxious]

you're imagination

No he isn't.

Re:Why should this be funded?

[Dog-Cow]

If we can proof with archaeological studies that we are nothing more than the descendants of one and the same tribe that was lucky to survive in a post-apocalyptic world, we might offer a (scientific) alternative to the tales written by star worshipers a couple of millenniums ago that claim that one tribe is chosen above the other by some imaginary super natural being. It's partly because of digging in history through archeology that western society managed to become enlightened.

Of course the religions you rail against believe that all humans descended from one couple, and yet still believe that "one tribe is chosen above the other", so your chances of convincing anyone are well below negative infinity.

In other words, that you could even spout such nonsense shows that you don't have the brains God gave the religious fanatic.

Re:Why should this be funded?

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh look, another post calling out atheism for the lie that it is modded down. /yawn

The /. moderation system is such a joke.

Re:Why should this be funded?

[Half-pint HAL]

Oh look, another off-topic post called out for the off-topic that it is is modded down.

The /. moderation system is such a good idea.

Drifters

[Tablizer]

It must have been fairly common that fishermen/fisherwomen in small boats occasionally got lost or caught in a storm, and eventually ended up in the Americas. They could keep themselves alive for such a long journey by fishing and capturing rain, with a little luck.

Those who settled in Australia were probably relatively skilled at boating already, or else they wouldn't have ended up in Australia. Thus, it could be the same group & niche at work in both continents.

Re:Drifters

[Anonymous Coward]

Not likely a source of a native population though. There was a study a few years ago and they came up with a number that was (from memory) around 80+ people required to start a colony and successfully grow. Also keep in mind that women tend not to be in fishing boats, especially not in equal number to men. A colony was more likely started after an accidental discovery later followed by a deliberate journey to colonize.

Related information:
http://genetics.thetech.org/ask/ask113

Re:Drifters

[Demonoid-Penguin]

Those who settled in Australia were probably relatively skilled at boating already, or else they wouldn't have ended up in Australia. Thus, it could be the same group & niche at work in both continents.

Or, they walked across the land bridge that existed at the time they (and dingo) first appeared in Gondwanna.

Perhaps some went towards Gondwanna and some toward Laurasia?

Re:Drifters

[rtb61]

More likely, there was a lot more going on during the last ice age period than is currently known because the evidence was buried by rising sea waters as well as inland glacial melt flooding.

Re:Drifters

[Tablizer]

around 80+ people required to start a colony...

The existing evidence is only of DNA signatures; it says nothing about settlements or being first. A lone person who arrives into an existing population can spread their DNA that way.

Re:Drifters

[cusco]

There has never been a land connection to Australia since the continent broke off from Africa shortly after the KT Event, which is why all the mammals were marsupials. The closest islands in the South Asian Archipelago (which themselves have never been reachable by land) could barely see mountain peaks in Australia on a clear day. The only way the Aborigines could have arrived was by boat or raft.

BTW, dingos arrived only about 4000-6000 years ago, the original immigrants appear to have arrived well before dogs and humans began living together.

Re:Drifters

[dargaud]

Yeah. Isn't there a link between Australians and Japanese Ainus ? It's pretty sure that Ainus weren't isolated and had similar populations in Asia, which would migrate towards America just like the other asian populations, albeit in smaller numbers.

Re:Drifters

[Demonoid-Penguin]

There has never been a land connection to Australia since the continent broke off from Africa shortly after the KT Event,

Oh? A land connection from where? My understanding, which is far from complete, is that there was at least two waves on settlers prior to the first Portugese. The first wave did not bring the dingo with them (~40000ya), and arrived at a time when there was still mega fauna. They either walked and/or were washed there (Mount Toba). That migration made it to Tasmania and was later isolated there from the second wave of immigration.

The second wave which displaced the first inhabitants came from India, and brought the dingo with them (~4000ya). The dingo did'nt come from India (possibly Java, but it's closed likely ancestors have only been found in India). 4000 ya it was likely possible to wade, walk and take short raft trips from one island to another visible island between Australian and the Indonesian islands, and from there to the land to the north. Continental drift theory doesn't allow for that, but volcanic actions on the level of the sea bed might. It's possible that both immigrations lost the knowledge of boats capable of making long sea trips.

The closest islands in the South Asian Archipelago (which themselves have never been reachable by land) could barely see mountain peaks in Australia on a clear day.

I won't argue about how the first wave arrived - too much is theoretical. But you should reassess your belief about the route to Malaysia , and possibly to China via Taiwan - similar distances between islands and shallow reefs that could easily have subsided due to volcanic activity since. Most of the theories that support your belief are based only on sudden flooding of that area, it has a long history of volcanic activity and sudden water level changes. Even now you could get to Malaysia from Cape York without having to cross more than 50km of open water at a time (less it I judged the tides right and didn't mind tearing myself up on reefs - that's definitely swimmable if you're game). That's a journey that does not require a boat of a raft. It's not difficult to check what I'm saying.

BTW, dingos arrived only about 4000-6000 years ago, the original immigrants appear to have arrived well before dogs and humans began living together.

Agreed.

Do you know much about the genetics of the descendants of the indigenous Tasmanians? (the land bridge they crossed from what's now the mainland has been deep, open water for a long time).
Do you know if any genetic testing been done of material left by the last of the full bloods?

Re:Drifters

[EvilAlphonso]

There is a theory of a link with asian aborigenes (not australian ones) for both the Ainu and the Jomon people that were there before the Ainu, based on the bone structure. The Ainu came from Sakhalin to the archipelago towards the end of the Jomon era. The Ainu and the Jomon may possibly be from the same genetic group or similar genetic groups, but they were very distinct cultures. The Jomon culture ran from about 10500 BCE to about 300 BCE.

Genetic analysis does point to a North-eastern Asian ancestry for both the Jomon and Ainu people. It's far from settled tho :)

Re:Drifters

[Half-pint HAL]

Didn't the aboriginal population of Tasmania get wiped out? And given that theTasmanian government were perfectly happy to destroy what was possibly the world's oldest graveyard in order to build a road bridge, evidence is pretty lacking...

Re:Drifters

[Demonoid-Penguin]

Didn't the aboriginal population of Tasmania get wiped out?

Only in the same sense that mainland aboriginals (and probably the first wave of settlers) got wiped out. The gene pool was mixed. Truganini was not the last Tasmanian aborigine. Just last "full blood", according to the methodology of the time (and terra nullius ), and current politics. e.g. it's only been recently that the Dutch were credited as the first to map Tasmania, but there is evidence that Arabs had mapped it far earlier, and the Chinese, who definitely had the technology to visit. Somewhere I had/have a reference to archaeologists finding support for a French claim that shipwreck survivors had survived on the West coast before the British created the first settlement (stone garden walls, allegedly), but the government refused to stop land clearing for housing development - so "pure blood" is hard to prove without DNA studies (which is why I asked if anyone knew of any.

And given that the Tasmanian government were perfectly happy to destroy what was possibly the world's oldest graveyard in order to build a road bridge, evidence is pretty lacking...

Sort of. The Tasmanian government is pretty determined to avoid recognising anything that might stop relentless development, or lead to a Land Rights claim.

Re:easy

[Anonymous Coward]

Na. Sharknado. Some sharks ate some aboriginies, got sucked up in a big twister and dumped in America, left DNA.

And the two groups disagree about how it got there

[fustakrakich]

Sorry... Must have fallen out of my pocket...

Polynesians on Easter Island

[riverat1]

We know there were Polynesians on Easter Island which is closer to South America than it is to Australia. Maybe some of them made it to South America long ago.

Re:Polynesians on Easter Island

[Anonymous Coward]

Sure, some study[1] shows that Mapuche's chicken fosils share dna with polynesian chickens.
Also Mapuches do some kind of pit oven called "curanto", pretty similar to Hawai's luau, albeit pit oven is a very old cooking method and this association is just my wild imagination.

[1] Radiocarbon and DNA evidence for a pre-Columbian introduction of Polynesian chickens to Chile

Re:Polynesians on Easter Island

[Jack Griffin]

Polynesian navigation is reasonably well understood, since they traversed the Pacific from East Asia to Hawaii, Samoa, Tonga, Easter Island, New Zealand etc thousands of kilometres, it's not too much of a stretch to expect someone made the last step to the Americas. The only catch is the timing since these migrations are believed to have happened in the preceding thousand years, where native American cultures were already fully entrenched and developed by then.
The other catch is that Polynesians tend to be tall, big and muscular, whereas your average American native was quite small and wirey (relatively). This evolutionary change would've taken many generations to achieve, so the time required to support this idea simply not there.

Re:Polynesians on Easter Island

[cusco]

Interesting. At least one type of Andean highland chicken, the 'chachara', carries the Chinese "frizzle" gene and may have been introduced by Chinese explorers in the 15th century. I hadn't realized there was evidence for the earlier presence of chickens. Thanks.

Re:Polynesians on Easter Island

[Type44Q]

You're sort of right; you just have it backwards: there are South American genes (via Easter Island) among some of the Polynesians (the migration was westerly, away from South America).

No.

[ScentCone]

The study actually shows that the Americas and Australia each have inhabitants with DNA in common ... because both places were wandered to from elsewhere in Asia. It's not Aussie DNA in the Americans, it's the same Asian DNA in Australia and the Americas.

Re:No.

[myowntrueself]

The study actually shows that the Americas and Australia each have inhabitants with DNA in common ... because both places were wandered to from elsewhere in Asia. It's not Aussie DNA in the Americans, it's the same Asian DNA in Australia and the Americas.

I'm wondering if what they've found is actually Denisovan DNA. The Australian aborigines and Papuans have very high proportions of Denisovan genes.

Sample is not large enough

[Anonymous Coward]

The samples are not large enough and vary enough to be drawing conclusions especially negative ones. Absent of proof is not proof of absent. They need to do a much larger sample especially near coastal regions. And they need to sample old fossils. At least older than 1492.

Re:Sample is not large enough

[MightyMartian]

More samples is good, but I question your statement that the sample size in question isn't large enough. The fact is that the DNA is present, it shows a link to a previously unknown Asian progenitor population, a population that also bequeathed their DNA to some south Asian populations and to indigenous Australians. Better sampling may identify other areas of the Americas where these genes ended up, which would help understand migration patterns not only from Asia to the Americas, but also within the Americas themselves.

Re:Sample is not large enough

[Anonymous Coward]

Absent of proof is not proof of absent.

And absent isn't absence, you silly nigger.

if people got to easter island

[circletimessquare]

they got to south america

it's just a matter of trusting your life to the winds

Re:DNA Is for cows.

[Anonymous Coward]

hahaha, "sexconker (1179573)", you forgot to tick "Post as AC":

http://news.slashdot.org/comme...

Re:FAKE!

[Anonymous Coward]

oorah!

Re:if people got to South America

[Demonoid-Penguin]

they got to south america

it's just a matter of trusting your life to the winds

Are you sure you have that the correct way around? Kon Tiki - From South America to the Pacific Islands.

Noted that journeys were made from the Pacific Islands to other countries. New Zealand is a case in point.

Everyone Got here

[Anonymous Coward]

It seems like everyone landed in America. It must be that they got here in small numbers and were probably simply absorbed by other groups. It is quite like the missing ancient reptiles evolving and mating with each other to create modern bird species. Europeans marrying native American girls was common enough in early America. Just as many whites carry black DNA we probably carry a lot of first nations blood lines within us as well.

Re:if people got to South America

[circletimessquare]

the pacific has a north and a south cyclone of prevailing wind (and also an oceanic gyre if you're just floating with no wind). it's just a matter of what latitude you use for the prevailing direction

thor's journey is awesome, and we do find native american dna at easter island, but the vast majority of the south pacific is austromelanesian. easter island's people came from the west, not from the east

Of course

[MrKaos]

Someone had to show you guys how to surf ocean waves

Re:Of course

[PopeRatzo]

Someone had to show you guys how to surf ocean waves

And how to box with kangaroos as shown in this documentary:

https://youtu.be/unyTcIx2760

Re:Of course

[MrKaos]

Excellent!!!

You would have to be nuts to pick a fight with one of them, sometimes not concerned with people either.

continuous costal migration

[Anonymous Coward]

After everything it's clear that the Americas were settled by continuous costal migration (on land and island hopping) from both sides of the continent.

There is simply too much evidence...I really don't understand why Clovis is even relevant to the conversation. It's a theory that was proven wrong...it happens all the time and is necessary in science.

It was a good theory. It was the best idea we had at the time, and formalizing it allowed us to categorize and analyze things much better.

Now we just need to ditch it. Just like all kinds of wonderful theories.

Re:continuous costal migration

[Hognoxious]

costal migration

They rode on ribs?

Re:continuous costal migration

[Half-pint HAL]

Ribs? The Bible was right!!!

Bering land bridge migration = no consensus

[Locando]

The article says there's scholarly agreement about the most important migration being across the Bering land bridge, which is completely bogus if we're talking about the current century: see Wikipedia for a briefing on the contemporary debate. Fuckin' amateurs.

Re:Bering land bridge migration = no consensus

[Anonymous Coward]

Really? The only significant debate Wikipedia mentions is over interior vs coastal routes being used after crossing Beringia. Sure, it mentions a number of other theories that have little to no evidence, but doesn't suggest that any of them have significant scholarly backing.

Re:Bering land bridge migration = no consensus

[Anonymous Coward]

GP referred to this century. It's pretty well documented that the mick's, polack's and krauts mostly arrived on steamships.

Re: Bering land bridge migration = no consensus

[Locando]

I guess I could be misunderstanding the semantics here, but when I saw the word "across" I assumed they were referring to a land-based, not coastal, migration. Even if that's not what they were intending to say, isn't it weird that they wouldn't make reference to the fact that the two main competing theories describe very different migration patterns, the only similarity between them being that they took advantage of the proximity of the far eastern end of Asia to modern-day Alaska?

Ashley Madison DNA

[Irate Engineer]

So those frisky Australo-Melanesians weren't "just browsing" their Ashley Madison accounts after all! Caught!

sounds like a lot of unprotected ....

[Anonymous Coward]

sex has been going on. Rape, plunder and pillage from time immemorial.

Re:if people got to South America

[Demonoid-Penguin]

the pacific has a north and a south cyclone of prevailing wind (and also an oceanic gyre if you're just floating with no wind). it's just a matter of what latitude you use for the prevailing direction

thor's journey is awesome, and we do find native american dna at easter island,

Agreed (to all points).

but the vast majority of the south pacific is austromelanesian.

Also agreed.

easter island's people came from the west, not from the east

Do you have a source for that please? I "suspect" they came from the North, or the East (not the West).

Re:if people got to South America

[circletimessquare]

when i said the west, i meant, literally from the west of easter island, which would be what we call the eastern part of the world

sorry if that was misleading

LOL at 'native Australians'

[Anonymous Coward]

What is the average IQ of a 'native Australian'? Could it possibly have anything to do with why they have created absolutely NOTHING during their entire history? No inventions, no electricity, computers, internal combustion engine, boats, bicycles, cars, science, technology, NOTHING. Yet we are told repeatedly by our Jewish slavemasters that "We're all the same". Any scientific people on Slashdot care to discuss this? Of course not. Just shout "Racist" at the top of your voice, that's bound to convince people you're right...
'Native Australians' are the ugliest people on the planet. Anybody care to prove me wrong?

Re:LOL at 'native Australians'

[Anonymous Coward]

Fix your measurement, they probably created many things. But you don't value them, instead you look for things you think are important.
Nobody says you are exactly the same human as your brother, but genetically some native Australian can be 'more equal' to you than your brother.
As for the ugly thing: It's your opinion, nobody cares.

Re: LOL at 'native Australians'

[Anonymous Coward]

I can prove you wrong. Take a look at the mirror. See?

Re: LOL at 'native Australians'

[Anonymous Coward]

Two insane idiots, mired in their stupid beliefs... What have 'Native Austrlians' ever done for humanity?
In what way aren't they the ugliest people in the world?

Re: LOL at 'native Australians'

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm sorry she left you for an Native American, but you need to get over it. Hate will only eat you up.

Re:LOL at 'native Australians'

[Half-pint HAL]

Did you invent the handgun? Did you invent gunpowder? Did you invent fire? No, no and no, yet you benefit from the chain of invention that led from the last to the first, irrespective of your personal level of intelligence. Technology is not genetic. Aboriginal Australians were isolated from the development of technology elsewhere having migrated before even the invention of counting. Just as fertile ground produces no food until a seed is planted, so does an intelligent mind need external input.

Re:easy

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually it was Snakes on a Plain which got stuck in Open Water loop until there was a buffer overflow in time, it was 10000 bc again.

Re:if people got to South America

[Demonoid-Penguin]

when i said the west, i meant, literally from the west of easter island, which would be what we call the eastern part of the world

sorry if that was misleading

No worries.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re: DNA Is for cows.

[Anonymous Coward]

You are all sexconkers. Sexconkers say moo. MOOOOOOO! MOOOOOOOO! Moo sexconkers MOOOOOOO! Moo say the sexconkers. YOU SEXCONKERS!!

Re: DNA Is for cows.

[Anonymous Coward]

+1 new favourite meme

Re:FAKE!

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow some mods cant see humor, or they are still pissy that the Vikings discovered and settled in america WAY before the rest of the europeans and are still psissy about it.

Breaking news

[Anonymous Coward]

Maple syrup was found in Canada.