DNA Profiles of "Han" Taiwanese

TaiwanDNA.com Homepage

Kehong Chou

Mitochondrial DNA, Y-DNA and HLA Tests

 

母系血緣 (mtDNA, 粒線體DNA): A4

解釋 : A4 為北亞洲的血緣, 也在閩南人 (Hoklo), 印尼人 (Javanese) 及日本人 (Japanese) 看到.

 

父系血緣 (Y-DNA, Y 染色體): O3a5a2; O3e1*(M214, M175, M122, M324, M134, M133)

解釋 : 這型在馬偕醫院 500人資料中不見於台灣原住民 , 在閩南人 (Hoklo) 中佔 28%. O3a5a2 分佈於亞洲. 詳細資料請參考 Am. J. Hum. Genet. 2005; 77: 408-419.

 

體染色體的組織抗原 (HLA) 基因型 (HLA-A-B-DRB1 ) 單倍型:

A*1101/02-B*4001-DRB1*0901

A*3303-B*5101-DRB1*1202

解釋 : B*4001-DRB1*0901 廣泛的分佈在台灣各族中, 以泰雅族 (Atayal; 8.7%) 最高, 閩南人 (Hoklo) 有 3.6% 及客家人 (Hakka) 4.5%. B*5101-DRB1*1202 只見於西拉雅族 (Siraya; 1%).

 

結論: 母系血緣為北亞洲的血緣. 父系血緣為亞洲大陸的血緣. 組織抗原顯示很可能有過西拉雅的祖先.

 

DNA Tests by

馬偕紀念醫院
輸血醫學研究室

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Excerpts from Wikipedia.org

Atayal

The Atayal (泰雅), also known as the Tayal and the Tayan, are one tribe of Taiwanese aborigines. In the year 2000 the Atayal tribe numbered 91,883. This was approximately 23.1% of Taiwan's total indigenous population, making them the second-largest tribal group. The meaning of Atayal is "genuine person" or "brave man."

In the past, many anthropologists believed the Atayal migrated from Malaysia or Indonesia. Evidence now suggests that they are the descendants of those who crossed over the Taiwan Strait almost 7,000 years ago from regions that are now inside southern China, northern Laos or Vietnam. The first record of Atayal inhabitance is found near the upper reaches of the Chosui River. However, during the late 17th century they crossed the Central Mountain Ranges into the wilderness of the east. They then settled in the Liwu River valley. Seventy-nine Atayal villages can be found here.

The Atayal were known as great warriors. When they defeated an invader, they would remove the head of the enemy to display. (See Headhunting) They were known to be fierce fighters as observed in the case of the Wushe Incident in which the Atayal fought the Japanese.

The Atayal were good weavers as well and symbolic patterns and design can be found on Atayal traditional dress. The features are mainly of geometric style, and the colors are bright and dazzling. Most of the designs are argyles and horizontal lines. In Atayal culture, horizontal lines represent the rainbow bride which leads the dead to where the ancestors' spirit live. Argyles, on the other hand, represent ancestors' eyes protecting the Atayal. The favorite color of this culture is red, because it represents “blood” and “power.”

The Atayal tribe was also known for using facial tattooing and teeth filing as rituals of initiation. The practice of tattooing their faces has attracted much attention; in the past a man had to take the head of an enemy, showing his valor as a hunter to protect and provide for his people and the women had to be able to weave cloth to show their coming-of-age and maturity before they could tattoo their faces.

The Atayal tribe in Taiwan resides in central and northern Taiwan. The northernmost village is Ulay (Wulai in Chinese), about 25 kilometers south of central Taipei. In recent years the mainly Christian community of Smangus has become well-known as a tourist destination, as well as an experiment in tribal communalism. Many Atayal are bilingual, but the Atayal language still remains in active use.

Wulai (烏來鄉) is famous for hot springs. The name of the town derives from the Atayal phrase kirofu ulai meaning "hot and poisonous". The Wulai Atayal Museum in the town is a place to learn about the history and culture of the Atayal.

Many kinds of flowers from sakura (Japanese flowering cherry trees) bloom from February to April in the in Wulai. In the Summer, the gorgeous rivers in Wulai are the best place to go camping, swimming, and fishing. While in the late Fall and Winter the activities include waterfall viewing, bird watching, and tea food tasting. The most famous feature in Wulai are the hot springs, which have no smells and no flavor. A local legend is that soaking in the hot springs often can cure various vesicular skin diseases (such as ringworm, eczema, and herpes; also known as Tetters). And the falls in Wulai are very well-known in Taiwan.

* Videos: Time and Music in a Disappearing World, 泰雅古訓, 優美的泰雅族歌曲 - Sony Commercial, 山谷中的泰雅

* Video: 泰雅千年

這是一部關於台灣原住民的短片獲得第41屆休士頓國際影展文化短片最高榮譽白金獎是一部由新竹縣尖石鄉新光、鎮西堡與司馬庫斯部落居民共同參與的短片，由導演陳文彬執 行拍攝。全片在司馬庫斯鎮西堡搭設古部落場景，以古泰雅語發音。參與演出都是當地居民 ，是一部由部落參與一起完成的電影短片

* Video: 賽德克巴萊

一部在說霧社事件的泰雅族族抗日歷史事件，但只有預告片。因資金 不足所以無法拍成一部電影。

* The Atayal People by The Council for Cultural Affairs

* Reviving Traditional Atayal Weaving, Dyeing and Textiles by culture.tw

* Wulai: Land of the Atayal Tribe by Geocities.com

 

* 轉角的風華:打造Formosa tea的陶德 by 陳政三, 魏吟冰

Excerpt: 陶德 (John Dodd) 勤跑山區,經常與北部泰雅族 (Atayal) 打交道, 參與過大型圍獵. 他發表多篇有關原住民的文章, 描述北泰雅族, 「輪廓類似歐洲白人 (Caucasian), 有些帶著猶太人 (Jewish) 容貌」, 這種原位民混血 (mixed race) 的情形, 他認為, 「經常有船隻遭風, 大難不死的漂民與東岸及中部高山部落土著結婚, 彼此的血統就混合了」. 他對泰雅人如何對抗漢人「天敵」著墨甚深; 也描述以客家人 (Hakka) 為主的拓荒者, 如何在山區提頭討生活, 其中許多人迎娶原住民女, 後者就成了漢, 原衝突的緩衝器和溝通者.

 

Wulai Atayal Museum

 

 

 

Siraya

Dutch Drawing of Siraya Aborigines (1670)

The Siraya were an indigenous people of Taiwan, comprising at least five major subtribes: Mattauw, Soelangh, Baccloangh, Sinckan, and Taivoan. They lived in the flat southwest part of the island and are considered today to have become extinct or completely sinicized.

Despite the mis-perception of complete extinction, the Siraya people are still well and alive today. In the Tso-chen, Kou-pei and Chiou chen lin of shinhua township many families still claim to be of pure Siraya blood. Also, several modern day Siraya communities in Taiwan have been involved in Siraya culture and language revitalization movement for over a decade. Through linguistic research and language teaching, the natives are 'awaking' their mother tongue that has been 'dormant' for a century. Today a group of Siraya children in the Shinhua township particularly in Kou-pei and Chiou Chen Lin area are able to speak and sing in the Siraya language. Also, the Tainan Ping-pu Siraya Association has achieved the publication of the first modern day Siraya dictionary.

 

Bible in old Dutch and the Sinckan language, c. 1650

The Sinckan language was spoken by the Siraya tribe that lived in what is now Tainan. During the time when Taiwan was under the administration of the Dutch East India Company, Dutch missionaries learned Sinckan to facilitate both missionary work and government affairs. They also created a romanized script and compiled a dictionary of the language, teaching the natives how to write their own language.

* 酉拉雅館

* Old Siraya Documents Deciphered by June Tsai

* Siraya Language by Encyclopædia Britannica Online

 

 

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Haplogroup A4 (mtDNA)

 

Map of Haplogroup A from the Genographic Project

Haplogroup A is believed to have arisen in Asia some 60,000 years before present. Its ancestral haplogroup was Haplogroup N.

Haplogroup A is found more often in East Asia. Its subgroup A1 is found in northern and central Asia, while its subgroup A2 is found in Siberia and is also one of five haplogroups found in the indigenous peoples of the Americas, the others being B, C, D, and X.

The mummy "Juanita" of Peru, also called the "Ice Maiden", has been shown to belong to mitochondrial haplogroup A.

In his popular book The Seven Daughters of Eve, Bryan Sykes named the originator of mtDNA haplogroup A Aiyana.

 

 

* Haplogroup A by the Genographic Project

Excerpt: Likely arising on the high plains of Central Asia between the Caspian Sea and Lake Baikal, groups moving east brought haplogroup A with them and spread it to several areas in East Asia. One recent subgroup, known as A5, arose around 10,000 years ago and today is specific to Korean and Japanese populations. Another subgroup, A4, is widely spread and found in ten percent of Chinese, and at lower frequencies (one to five percent) in Southeast Asia, Central Asia, and Siberia.

With few exceptions, haplogroup A is the only lineage carried by Eskimos, an indigenous group native to Siberia, Alaska, and Canada.

Today, haplogroup A is one of five mitochondrial lineages found in aboriginal Americans, and is found in both North and South America. While haplogroup A is very old (around 50,000 years), the reduced genetic diversity found in the Americas indicates that those lineages arrived only within the last 15,000 to 20,000 years and quickly spread once there.

 

 

* mtDNA Haplogroup Specific Control Region Mutation Motifs by mtDNAmanager

 

 

* Extreme mtDNA Homogeneity in Continental Asian Populations by Hiroki Oota, et al.

Tw (Taiwan Han Chinese) Ca (Cantonese) - Finns - Kirghiz Lowlander - British - Kazakh - Turks - Basques - Sardinian

Tw (Taiwan Han Chinese) Ca (Cantonese) - Finns - Indian - Ainu - Aboriginal Australian - Anatolia Turks - Borneo

Tw (Taiwan Han Chinese) Ca (Cantonese) - Korean - Philippines - Uighurs - Changsha - Taiwanese (aborigines) - Vietnamese - Vanuata - Indonesian - PNG

Tw (Taiwan Han Chinese) Ca (Cantonese) - Xi'an - Tottori (Japanese) - Kirghiz Highlander - Mongolian - Ngoebe - Altai of Siberia - Amerind - Argentina - Siberians

 

 

 

Tw (Taiwan Han Chinese) Ca (Cantonese) - Xi'an - Tottori (Japanese) - Kirghiz Highlander - Mongolian - Ngoebe - Altai of Siberia - Amerind - Argentina - Siberians

 

Hoklo (Minnan)

Hoklo commonly refers to those Taiwanese people who claim Han Chinese ancestry from the southern part of Fujian province of China. Large populations of similar background can also be found in Malaysia, Guangdong, Hong Kong, Philippines, Singapore, Burma, Thailand, and Indonesia where they are usually referred to as Hokkien, meaning Fujian in Min Nan language. In Hong Kong's New Territories, "Fukienese" often refers to all Min Nan speakers relocating from Fujian.

In Taiwan, the Hoklos are the largest ethnic group (see Demographics of Taiwan). Most Hoklos trace their paternal ancestry to male settlers who migrated to Taiwan from Fujian in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Because about 70% of the population in Taiwan are Hoklo, Taiwanese is often used interchangeably with Hoklo. People who are aware of the multi-ethnic nature of Taiwan recognize the two are not identical, although most people will know by context when this word refers to people from Taiwan and when this word refers specifically to Hoklos.

* Sinicization and Its Discontents by Melissa J. Brown

 

 

* The Emerging Limbs and Twigs of the East Asian mtDNA Tree by Toomas Kivisild, et. al.

Map of A4 Frequency

Frequencies of A*, A4, and A5 in Asian populations inferred from HVS-I sequences. Sample codes (and sources): AI—Ainu (Horai et al. 1996 ); CU—Chukchis (Starikovskaya et al. 1998 ); EN—Evens (Derenko and Shields 1997 ); GD—Guangdong, Han Chinese (Yao et al. 2002 ; this study); IT—Itelmen (Schurr et al. 1999 ); JP—Japanese (Horai et al. 1996 ; Seo et al. 1998 ; Nishimaki et al. 1999 ); KI—Kirghiz (Comas et al. 1998 ); KN—Koreans (Horai et al. 1996 ; Lee et al. 1997 ; Pfeiffer et al. 1998 ); KY—Koryaks (Derenko and Shields 1997 ; Schurr et al. 1999 ); KZ—Kazakhs (Comas et al. 1998 ); LN—Liaoning, Han Chinese (Yao et al. 2002 ); MO—Mongols (Kolman, Sambuughin, and Bermingham 1996 ); QD—Qingdao, Han Chinese (Yao et al. 2002 ); RY—Ryukyuans (Horai et al. 1996 ); SH—Shanghai, Han Chinese (Nishimaki et al. 1999 ); TH—Thais (Fucharoen, Fucharoen, and Horai 2001 ); TW—Taiwanese Han (Horai et al. 1996 ); UI—Uighurs (Comas et al. 1998 ); WH—Wuhan, Han Chinese (Yao et al. 2002 ); YK—Yakutians (Derenko and Shields 1997 ; Schurr et al. 1999 ); XJ—Xinjiang, Han Chinese (Yao et al. 2002 ); YU—Yunnan, Han Chinese (Yao et al. 2002 ). The number of A sequences in relation to the sample size is indicated under each pie slice proportional to the A frequency.

 

 

* Traces of Archaic Mitochondrial Lineages Persist in Austronesian-Speaking Formosan Populations by Jean A. Trejaut, et. al.

Abstract: Genetic affinities between aboriginal Taiwanese and populations from Oceania and Southeast Asia have previously been explored through analyses of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), Y chromosomal DNA, and human leukocyte antigen loci. Recent genetic studies have supported the “slow boat” and “entangled bank” models according to which the Polynesian migration can be seen as an expansion from Melanesia without any major direct genetic thread leading back to its initiation from Taiwan. We assessed mtDNA variation in 640 individuals from nine tribes (Taiwanese aborigines: Tsou, Bunun, Rukai, Atayal, Saisiat, Ami, Puyuma, Yami, Paiwan) of the central mountain ranges and east coast regions of Taiwan. In contrast to the Han populations, the tribes showed a low frequency of haplogroups D4 and G, and an absence of haplogroups A, C, Z, M9, and M10. Also, more than 85% of the maternal lineages were nested within haplogroups B4, B5a, F1a, F3b, E, and M7. Although indicating a common origin of the populations of insular Southeast Asia and Oceania, most mtDNA lineages in Taiwanese aboriginal populations are grouped separately from those found in China and the Taiwan general (Han) population, suggesting a prevalence in the Taiwanese aboriginal gene pool of its initial late Pleistocene settlers. Interestingly, from complete mtDNA sequencing information, most B4a lineages were associated with three coding region substitutions, defining a new subclade, B4a1a, that endorses the origin of Polynesian migration from Taiwan. Coalescence times of B4a1a were 13.2 ± 3.8 thousand years (or 9.3 ± 2.5 thousand years in Papuans and Polynesians). Considering the lack of a common specific Y chromosomal element shared by the Taiwanese aboriginals and Polynesians, the mtDNA evidence provided here is also consistent with the suggestion that the proto-Oceanic societies would have been mainly matrilocal.

 

 

* The Biological Evidence of the San-pau-chi People and Their Affinities by Hsiu-Man Lin

Excerpts: For the study of ancient DNA, only six individuals (G17 II B1 – 138 bps, H15 II B8 – 133 bps, H16 II B6 – 178 bps, H16 II B8 – 176 bps, H17 II B3 – 211 bps, and J17 II B4 – 154 bps) were used for distance analysis because of the longer length of the preserved portions of their HV1 sequences and it reveals a close relationship between the SPC sample and Japanese. However, this result should be taken with extreme cautions given the tiny sample size and sequence length, and the fact the ancient DNA results for SPC could not be independently confirmed. None (0 of n=12) of the SPC sample has the 9-bp deletion, a typical haplogroup for Polynesians. Although most of the positive PCR re-amplifications show negative reactions for restriction analyses of A, B, ,C, D, F, H, and M, six individuals were assigned to A (n=2), C (n=2), H (n=1), and M (n=1). Additionally, the rate of successful DNA extraction using teeth was much higher than that by using bones, although they are mostly fragments in terms of successful amplification of the entire HV1 sequence.

In conclusion, the dental evidence in this project seems to suggest a Northern Asian affinity for the SPC people, which is unexpected and varies from previously proposed models of Austronesian dispersals. The ancient DNA evidence is, unfortunately, too poor to clearly support or refute the result from dental analysis. The dental results differ from any of original hypotheses of this project for the role of Taiwan in Austronesian migrations. Interestingly, however, the dental results accord with result from the Hui-Lei-Lee site that the M9a haplotype recovered from the site is most likely of Northern Asian origin (Yan 2006). This does not exclude the possibility that the SPC people are related to Austronesian speakers in the South Pacific. It is evident that there may have been some level of gene flow between the SPC people, mainland Asian, and Oceania according to the sizes of maxillary crown width (which explains the similarity to Tonga) and perhaps the presence of mitochondrial haplogroups A and M (ancestral Asian haplogroups)....

Because the dental morphological study and ancient DNA analyses seem to suggest a Northern Asian affinity for the SPC people, it is proposed here that approximately 2,500 BP, some prehistoric Taiwanese came from Northern Asia. However, the WCTS people, contemporaries of SPC, show a closer relatedness with the Namu from the Hawai’i. Therefore, a simple model of “Out of Taiwan” or “Indigenous Melanesian Origin” cannot explain the whole picture of prehistoric Taiwan. In this circumstance, it seems to indicate that Taiwan in the past may have harbored diverse populations....

 

 

* Study Reveals DNA Links Between Ancient Peruvians, Japanese by Latin American Herald Tribune

Excerpt: A study has revealed genetic links between people who inhabited northern Peru more than 1,000 years ago and Japanese, El Comercio newspaper reported Thursday.

Japanese physical anthropologist Ken-ichi Shinoda performed DNA tests on the remains of human bodies found in the East Tomb and West Tomb in the Bosque de Pomas Historical Sanctuary, which are part of the Sican Culture Archaeological Project, funded by Japan's government.

The director of the Sican National Museum, Carlos Elera, told the daily that Shinoda found that people who lived more than 1,000 years ago in what today is the Lambayeque region, about 800 kilometers (500 miles) north of Lima, had genetic links to the comtemporaneous populations of Ecuador, Colombia, Siberia, Taiwan and to the Ainu people of northern Japan.

 

 

Xi'an

Map of Xian

Xi'an (西安), is the capital of the Shaanxi province in the People's Republic of China. As one of the oldest cities in Chinese history, Xi'an is one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China because it has been the capital (under various names) of some of the most important dynasties in Chinese history, including the Zhou, Qin, Han, the Sui, and Tang dynasties. Xi'an is the eastern terminus of the Silk Road and known as the site of the Terracotta Army, made during the Qin Dynasty. The city has more than 3,100 years of history, and was known as Chang'an (長安; literally "Perpetual Peace") before the Ming Dynasty.

A 6,500 year old Banpo (半坡) Neolithic village in was discovered in 1954 on the outskirts of the city proper.

Xi'an became a cultural and political center of China in 11th century BC with the founding of the Zhou Dynasty. The capital of Zhou was established in Fēng (灃) and Hào (鎬), both located just west of contemporary Xi'an. Following the Warring States Period, China was unified under the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC) for the first time, with the capital located at Xianyang (咸阳), just northwest from modern Xi'an. The first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang ordered the construction of the Terracotta Army and his mausoleum just east of Xi'an shortly before his death.

In 202 BC, the founding emperor Liu Bang of the Han Dynasty established his capital in Chang'an County; his first palace Changle Palace (長樂宮, perpetual happiness) was built across the river from the ruin of the Qin capital. This is traditionally regarded as the founding date of Chang'an, or Xi'an.

Qin Shi Huang's Terracotta Army

Qin Shi Huang Tomb: One of the first projects the young king accomplished while he was alive was the construction of his own tomb. In 215 BC Qin Shi Huang ordered General Meng Tian with 300,000 men to begin construction. Other sources suggested he ordered 720,000 non-paid laborers to build his tomb to specification. The main tomb containing the emperor has yet to be opened and there is evidence suggesting that it remains relatively intact. Sima Qian's description of the tomb includes replicas of palaces and scenic towers, 'rare utensils and wonderful objects', 100 rivers made with mercury, representations of 'the heavenly bodies', and crossbows rigged to shoot anyone who tried to break in. The tomb was built on Li Mountain which is only 30 kilometers away from Xi'an. Modern archaeologists have located the tomb, and have inserted probes deep into it. The probes revealed abnormally high quantities of mercury, some 100 times the naturally occurring rate, suggesting at least part of the legend can be trusted. Secrets were maintained, as most of the workmen who built the tomb were killed.

 

* Mitochondrial DNA Evidence for a Diversified Origin of Workers Building First Emperor of China by Z. Xu, et al.

Discussion: ... Interestingly, the specimen M50 (HVR I motif 16209–16223) belonging to hg M7a, had the same variation with a Japanese and several Ryukyuans. Given that M7a has a much higher frequency in Ryukyuans with the greatest Asian diversity (83%) than in Chinese, it seemed likely that this worker had a relatively closer genetic affinity with the ancestors of modern Japanese.

In conclusion, we showed that MBWs was an admixture and bore genetic continuity with contemporary Chinese populations. Its origin was much diversified, which seems to be compatible with historical accounts that the sources of slaved workers at Qin Dynasty tend to be extremely diverse. Furthermore, we showed that a strong presence of the workers of southern origins although the results of analysis should be taken with caution in the context of more recent migrations after Qin Dynasty. Further studies are important to provide a more definitive understanding on the origin of these samples using the whole genome of mtDNA and Y chromosomal variations.

 

 

Asian Population Tree from Genetic Origins of the Ainu Inferred from Combined DNA Analyses of Maternal and Paternal Lineages by Atsushi Tajima, et al.

 

 

* Phylogeographic Analysis of Mitochondrial DNA in Northern Asian Populations by Miroslava Derenko

Phylogenetic Tree of Complete mtDNA Sequences of Haplogroups A

 

 

Japanese

Map of Tottori, Japan

Japanese Pre-history: The Japanese Paleolithic age covers a period starting from around 100,000 to 30,000 BC, when the earliest stone tool implements have been found, and ending around 12,000 BC, at the end of the last ice age, corresponding with the beginning of the Mesolithic Jōmon period. A start date of around 35,000 BC is most generally accepted. The Japanese archipelago was disconnected from the continent after the last ice age, around 11,000 BC. After a hoax by an amateur researcher, Shinichi Fujimura, had been exposed, the Lower and Middle Paleolithic evidence reported by Fujimura and his associates has been rejected after thorough reinvestigation. Only some Upper Paleolithic evidence not associated with Fujimura can be considered well established.

The Jōmon period lasted from about 14,000 BC to 300 BC. The first signs of civilization and stable living patterns appeared around 14,000 BC with the Jōmon culture, characterized by a mesolithic to neolithic semi-sedentary hunter-gatherer lifestyle of wood stilt house and pit dwelling and a rudimentary form of agriculture. Weaving was still unknown and clothes were often made of fur. The Jōmon people started to make clay vessels, decorated with patterns made by impressing the wet clay with braided or unbraided cord and sticks. Some of the oldest surviving examples of pottery in the world may be found in Japan, based on radio-carbon dating, along with daggers, jade, combs made of shells, and other household items dated to the 11th millennium BC, although the specific dating is disputed. Clay figures known as dogū were also excavated. The household items suggest trade routes existed with places as far away as Okinawa. DNA analysis suggests that the Ainu, an indigenous people that lived in Hokkaidō and the northern part of Honshū are descended from the Jōmon and thus represent descendants of the first inhabitants of Japan.

This semi-sedentary culture led to important population increases, so that the Jōmon exhibit some of the highest densities known for foraging populations. Genetic mapping studies by Cavalli-Sforza have shown a pattern of genetic expansion from the area of the Sea of Japan towards the rest of eastern Asia. This appears as the third most important genetic movement in Eastern Asia (after the "Great expansion" from the African continent, and a second expansion from the area of Northern Siberia), which suggests geographical expansion during the early Jōmon period. These studies also suggest that the Jōmon demographic expansion may have reached America along a path following the Pacific coast.

 

 

* Mitochondrial DNA Analysis of Jomon Skeletons from the Funadomari Site, Hokkaido, and Its Implication for the Origins of Native American by Adachi N, et al.

Abstract: Ancient DNA recovered from 16 Jomon skeletons excavated from Funadomari site, Hokkaido, Japan was analyzed to elucidate the genealogy of the early settlers of the Japanese archipelago. Both the control and coding regions of their mitochondrial DNA were analyzed in detail, and we could securely assign 14 mtDNAs to relevant haplogroups. Haplogroups D1a, M7a, and N9b were observed in these individuals, and N9b was by far the most predominant. The fact that haplogroups N9b and M7a were observed in Hokkaido Jomons bore out the hypothesis that these haplogroups are the (pre-) Jomon contribution to the modern Japanese mtDNA pool. Moreover, the fact that Hokkaido Jomons shared haplogroup D1 with Native Americans validates the hypothesized genetic affinity of the Jomon people to Native Americans, providing direct evidence for the genetic relationships between these populations. However, probably due to the small sample size or close consanguinity among the members of the site, the frequencies of the haplogroups in Funadomari skeletons were quite different from any modern populations, including Hokkaido Ainu, who have been regarded as the direct descendant of the Hokkaido Jomon people. It appears that the genetic study of ancient populations in northern part of Japan brings important information to the understanding of human migration in northeast Asia and America.

.

 

* Old World Sources of the First New World Human Inhabitants: A comparative craniofacial view by C. Loring Brace, et al.

The Spread of Levallois Point Makers

The arrows indicate the spread of Levallois point makers eastward across the northern edge of the Old World between 200,000 and 170,000 years ago; the expansion from Southeast Asia to New Guinea and Australia 60,000 years ago; the spread to the northernmost portions of the Old World and the initial entry into the New World 15,000 years ago; and population movements at both the western and eastern edges of the Old World and into the New World after the development of agriculture after the end of the Pleistocene.

 

Abstract: Human craniofacial data were used to assess the similarities and differences between recent and prehistoric Old World samples, and between these samples and a similar representation of samples from the New World. The data were analyzed by the neighbor-joining clustering procedure, assisted by bootstrapping and by canonical discriminant analysis score plots. The first entrants to the Western Hemisphere of maybe 15,000 years ago gave rise to the continuing native inhabitants south of the U.S.–Canadian border. These show no close association with any known mainland Asian population. Instead they show ties to the Ainu of Hokkaido and their Jomon predecessors in prehistoric Japan and to the Polynesians of remote Oceania. All of these also have ties to the Pleistocene and recent inhabitants of Europe and may represent an extension from a Late Pleistocene continuum of people across the northern fringe of the Old World. With roots in both the northwest and the northeast, these people can be described as Eurasian. The route of entry to the New World was at the northwestern edge. In contrast, the Inuit (Eskimo), the Aleut, and the Na-Dene speakers who had penetrated as far as the American Southwest within the last 1,000 years show more similarities to the mainland populations of East Asia. Although both the earlier and later arrivals in the New World show a mixture of traits characteristic of the northern edge of Old World occupation and the Chinese core of mainland Asia, the proportion of the latter is greater for the more recent entrants.

 

 

* Phylogenetic Classification of Japanese mtDNA Assisted by Complete Mitochondrial DNA Sequences by C. Nohira, et al.

Abstract:  We investigated control and coding region polymorphisms in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in 100 unrelated individuals from a Japanese population and determined the basal phylogenetic haplogroup lineages in all samples under updated information. Many of the basal phylogenetic haplogroup lineages assigned on East Asian mtDNA haplogroups corresponded to those previously established. However, new haplogroup lineages such as M7a2a, M7a2b, M7a2*, M7c1b, M11b2*, G2b*, D4c1b1a, D4g2b, A4*, A9, N9b*, B4d1, B4d2, and F1e were identified and established by complete sequencing. Although sequence comparison of the 1.15-kb control region identified 84 mitochondrial haplotypes, examination of coding region polymorphisms increased the total number of haplotypes to 91. Determination of the basal haplogroup lineages increased the discrimination power of mtDNA polymorphisms for personal identification and their usefulness in determining geographic origin in forensic casework in Japanese and other East Asian populations.

 

 

Kyrgyz

Chinghiz Aitmatov

The Kyrgyz (also spelled Kirgiz, Kirghiz) are a Turkic ethnic group found primarily in Kyrgyzstan.

The early Kyrgyz people, known as Yenisei Kyrgyz or Xiajiasi (黠戛斯), first appear in written records in the Chinese annals of the Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian (compiled 109 BC to 91 BC), as Gekun or Jiankun (鬲昆 or 隔昆). The Middle Age Chinese composition "Tanghuiyao" of the 8-10th century transcribed the name "Kyrgyz" Tsze-gu (Kirgut), and their tamga was depicted identical with the tamga of present day Kyrgyz tribes Azyk, Bugu, Cherik, Sary Bagysh and few others. According to recent historical findings, Kyrgyz history dates back to 201 BC. The Yenisei Kyrgyz lived in the upper Yenisey River valley, central Siberia. Yenisei Kyrgyzes in the Late Antique times were a part of the Tele tribes. Later, in the Early Middle Age, Yenisei Kyrgyzes were under the rule of Göktürk Kaganate and Uigur Kaganate. In 840 a revolt led by Yenisei Kyrgyzes brought down the Uigur Kaganate, and brought the Yenisei Kyrgyzes to a dominating position in the former Turkic Kaganate. With the rise to power, the center of the Kyrgyz Kaganate moved to Jeti-su, and brought about a spread south of the Kyrgyz people, to reach Tian Shan mountains and Eastern Turkestan, bringing them immediately to the borders of China and Tibet. By the 16th century the carriers of the ethnonym "Kirgiz" lived in South Siberia, Eastern Turkestan, Tian Shan, Pamir Alay, Middle Asia, Urals (among Bashkorts), in Kazakhstan. In the Tian Shan and Eastern Turkestan area, the term "Kyrgyz" retained its unifying political designation, and became a general ethnonym for the Yenisei Kirgizes and aboriginal Turkic tribes that presently constitute the Kyrgyz population. Though it is obviously impossible to directly identify the Yenisei and Tien Shan Kyrgyzes, a trace of their ethnogenetical connections is apparent in archaeology, history, language and ethnography. Majority of modern researchers came to a conclusion that the ancestors of the southern Kyrgyz tribes had their origin in the most ancient tribal unions of Sakas and Usuns, Dinlins and Huns. Approximately 300,000 Yenisei Kyrgyzes survived in the Tuva depression until present.

V.V. Bartold cites Chinese and Muslim sources of the 7th–12th centuries AD that describe the Kyrgyz as having red hair, blue eyes, and white skin. These features were totally different from those of modern Kyrgyz, which made Ibn al-Muqaffa suggest in the 8th century AD that the Kyrgyz were related to the Slavs.

The descent of the Kyrgyz from the autochthonous Siberian population is confirmed by recent genetic studies. Remarkably, 63% of modern Kyrgyz men share Haplogroup R1a1 (Y-DNA) with Tajiks (64%), Ukrainians (54%), Poles and Hungarians (~60%), and even Icelanders (25%). Haplogroup R1a1 (Y-DNA) is variously believed to be a marker of the Proto-Indo-European language and Turkic speakers.

Because of the processes of migration, conquest, intermarriage, and assimilation, many of the Kyrgyz peoples that now inhabit Central and Southwest Asia are of mixed origins, often stemming from fragments of many different tribes, though they speak closely related languages

 

The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey by Spencer Wells

Videos:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

(Kyrgyzstan/Kazakhstan: 7, 8, 9; Chukchi: 9, 10, 11; Native Americans 11, 12)

 

 

 

Mongolian

Prehistory: Important prehistoric sites are the Paleolithic cave drawings of the Khoid Tsenkheriin Agui (Northern Cave of Blue) in Khovd Province, and the Tsagaan Agui (White Cave) in Bayankhongor Province. A Neolithic farming settlement has been found in Dornod Province. Contemporary findings from western Mongolia include only temporary encampments of hunters and fishers. The population during the Copper Age has been described as paleomongolid in the east of what is now Mongolia, and as europid in the west.

In the second millennium B.C, during the bronze age, western Mongolia was under the influence of the Karasuk culture. Deer stones and the omnipresent keregsürens (small kurgans) probably are from this era; other theories date the deer stones as 7th or 8th centuries BC. A vast iron-age burial complex from the 5th-3rd century, later also used by the Xiongnu, has been unearthed near Ulaangom.

The name "Mongol" appeared first in 8th century records of the Chinese Tang dynasty as a tribe of Shiwei, but then only resurfaced in the 11th century during the rule of the Khitan. At first it was applied to some small and still insignificant tribes in the area of the Onon River. After the fall of Liao Dynasty in 1125, the Mongols became a leading steppe tribe. However, their wars with the Jin Dynasty and Tatars weakened them severely. In the 13th century, it grew into an umbrella term for a large group of Mongolic and Turkic tribes united under the rule of Genghis Khan under a same identity (mostly cultural). With the expansion of the Mongol Empire, the Mongols ressetled almost all over Eurasia as were there Tatar-Mongol communities in Egypt and Delhi in 13-14th centuries. With the break of the Empire, the dispersed Mongols quickly adopted cultures surrounded them and assimilated, forming parts of Tatars (not confused with a tribe in ancient Mongolia), Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Yugurs and Moghuls. However, most of the Mongols remained in their homeland Mongolia.

 

 

* Genetic Imprint of the Mongol: Signal from phylogeographic analysis of mitochondrial DNA by Baoweng Cheng, et al.

Abstract:  Mitochondrial deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) from 201 unrelated Mongolian individuals in the three different regions was analyzed. The Mongolians took the dominant East Asian-specific haplogroups, and some European-prevalent haplogroups were detected. The East Asians-specific haplogroups distributed from east to west in decreasing frequencies, and the European-specific haplogroups distributed conversely. These genetic data suggest that the Mongolian empire played an important role in the maternal genetic admixture across Mongolians and even Central Asian populations, whereas the Silk Road might have contributed little in the admixture between the East Asians and the Europeans.

 

 

* Mitochondrial DNA Analysis of Mongolian Populations and Implications for the Origin of New World Founders by Connie J. Kolman, et al.

Abstract: High levels of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) diversity were determined for Mongolian populations, represented by the Mongol-speaking Khalkha and Dariganga. Although 103 samples were collected across Mongolia, low levels of genetic substructuring were detected, reflecting the nomadic lifestyle and relatively recent ethnic differentiation of Mongolian populations. mtDNA control region I sequence and seven additional mtDNA polymorphisms were assayed to allow extensive comparison with previous human population studies. Based on a comparative analysis, we propose that indigenous populations in east Central Asia represent the closest genetic link between Old and New World populations. Utilizing restriction/deletion polymorphisms, Mongolian populations were found to carry all four New World founding haplogroups as defined by Wallace and coworkers. The ubiquitous presence of the four New World haplogroups in the Americas but narrow distribution across Asia weakens support for Greenberg and coworkers’ theory of New World colonization via three independent migrations. The statistical and geographic scarcity of New World haplogroups in Asia makes it improbable that the same four haplotypes would be drawn from one geographic region three independent times. Instead, it is li kely that founder effects manifest through out Asia and the Americas are responsible for differences in mtDNA haplotype frequencies observed in these regions.

 

 

Ngöbe Buglé

Photo from www.nativeplanet.org

The Guaymí or Ngäbe (usually misspelled as Ngobe or Ngöbe because Spanish does not contain the sound represented by ä) are an indigenous group living mainly within the Ngöbe-Buglé comarca (reserve) in the Western Panamanian provinces of Veraguas, Chiriquí and Bocas del Toro. The language spoken by the Ngäbe is Ngäbere. There are approximately 200,000-250,000 speakers of Ngäbere today. A sizable number of Ngäbe have migrated to Costa Rica in search of work on the coffee fincas. Ngäbere and Buglere are distinct languages in the Chibchan language family. They are mutually unintelligible. The Guaymies were divided into two large groups: those of the lowlands along the Atlantic coast, and those of the tropical forest in the highlands of Veraguas and Chiriqui. Never surrendered, fighting until the collapse of the Spanish empire. When Panama broke away from Spain and joined Colombia in the early 19th Century, the Guaymies remained in their mountain villages. Only now slowly are they being incorporated into the main stream.

* Videos: Misiones Ngobe Bugle

* The Ngöbe by Ngöbe Botanical Garden, Ngobe-Bugle by southernhorizons.com, Helping the Ngobe Keep Their Land by culturalsurvival.org

 

 

* Reduced mtdna Diversity in the Ngobe Amerinds of Panama by C. J. Kolman, et al.

Abstract: Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplotype diversity was determined for 46 Ngobe Amerinds sampled widely across their geographic range in western Panama. The Ngobe data were compared with mtDNA control region I sequences from two additional Amerind groups located at the northern and southern extremes of Amerind distribution, the Nuu-Chah-Nulth of the Pacific Northwest and the Chilean Mapuche and from one Na-Dene group, the Haida of the Pacific Northwest. The Ngobe exhibit the lowest mtDNA control region sequence diversity yet reported for an Amerind group. Moreover, they carry only two of the four Amerind founding lineages first described by Wallace and coworkers (haplogroup A and haplogroup B). We posit that the Ngobe passed through a population bottleneck caused by ethnogenesis from a small founding population and/or European conquest and colonization. Dating of the Ngobe population expansion using the HARPENDING et al. approach to the analysis of pairwise genetic differences indicates a Ngobe expansion at roughly 6800 years before present (range: 1850-14,000 years before present), a date more consistent with a bottleneck at Chibcha ethnogenesis than a conquest-based event.

 

 

Map of the Inca Empire

Momia Juanita (Spanish for "Mummy Juanita"; mtDNA Haplogroup: A2), better known in English as the "Ice Maiden," is an Inca mummy of a girl, between 12-14 years old, who died sometime between 1440 and 1450.

It is believed by some archaeologists that the Ice Maiden was in fact a human sacrifice to the Inca mountain god (Apus). The Ice Maiden was then buried by the Inca priests atop Mount Ampato (20,700 feet, or 6,309 m) in Peru, and left undisturbed until discovered by Johann Reinhard in 1995.

The scientists of Maryland's Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) performed laboratory tests on Juanita's body and were able to recover the heart tissues of the young girl. These tests served to identify her DNA and compare it with the Human Genome Project.

The studies demonstrated that Juanita had a close relationship with the Ngoge (Ngobe) tribe of Panama and with old Taiwanese and Korean races.

The Incas performed human sacrifices during or after important events, such as the death of the Sapa Inca (emperor) or during a famine. As sacrificial victims, they selected children who were physically perfect, because these were the best they could give their gods. They dressed the children in fine clothing and jewelry and escorted them to Cuzco to meet the emperor where a feast was held in their honor. Then, high priests took the victims to high mountaintops for sacrifice. They gave the children an intoxicating drink to minimize pain, fear, and resistance, then killed them by strangulation, by a blow to the head or by leaving them to lose consciousness in the extreme cold and die of exposure. Early colonial Spanish missionaries wrote about this practice but only recently have archaeologists such as Johan Reinhard begun to find the bodies of these victims on Andean mountaintops, naturally mummified by the dry conditions found in these environments.

* The Ice Maiden of Mt. Ampato by The Mountain Institute

 

The Ice Maiden: Inca Mummies, Mountain Gods, and Sacred Sites in the Andes by Johan Reinhard

 

 

 

 

 

Altai Mountains

The Altai Mountains (阿爾泰山脈,) are a mountain range in central Asia, where Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan come together, and where the rivers Irtysh, Ob and Yenisei have their sources. The Altai Mountains are known as the Turkic peoples' birthplace. The proposed Altaic language family (include the Turkic, Mongolic, Tungusic, Korean, and Japonic languages) takes its name from the mountain range.

The Copper Age in the Middle East and the Caucasus begins in the late 5th millennium BC and lasts for about a millennium before it gives rise to the Bronze Age. The population during the Copper Age has been described as paleomongolid in the east of what is now Mongolia, and as Europid in the west.

The Altai Mountains in what is now southern Russia and central China have been identified as the point of origin of a cultural enigma termed the Seima-Turbino Phenomenon. It is conjectured that climatic problems in this region around the start of the second millennium BC created ecological, economic and political changes which triggered a rapid and massive migration of peoples westward into northeast Europe and eastward into southeast China, Vietnam and Thailand across a frontier of some 4,000 miles. This migration took place in just five to six generations and led to peoples from Finland in the west to Thailand in the east employing the same metal working technology and, in some areas, horse breeding and riding. It is further conjectured that this phenomenon may have been the medium through which the Uralic group of languages spread across Europe and Asia, ultimately producing 39 modern languages including Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian and Lappish.

* Videos: 22. Altai Mountains • Russia, Kara-Chad, Altai, v.1, A Celebration of Altaic Cultures

 

 

Altay of Siberia

The Altay or Altai are an ethnic group of Turkic people living in the Siberian Altai Republic and Altai Krai and surrounding areas of Tuva and Mongolia. For alternative ethnonyms see also Teleut, Tele, Telengit, Mountain Kalmuck, White Kalmuck, Black Tatar, Oirat/Oirot.

The Uriankhai people were annexed by the Oirat Zunghars in the 16th century. After the fall of the Zunghar Empire, the Uriankhai were subjugated by the Qing Dynasty; and their one part, Altayans, was called by the Qing Dynasty Altan Nuur Uriyangkhai. They have had skills in metalworking dating back to the 2nd millennium BC.

The Altay were originally nomadic, with a lifestyle based on hunting / trapping and pastoralism (mainly cattle, sheep, goats),

Prior to 1917 the Altai were actually considered to be many different ethnic groups.

 

 

* Gene Pool Differences between Northern and Southern Altaians Inferred from the Data on Y-chromosomal Haplogroups by V. Kharkov, et al.

Abstract: Y-chromosomal haplogroups composition and frequencies were analyzed in Northern and Southern Altaians. In the gene pool of Altaians a total of 18 Y-chromosomal haplogroups were identified, including C3xM77, C3c, DxM15, E, F*, J2, I1a, I1b, K*, N*, N2, N3a, O3, P*, Q*, R1*, R1a1, and R1b3. The structuring nature of the Altaic gene pool is determined by the presence of the Caucasoid and Mongoloid components, along with the ancient genetic substratum, marked by the corresponding Western and Eastern Eurasian haplogroups. Haplogroup R1a1 prevailed in both ethnic groups, accounting for about 53 and 38% of paternal lineages in Southern and Northern Altaians, respectively. This haplogroup is thought to be associated with the eastward expansion of early Indo-Europeans, and marks Caucasoid element in the gene pools of South Siberian populations. Similarly to haplogroup K*, the second frequent haplogroup Q* represents paleo-Asiatic marker, probably associated with the Ket and Samoyedic contributions to the Altaic gene pool. The presence of lineages N2 and N3a can be explained as the contribution of Finno-Ugric tribes, assimilated by ancient Turks. The presence of haplogroups C3xM77, C3c, N*, and O3 reflects the contribution of Central Asian Mongoloid groups. These haplogroups, probably, mark the latest movements of Mongolian migrants from the territory of contemporary Tuva and Mongolia. The data of factor analysis, variance analysis, cluster analysis, and phylogenetic analysis point to substantial genetic differentiation of Northern and Southern Altaians. The differences between Northern and Southern Altaians in the haplogroup composition, as well as in the internal haplotype structure were demonstrated.

 

 

Haplogroup Q (Y-DNA)

Haplogroup Q (M242) is a branch of haplogroup P (M45). It is believed to have arisen in Siberia approximately 15,000 to 20,000 years ago.

This haplogroup contains the patrilineal ancestors of many Siberians, Central Asians, and indigenous peoples of the Americas. Haplogroup Q Y-chromosomes are also found scattered at a low frequency throughout Eurasia. This haplogroup is diverse despite its low frequency among most populations outside of Siberia or the Americas, and at least six primary subclades have been sampled and identified in modern populations.

A migration from Asia into Alaska across the Bering Strait was done by haplogroup Q populations approximately 15,000 years ago. This founding population spread throughout the Americas. In the Americas, a member of the founding population underwent a mutation, producing its descendant population defined by the M3 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP).

Discovery of Ancestral Q in the Indian Subcontinent: A Biomed study observed an ancestral state Q* and a novel sub-branch Q5, not reported elsewhere, in the Indian subcontinent, though in low frequency. A novel subgroup Q4 was identified recently which is also restricted to the Indian subcontinent. The most plausible explanation for these observations could be an ancestral migration of individuals bearing ancestral lineage Q* to the Indian subcontinent followed by an autochthonous differentiation to Q4 and Q5 sublineages later on. Thus the subcontinent has three novel Q lineages, an ancestral Q* (different from the Central Asian Q*), Q4 and Q5 unique to the subcontinent.

Distribution: In the Old World, the Q lineage and its many branches is largely found within a huge triangle defined by Norway in the west, the Iranian plateau in the south, and northern China in the east. It has also been detected in Yemenite Jews, Algerians, Lebanese, and Turks. The frequency of Q in Norway and northern China is about 4%, with Chinese samples of haplogroup Q belonging almost exclusively to the subclade Q1a1-M120. In Iran, the frequency runs between approximately 2.6% in the south and 9.1% in the north; Iranian samples of haplogroup Q belong almost exclusively to the subclade Q1a2-M25. In Pakistan, at the eastern end of the Iranian plateau, the frequency of haplogroup Q is about 2.2% (14/638) or 3.4% (6/176). Haplogroup Q has been found in approximately 4% of Southern Altaians and 32% of Northern Altaians, 16% of Tuvans, and 3% of Uyghurs, all of which are Turkic peoples inhabiting parts of Central Asia and southern Siberia. Haplogroup Q is found in approximately 3% of males in Tibet and Mongolia, and approximately 2% of males in Turkey, Lebanon, and the United Arab Emirates. Only two groups in the Old World are majority Q groups. These are the Selkups (~70%) and Kets (~95%). They live in western and middle Siberia and are small in number, being just under 5,000 and 1,500, respectively.

 

 

* The Presence of Mitochondrial Haplogroup X in Altaians from South Siberia by Miroslava V. Derenko, et al.

Excerpt: The Altaians, the native people of Altai Republic (south Siberia) number up to 60,000 persons. “Altaians” is the common denomination for seven formerly distinct Turkic-speaking groups: the Altai-Kizhi, Teleuts, and Telenghits, who are southern Altaians, and the Chelkans, Kumandins, Tubalars, and Maimalars, who are northern Altaians. The differences between southern and northern Altaians are well established, on the basis of anthropological, linguistic, and classical genetic-marker studies (Potapov 1969; Alexeev and Gohman 1984; Luzina 1987). Anthropologically, southern Altaians are typical central Asian Mongoloids (like Mongolians, Yakuts, and Buryats), whereas northern Altaians exhibit some Caucasoid anthropological features, similar to those of Ugric and Samoyedic groups.

The Altai region was populated during the Lower Paleolithic, and there is ample evidence of settlement during the Middle Paleolithic. It was proposed by anthropologists that, at least from the Neolithic, the territories of Altai and Sayan region were populated by mixed tribes with Caucasoid and Mongoloid anthropological features, but later they were replaced by Mongoloid populations of central Asian origin (Alexeev and Gohman 1984). The analysis of the tribal structure of Southern Altaians has shown that the present-day Altaians have retained their native language and ethnic identity. They have begun to mix with other ethnic groups (mostly Russians and Kazakhs) only recently, so the interethnic admixture is estimated to be <5% (Luzina 1987; Osipova et al. 1997). The haplogroup X mtDNAs have not been found in populations of central Asia, including Kazakhs, Uighurs, and Kirghizs (Comas et al. 1998). Since the frequency of haplogroup X in Russians is extremely low (3 of 336; Orekhov et al. 1999; Malyarchuk and Derenko 2000; authors’ unpublished data), the recent European admixture cannot explain the presence of haplogroup X in the Altaians. Hence, the results of the present study allow us to suggest that haplogroup X was the part of the ancestral gene pool for Altaian populations, being found both in northern and southern Altaians.

Recently, the mtDNA studies have shown that both northern and southern Altaians exhibit all four Asian and American Indian–specific haplogroups (A–D) with frequencies of 57.2% (Sukernik et al. 1996) and 46.8% (Derenko et al. 2000a), respectively, exceeding those reported previously for Mongolians, Chinese, and Tibetans. Therefore, they may represent the populations which are most closely related to New World indigenous groups. Since the detection of all four haplogroups (A–D) in an Asian population is thought to be a first criterion in the identification of a possible New World founder, the candidate source population for American Indian mtDNA haplotypes therefore may include the populations originating in the regions to the southwest and southeast of Lake Baikal, including the Altai Mountain region (Derenko et al. 2000b). The presence of X mtDNAs in Altaians is generally consonant with the latter conclusion.

Because the location and identification of the population that was the source of the founding lineages for the New World is a question of considerable interest, several studies on Y-chromosomal DNA polymorphism were performed recently to investigate Pleistocene male migrations to the American continent (Underhill et al. 1996; Lell et al. 1997; Karafet et al. 1999; Santos et al. 1999). It has been shown that the major Y haplotype present in most American Indians could be traced back to recent ancestors they have in common with Siberians: namely, the Kets and Altaians, from the Yenisey River Basin and the Altai Mountains, respectively (Santos et al. 1999). Similarly, based on a comprehensive analysis of worldwide Y-chromosome variation, it has been proposed that populations occupying the general area including Lake Baikal (eastward to the Trans-Baikal and southward into Northern Mongolia), the Lena River headwaters, the Angara and Yenisey River basins, the Altai Mountain foothills, and the region south of the Sayan Mountains (including Tuva and western Mongolia) was the source for dispersals of New World Y-chromosome founders (Karafet et al. 1999). It is obvious that we have now the genetic evidence that will allow closer determination of which Siberian population was the source of the population expansion leading to modern American Indians and will allow relation of the studies of migrations from Siberia to the Americas that are based on paternally inherited genetic systems with those based on maternally inherited ones.

 

 

Haplogroup X (mtDNA)

The genetic sequences of haplogroup X diverged originally from haplogroup N, and subsequently further diverged about 20,000 to 30,000 years ago to give two sub-groups, X1 and X2.

Overall haplogroup X accounts for about 2% of the population of Europe, the Near East and North Africa. Sub-group X1 is much less numerous, and restricted to North and East Africa, and also the Near East. Sub-group X2 appears to have undergone extensive population expansion and dispersal around or soon after the last glacial maximum, about 21,000 years ago. It is more strongly present in the Near East, the Caucasus, and Mediterranean Europe; and somewhat less strongly present in the rest of Europe. Particular concentrations appear in Georgia (8%), the Orkney Islands (in Scotland) (7%) and amongst the Israeli Druze community (26%); the latter are presumably due to a founder effect.

North and South America: Haplogroup X is also one of the five haplogroups found in the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Although it occurs only at a frequency of about 3% for the total current indigenous population of the Americas, it is a major haplogroup in northern North America, where among the Algonquian peoples it comprises up to 25% of mtDNA types. It is also present in lesser percentages to the west and south of this area — among the Sioux (15%), the Nuu-Chah-Nulth (11%–13%), the Navajo (7%), and the Yakima (5%).

Unlike the four main Native American haplogroups (A, B, C, and D), X is not at all strongly associated with East Asia. The main occurrence of X in Asia discovered so far is in Altaia in South Siberia, and detailed examination has shown that the Altaian sequences are all almost identical (haplogroup X2e), suggesting that they arrived in the area probably from the South Caucasus more recently than 5000 BP.

Two sequences of haplogroup X2 were sampled further east of Altai among the Evenks of Central Siberia. These two sequences belong to X2* and X2b. It is uncertain if they represent a remnant of the migration of X2 through Siberia or a more recent input.

This relative absence of haplogroup X2 in Asia is one of the major factors causing the current rethinking of the peopling of the Americas. However, the New World haplogroup X2a is as different from any of the Old World X2b, X2c, X2d, X2e and X2f lineages as they are from each other, indicating an early origin "likely at the very beginning of their expansion and spread from the Near East".

The Solutrean Hypothesis posits that haplogroup X reached North America with a wave of European migration about 20,000 BP by the Solutreans, a stone-age culture in south-western France and in Spain, by boat around the southern edge of the Arctic ice pack.

 

 

* Distinctive Paleo-Indian Migration Routes from Beringia Marked by Two Rare mtDNA Haplogroups by Ugo A. Perego, et al.

Summary: Background: It is widely accepted that the ancestors of Native Americans arrived in the New World via Beringia approximately 10 to 30 thousand years ago (kya). However, the arrival time(s), number of expansion events, and migration routes into the Western Hemisphere remain controversial because linguistic, archaeological, and genetic evidence have not yet provided coherent answers. Notably, most of the genetic evidence has been acquired from the analysis of the common pan-American mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroups. In this study, we have instead identified and analyzed mtDNAs belonging to two rare Native American haplogroups named D4h3 and X2a. Results: Phylogeographic analyses at the highest level of molecular resolution (69 entire mitochondrial genomes) reveal that two almost concomitant paths of migration from Beringia led to the Paleo-Indian dispersal approximately 15–17 kya. Haplogroup D4h3 spread into the Americas along the Pacific coast, whereas X2a entered through the ice-free corridor between the Laurentide and Cordilleran ice sheets. The examination of an additional 276 entire mtDNA sequences provides similar entry times for all common Native American haplogroups, thus indicating at least a dual origin for Paleo- Indians.
Conclusions: A dual origin for the first Americans is a striking novelty from the genetic point of view, and it makes plausible a scenario positing that within a rather short period of time, there may have been several entries into the Americas from a dynamically changing Beringian source. Moreover, this implies that most probably more than one language family was carried along with the Paleo-Indians.

 

 

* Natural Selection Shaped Regional mtDNA Variation in Humans by Dan Mishmara, et al.

Abstract: Human mtDNA shows striking regional variation, traditionally attributed to genetic drift. However, it is not easy to account for the fact that only two mtDNA lineages (M and N) left Africa to colonize Eurasia and that lineages A, C, D, and G show a 5-fold enrichment from central Asia to Siberia. As an alternative to drift, natural selection might have enriched for certain mtDNA lineages as people migrated north into colder climates. To test this hypothesis we analyzed 104 complete mtDNA sequences from all global regions and lineages. African mtDNA variation did not significantly deviate from the standard neutral model, but European, Asian, and Siberian plus Native American variations did. Analysis of amino acid substitution mutations (nonsynonymous, Ka) versus neutral mutations (synonymous, Ks) (ka
ks) for all 13 mtDNA proteincoding genes revealed that the ATP6 gene had the highest amino acid sequence variation of any human mtDNA gene, even though ATP6 is one of the more conserved mtDNA proteins. Comparison of the ka
ks ratios for each mtDNA gene from the tropical, temperate, and arctic zones revealed that ATP6 was highly variable in the mtDNAs from the arctic zone, cytochrome b was particularly variable in the temperate zone, and cytochrome oxidase I was notably more variable in the tropics. Moreover, multiple amino acid changes found in ATP6, cytochrome b, and cytochrome oxidase I appeared to be functionally significant. From these analyses we conclude that selection may have played a role in shaping human regional mtDNA variation and that one of the selective influences was climate.

 

 

* Mitochondrial DNA Variation in the Aboriginal Populations of the Altai-Baikal Region: Implications for the genetic history of North Asia and America by Zakharov IA, et al.

Abstract: The discovery of mtDNA types common to Asians and Amerinds (types A, B, C, and D) forced investigators to search for those nations of Asia which, though not considered the ancestors of the Amerinds, have retained a close genetic resemblance with them. We collected samples and studied the gene pools of the Turkic-speaking nations of South Siberia: Altaians, Khakassians, Shorians, Tuvinians, Todjins, Tofalars, Sojots, as well as Mongolian-speaking Buryats. The data indicate that nearly all Turkic-speaking nations of Siberia and Central Asia, as well as the Buryats, have types A, B, C, and D in their gene pool. The highest total frequency of these types is observed in the Tuvinians and Sojots. They, as well as the Buryats, also have the lowest frequency of the europeoid types. The most mixed Asian-Europeoid gene pool examined turned out to be that of the Shorians. An important finding was the presence of type X in the Altaians, which had not yet been detected in Asia. As shown by computer analysis, this DNA sequence is not a late European admixture. Rather, the Altai variant X is ancient and can be close to the ancestral form of the variants of contemporary Europeans and Amerinds. The presented results prove that of all nations in Asia, the Turkic-speaking nations living between Altai and Baikal along the Sayan mountains are genetically closest to the Amerinds

 

 

Amerind

Painting of various ethnic groups from the Americas, early 20th century

Amerind is a contraction of "American Indian". It refers collectively to the Indigenous peoples of the Americas who lived in the Western Hemisphere before European arrival to the continent. The word was coined by the American Anthropological Association in Washington, D.C.. Some of its earliest uses can be attributed to the paper Anthropology in Early merican Writings by J. D. McGuire of the American Anthropological Association and Dr. Alexander F. Chamberlain in The Algonquin Linguistic Stock. Use of the word stirred controversy at the 1902 International Congress of Americanists meeting in New York City after a protest by linguist Franz Boas.

It also refers to the modern ethnic communities that originate from those peoples. Use of the term is intended to avoid the confusion inherent in using "Indian", which can also refer to inhabitants of India.

According to the still-debated New World migration model, a migration of humans from Eurasia to the Americas took place via Beringia, a land bridge which formerly connected the two continents across what is now the Bering Strait. The most recent point at which this migration could have taken place is c. 12,000 years ago, with the earliest period remaining a matter of some unresolved contention. These early Paleoamericans soon spread throughout the Americas, diversifying into many hundreds of culturally distinct nations and tribes.

 

 

Indigenous Amerindian Genetics

The genetic pattern indicates Indigenous Amerindians experienced two very distinctive genetic episodes; first with the initial peopling of the Americas, and secondly with European colonization of the Americas. The former is the determinant factor for the number of gene lineages, zygosity mutations and founding haplotypes present in today's Indigenous Amerindian populations.

Human settlement of the New World occurred in stages from the Bering sea coast line, with an initial 15,000 to 20,000-year layover on Beringia for the small founding population. The micro-satellite diversity and distributions of the Y lineage specific to South America indicates that certain Amerindian populations have been isolated since the initial colonization of the region. The Na-Dené, Inuit and Indigenous Alaskan populations exhibit haplogroup Q (Y-DNA); however, they are distinct from other indigenous Amerindians with various mtDNA and atDNA mutations. This suggests that the earliest migrants into the northern extremes of North America and Greenland derived from later migrant populations.

MtDNA: When studying 86 complete mitochondrial genomes the results conclude that all Indigenous Amerindian haplogroups, including Haplogroup X (mtDNA), are part of a single founding east Asian population. It also indicates that the distribution of Mitochondrial DNA haplogroups and the levels of sequence divergence among linguistically similar groups, were the result of proceeding multiple migrations from Bering Straits populations. All Indigenous Amerindians mtDNA can be traced back to five haplogroups types A, B, C, D and X. More specifically, Indigenous Amerindians mtDNA belongs to sub-haplogroups that are unique to the Americas and not found in Asia or Europe: A2, B2, C1, D1, and X2a (with minor groups C4c, D2, D3, and D4h3). This suggests that 95% of Indigenous Amerindians mtDNAs are descended from a minimal genetic founding female population, comprising of sub-haplogroups A2, B2, C1b, Cc, C1d, and D1. The remaining 5% is composed of the X2a, D2, D3, C4, and D4h3 sub-haplogroups.

X (mtDNA) is one of the five mtDNA -haplogroups found in Amerindian indigenous peoples. Curiously, unlike the four main American mtDNA-haplogroups (A, B, C and D) - X is not at all strongly associated with east Asia. Haplogroup X (mtDNA) genetic sequences diverged about 20,000 to 30,000 years ago to give two sub-groups, X1 and X2. X2's subclad X2a occurs only at a frequency of about 3% for the total current indigenous population of the Americas. However, X2a is a major mtDNA subclade in North America, where among the Algonquian peoples it comprises up to 25% of mtDNA types. It is also present in lesser percentages to the west and south of this area — among the Sioux (15%), the Nuu-Chah-Nulth (11%–13%), the Navajo (7%), and the Yakama (5%). The (mtDNA)X-haplo is more strongly present in the Near East, the Caucasus, and Mediterranean Europe. The predominate theory for haplogroup X (subclade X2a) appearance in North America is migration along with A,B,C, and D mtDNA groups; from a matrilineal ancestral source, originating in the Altai Region of central Asia.

Sequencing of mitochondrial genome from Paleo-Eskimo remains (3,500 years old) are distinct from modern Amerindians; falling within haplogroup (mtDNA) D2a1, a group observed among today's Aleutian Islanders the Aleuts and Siberian Yupik populations. This suggests that the colonizers of the far north and subsequently Greenland, originated from later coastal populations. Then a genetic exchange in the northern extremes introduced by the Thule people (proto-Inuit) approximately 800 - 1,000 years ago began. This final migrants with (mtDNA) haplogroups A2a and A2b, interbred with the existing Paleo-Eskimo populations of Canada and Greenland, culminating as the modern Inuit.

Y-DNA: Haplogroup Q1a3a is the only Y Chromosome haplogroup strictly associated with the indigenous peoples of the Americas. This haplogroup is defined by the presence of the rs3894 (M3) single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP). The M3 SNP is found "downstream" from the M242 SNP. M242 is the defining SNP of the Q Haplogroup. M3 occurred on the Q lineage roughly 10-15 thousand years ago as the migration into the Americas was underway. There is some debate as to on which side of the Bering Strait this mutation occurred, but it definitely happened in the ancestors of the indigenous peoples of the Americas.

In 1996 Dr. Peter Underhill and his colleagues at Stanford University first discovered the SNP that was to become known as M3. Later studies completed the genetic bridge by determining that M3 was related to M242-bearing populations found predominately in Central Asia.

Populations carrying M3 are widespread throughout the Americas. Since the discovery of M3 several subclades of M3 bearing populations have been discovered in the Americas as well. An example is in South America where some populations have a high prevalence of SNP M19 which defines subclade Q1a3a1. M19 has been detected in 59% of Amazonian Ticuna men and in 10% of Wayuu men. Subclade Q1a3a1 appears to be unique to South American populations and suggests that population isolation and perhaps even the establishment of tribes began soon after migration into the Americas.

The subclades of Haplogroup Q1a3a with their defining SNP's (in parenthesis):

• Q1a3a (M3) - Subclade associated with all Indigenous Americas. Origin: Americas 10,000 to 15,000 years ago
  • Q1a3a*
  • Q1a3a1 (M19) - subclade found among Indigenous South Americas, such as the Ticuna and the Wayuu.
    - Origin: South America approximately 5,000 to 10,000 years ago.
    • Q1a3a2 (M194) - this is the defining mutation for Q1a3a2. It has only been found in South American populations
    • Q1a3a3 (M199, P106, P292) - subclades that have only been found in South American populations

Haplogroup C3 (M217, P44) is mainly found in indigenous Siberians, Mongolians and Oceanic populations. Haplogroup C3 is the most widespread and frequently occurring branch of the greater (Y-DNA) haplogroup C. Haplogroup C3 is believed to have originated approximately 20,000 years before present in eastern or central Asia. Haplogroup C3 decedent C3b (P39) is commonly found among today's Na-Dené speakers. This distinct and isolated branch C3b (P39) includes almost all the Haplogroup C3 Y-chromosomes found among any indigenous peoples of the Americas. The Na-Dené groups are also unusual among indigenous peoples of the Americas in having a relatively high frequency of Q-M242 (25%) This implies that the Na-Dené migration occurred from the Russian Far East; after the initial Paleo-Indians colonization, but prior to modern Inuit, Inupiat and Yupik expansions.

Haplogroup C3 is the modal haplogroup among Mongolians and most indigenous populations of the Russian Far East, such as the Northern Tungusic peoples, Koryaks, Itelmens, and Nivkhs. The frequency of Haplogroup C3 tends to be negatively correlated with distance from Mongolia and the Russian Far East, but it still comprises more than ten percent of the total Y-chromosome diversity among the Manchus, Koreans, Ainu, and some Turkic peoples of Central Asia although in a genetic study in 2004, haplogroup C3 was more frequent among Koreans than previously thought (16.5%). Among the Kazakhs, who are a Turkic people of Kazakhstan and neighboring areas in northern Central Asia, Haplogroup C3 once again emerges as the most common haplogroup. Beyond this range of high-to-moderate frequency, which contains mainly the northeast quadrant of Eurasia and the northwest quadrant of North America, Haplogroup C3 continues to be found at low frequencies, and it has even been found as far afield as Northwest Europe, Turkey, Pakistan, Nepal and adjacent regions of India, Vietnam, the Malay Archipelago, and some aboriginal populations of Colombia and Venezuela. Within Japan, haplogroup C3 has been found almost exclusively among Ainus (2/16 = 12.5% or 1/4 = 25%) and among Japanese of the Kyūshū region (4/53 = 7.5%). The frequency of Haplogroup C3 among the Han Chinese population averages between 6.0% and 12.0%, with frequencies in individual samples ranging from 4.5% (2/44 Han from Shaanxi) to 20% (6/30 Han from Lanzhou, Gansu).

AtDNA: When examined genetic diversity and population structure in the American landmass using autosomal (atDNA) micro-satellite markers genotyped; sampled from North, Central, and South America, analyzed against similar data available from other indigenous populations worldwide. The Amerindian populations show a lower genetic diversity and cellular differentiation than populations from other continental regions. Observe is both decreasing genetic diversity as geographic distance from the Bering Strait occurs and of decreasing genetic similarity to Siberian populations from Alaska (genetic entry point). Also observe is evidence of a higher level of diversity and lower level of population structure in western South America compared to eastern South America. A relative lack of differentiation between Mesoamerican and Andean populations, a scenario that implies coastal routes were easier for migrating peoples (more genetic contributors) to traverse in comparison with inland routes. The over all pattern that is emerging suggest that the Americas were recently colonized by a small number of individuals (effective size of about 70), and then grew by a factor of 10 rapidly. The data also shows that there has been genetic exchanges between Asia, the Arctic and Greenland since the initial peopling of the Americas.

* American Indian mtDNA and Y Chromosome Genetic Data: A comprehensive report of their use in migration and other anthropological studies by Peter N. Jones

 

The Great Journey: The peopling of ancient America, updated edition by Brian M. Fagan

 

 

 

 

The Settlement of the Americas: A New Prehistory by Thomas D. Dillehay

 

 

 

 

 

* East Asian Genotypes of Helicobacter pylori Strains in Amerindians Provide Evidence for Its Ancient Human Carriage by Chandrabali Ghose, et al.

Excerpt: Although the mixture of Amerindian, European, and African human and microbial genes has been occurring in South America for >500 years, examination of relatively isolated populations provides a means to assess for genes that predate the European conquest. That transmission of H. pylori occurs primarily in families and that strains from geographically separated human populations can be distinguished indicate that such differences can be used to assess strain origins. However, even in Puerto Ayacucho nonindigenous genes clearly have been introduced as indicated by the Western H. pylori genotypes observed in a proportion of the patients. Despite intermixing, the prominence of East Asian genotypes in H. pylori populations from patients in Puerto Ayacucho and their absence from the control Caracas (mestizo) population provide evidence that these genotgypes are indigenous in the Amerindian population. Generally parallel findings in each of the three loci examined increase confidence that the polymorphisms observed represent clonal descent from East Asian ancestors rather than isolated homoplasies. The substantial level of synonymous substitutions between the Puerto Ayacucho and East Asian s1c alleles indicates that the divergence of these two groups is not recent and virtually eliminates as a possibility a recent transfer of the s1c allele to Puerto Ayacucho from East Asian strains. This level of synonymous substitutions, combined with the lack of nonsynonymous substitutions, is indicative of substantial random drift that occurred since the last common ancestral strain that carried this allele.

 

 

* Mitochondrial DNA Haplogroups of Paleoamericans in North America by David Glenn Smith, et al.

Abstract: Some studies of craniofacial traits of late-Pleistocene and early-Holocene human remains from the Americas have cited the presence of traits uncharacteristic of modern Native Americans as evidence for a separate migration to the New World whose source was outside Siberia. To test this hypothesis, we attempted to extract mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) for genetic analysis from some of the earliest known human remains from the New World. The remains from only one of twenty sites represented by these remains yielded DNA for analysis. Together with previously reported studies, late-Pleistocene/early-Holocene remains provide evidence for three of the five haplogroups (haplogroups B, C and D) present in modern Native Americans approximately 10,000 years ago, notably excluding both the most common haplogroup in modern Native Americans (haplogroup A) and all other haplogroups absent in modern Native American populations. These results provide no support for hypotheses of more than a single migration to the New World, the one that brought the ancestors of all extant Native Americans to the New World, followed by a late population expansion in Beringia.

 

 

Face of a Hopewell Person made from copper (Photo from Ohio History Central)

* Mitochondrial DNA Analysis of the Ohio Hopewell of the Hopewell Mound Group by Lisa A. Mills

Excerpts: In order to detect the level of mtDNA variation present within the Ohio Hopewell of the Hopewell Mound Group, RFLP testing for the five Native American haplotypes was conducted on the samples. Table 12 shows the overall distribution of the five Native American haplotypes. Haplotype X was not found while 41% of the individuals were haplotype A. Haplotype C had the second highest RFLP distribution, with haplotype D next and only 9% of the sample had haplotype B. The Ohio Hopewell of the Hopewell Mound Group are similar in RFLP frequencies to other Amerindian populations ....

The Ohio Hopewell through an analysis of their mutations have revealed ancestral relationships with individuals in China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Mongolia, Russia and South America. The Ohio Hopewell also display mutations that are uniquely their own, such as haplotype A 16166, haplotype B 16247and 16265. The unique mutations of the Ohio Hopwell of Hopewell Mound Group may have been lost through attrition or have yet to be discovered in other Native American populations.

 

 

Metallurgy in Pre-Columbian America

People in the Americas have been using native metal from very early times, with recent finds of gold artefacts in the Andean region dated to 2155 - 1936 B.C. and North American copper finds dated to approximately 5000 B.C. e.g.. The metal would have been found in nature without need for smelting techniques and shaped into the desired form using heat and cold hammering techniques without chemically altering the metal by alloying it. To date ‘no one has found evidence that points to the use of melting, smelting and casting in prehistoric eastern North America.’. In South America the case is quite different. This early familiarity with metals then developed into full metallurgy with smelting and various metals being purposefully alloyed. Metallurgy in Mesoamerica developed from contacts with South America.

South America: South American metal working seems to have developed in the Andean regions of modern Peru and Bolivia with gold being hammered and shaped into intricate objects, particularly ornaments, recent finds dating the earliest metal work to 2155 to 1936 B.C.. It was found in the context of a society undergoing social and economic changes but still very much small food producer and not quite sedentary yet. Which breaks away from the idea that this type of metal work developed in societies with enough food surplus to support an elite. Rather than being a product of a hierarchical society gold might have been meshed in the creation of it. Further evidence for this type of metal work comes from the sites at Waywaka, Chavin and Kotosh, and it seems to have been spread throughout Andean societies by the Early horizon (1000 - 200 B.C.)

Unlike in other metallurgy traditions where metals gain importance due to their widespread use from weaponry to every day utensils, metals in South America (and latter in central america) were mainly valued as adornments and objects representative of a high status (this not to say that some more functional objects were not being produced). It is during the Early horizon that advancements in metal working result in spectacular and characteristically Andean gold objects made by the joining of smaller metal sheets and also gold-silver alloy appears.

Two traditions seem have developed along side each other, one in northern Peru and Ecuador another in the Altiplano region of southern Peru, Bolivia and Chile. There is evidence for smelting of copper sulphide in the Altiplano region around the Early horizon. Evidence for this comes from copper slag recovered at several sites, with the ore itself possibly coming from the south (Chilean-Bolivian border).

Evidence for fully developed smelting however only appears with the Moche culture (northern coast, 200 B.C. - 600 A.D.). The ores were being extracted at shallow deposits in the Andean foothill, whether by specialised workers or slaves/prisoners is unclear. In any case the ores are believed to have been smelted at nearby locations, evidenced in the actual metal artefacts and from ceramic vessels depicting the process, which is believed to have been occurring in adobe brick furnaces with at least 3 blow pipes to provide the air flow needed to reach the high temperatures. The resulting ingots would then have been moved to coastal centres where shaping of the object would occur in specialised workshops. Both of the workshops found and studied were located near administrative sections of the respective towns - again indicative of the high value placed upon metal.

The objects themselves were still mainly adornments, now often being attached to beads, with some functional objects being fashioned but since these were so elaborately decorated and often found within high status burial contexts that it still believed that they were still being used for more symbolic purposes. The appearance of gold or silver seems to have been important with a high number of gilded or silvered objects as well as the appearance of Tumbaga, a copper/gold and sometimes also silver alloy. Arsenic bronze was also being smelted from sulphidic ores, a practice either independently developed or learned from the southern tradition.

There is a gradual spread north into Colombia, Panama and Costa Rica reaching Guatemala and Belize by A.D. 800.

It is really only with the Incas that metals gain a more utilitarian use, nonetheless it remained a material through which to display wealth and status. The characteristic importance placed on colour, which had led to some of the earlier developments was still present (Sun/Moon association with gold/silver). Metal other than gold had also an intrinsic value with the axe pieces being of particular note in this regard. With the spread of metal tools being championed by the Incas it is thought possible that a more Old World use of metals would have become more common. In any case ‘Bronze can be seen as an expensive substitute for the equally efficient stone’ (pp 183) and why waste the gift of the Gods then?

 

 

* Mitochondrial DNA Sequence Analysis of a Native Bolivian Population by Afonso Costa H, et al.

Abstract: Mitochondrial DNA analysis is very useful for the interpretation of the history of human migration and to estimate the frequency of a haplotype in the forensic context. From a human settlement perspective, La Paz area is greatly interesting since the first planned city of the region is located there. Samples from 110 individuals from La Paz were studied analysing the polymorphisms in the D-loop, hypervariable region I (HVI) and hypervariable region II (HVII) in order to verify the genetic diversity. The aim of this study was to start the creation of a population database in order to obtain the genetic interpopulation variability and classify haplotypes into characteristic haplogroups of South America. A total of 97 different haplotypes were identified, 90 being unique, expressed by 122 polymorphic nucleotide positions. Nucleotide and sequence diversity were estimated to be 0.015 +/- 0.0075 and 0.996, respectively. Haplogroup distribution in the samples was 57.27% B4, 19.09% C1, 10.00% A2, 3.64% D1, 2.73% D4h3, 1.82% H, and 0.91% for each of the haplogroups A4, B4c1a, CZ, D4J, M7a and M8/N9b. The rate of length heteroplasmy was 36.36% in HVI and 52.73% in HVII. Phylogenetic analysis reveals proximity to the Korean, Chilean aboriginal, Japanese and Australian populations. The estimated genetic variability of the studied population was high, suggesting an early settlement.

 

 

* Genetic Evidence Links Peru’s Ancient Mochica Culture to Japanese, Siberian and Taiwanese Peoples by the Peruvian Times

Excerpt: Long-term mitochondrial DNA analysis of remains recovered from well-preserved Moche sacrificial victims reveals close ties between the ancient culture and the populations of Ecuador, Colombia, Siberia, Taiwan and the Aino, an ethnic group indigenous to Japan’s Kuril Islands, and much of Sakhalin, El Comercio reported Thursday.

Samples taken from sacrifical victims and other mummies — including the Lord of Sicán — found in the Bosque de Pomac Historic Sanctuary, were painstakingly analyzed by Dr. Ken-Ichi Shinoda, an anthropologist specialized in ancient DNA testing, and affiliated to Tokyo’s National Science Museum.

The samples were compared with people living in Asian countries, after which it was discovered that genetic ties could be established between the Moche, who lived more than 1,100 years ago in Peru’s Lambayeque region, and peoples of Taiwan and Japan.

To take the research a step further, Shinoda and Sicán National Museum director Carlos Elera are to test Moche descendents living in the Bosque de Pomac Historic Sanctuary area.

 

 

Moche

Map of Peru

The Moche civilization (alternately, the Mochica culture, Early Chimu, Pre-Chimu, Proto-Chimu, etc.) flourished in northern Peru from about 100 AD. to 800 AD, during the Regional Development Epoch. While this is still the subject of some debate, many scholars contend that the Moche were not politically organized as a monolithic empire or state but rather as a group of autonomous polities that shared a common elite culture as seen in the rich iconography and monumental architecture that survive today. They are particularly noted for their elaborately painted ceramics, gold work, monumental constructions (huacas) and irrigation systems. Moche history may be broadly divided into three periods – the emergence of the Moche culture in Early Moche (AD 100–300), its expansion and florescence during Middle Moche (AD 300–600), and the urban nucleation and subsequent collapse in Late Moche (AD 500–750). Moche society was agriculturally based with a significant level of investment in the diversion of river water into a network of irrigation canals. Their culture was sophisticated and their artifacts document their lives with detailed scenes of hunting, fishing, fighting, sacrifice, sexual encounters and elaborate ceremonies.

The Moche cultural sphere is centered around several valleys on the north coast of Peru – Lambayeque, Jequetepeque, Chicama, Moche, Virú, Chao, Santa, and Nepena. The Huaca del Sol, a pyramidal adobe structure on the Rio Moche, had been the largest pre-Columbian structure in Peru; however, it was partly destroyed when Spanish Conquistadors mined its graves for gold. Fortunately the nearby Huaca de la Luna has remained largely intact – it contains many colorful murals with complex iconography and has been under excavation since the early 1990s. Other major Moche sites include Sipan, Pampa Grande, Loma Negra, Dos Cabezas, Pacatnamu, San Jose de Moro, the El Brujo complex, Mocollope, Cerro Mayal, Galindo, Huancaco, and Panamarca.

The Lord of Sipán (El Señor de Sipán) is a mummy found in Sipán by Peruvian archaeologist Walter Alva in 1987. The tomb is in Sipán's Huaca Rajada, an area in Chiclayo.

The Lord of Sipán tomb is a Moche culture site in Peru. Some archaeologists hold it to be one of the most important archaeological discoveries in this region of the world in the last 30 years, because the main tomb was found intact and untouched by thieves.

Sipán is located in the northern part of Peru, close to the coast, in the middle of the Lambayeque Valley, 35 km east of Chiclayo, Peru. Four tombs have been found in Sipán's Huaca Rajada, a mausoleum built by the Moche culture that ruled the northern coast of Peru from around 1 AD to 700 AD.

The clothing of this warrior and ruler suggest he was approximately 1.67 m tall. He probably died within three months of governing. His jewelry and ornaments which indicate he was of the highest rank, include pectoral, necklaces, nose rings, ear rings, helmets, falconry and bracelets. Most were of gold, silver, copper, gold and semi-precious stones. In his tomb were found more than 400 jewels.

Found on the Lord of Sipán, was a precious necklace with beads of gold and silver in the shape of maní, or peanut kernels to represent the tierra, the earth. The peanut kernels represented the earth to signify that man came from the land, and that when they die, they return back to the earth; the Moches harvested peanuts and knew that they came from the ground, therefore they were symbolic. The necklace itself has 10 kernels to the right that are gold which signifies masculinity and the sun god, while the kernels that are located on the left side are silver to represent femininity and the moon god.

Because of his high rank this ruler was buried along with eight people, apparently his wife and two other women (possibly concubines), a military commander, a watchman, a banner holder and a child. Among the animals found was a dog.

Below the tomb of the Lord of Sipan, two other tombs were found, a priest and the Old Lord of Sipan.

The priest, by DNA analysis carried out, was contemporary with the Lord of Sipan. In the pieces that accompanied him stand out as religious symbols, the cup or bowl for the sacrifices, a metal crown adorned with an owl with its wings extended, and other items for worship of the moon.

DNA analysis of remains of The Old Lord of Sipan has proved that the Old Lord was a direct ancestor of the Lord of Sipan.

In his tomb was found the remains of a young woman, and sumptuous costumes filled with gold and silver.

Thanks to archeological research and DNA testing, it has been possible to deduce certain characteristics of the Lord of Sipán, such as skin colour, the form of his lips, hair, eyes and other facial features. It was also possible to provide an accurate estimate of his age at death, allowing for a more accurate facial reconstruction.

* The Nature of Moche Human Sacrifice: A bio-archaeological perspective by Richard C. Sutter, et al.

* Mummy of Tattooed Woman Discovered in Peru Pyramid by Scott Norris

* DNA Analysis of Moche and Sican Populaitons: Results and implications by Ken-ichi Shinoda , et al.

* Videos: La Señora de CAO, Peru Tatoo Misterio de la Momia de Cao, Pyramid of Doom (Moche) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Secrets of a Moche Tomb 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

 

Moche Portraits from Ancient Peru by Christopher B.Donnan

* Images of Moche portrait vessels

 

 

 

The Art and Archaeologyof the Moche: An ancient Andean society of the Peruvian north coast by James Forsyth

 

 

 

 

 

* Beringian Standstill and Spread of Native American Founders by Erika Tamm, et al.

Schematic Illustration of Maternal Geneflow in and out of Beringia

 

Defining Mutations for Native American mtDNA Haplogroups

 

 

* Testing Evolutionary and Dispersion Scenarios for the Settlement of the New World by Mark Hubbe, et al.

Abstract

Background: Discussion surrounding the settlement of the New World has recently gained momentum with advances in molecular biology, archaeology and bioanthropology. Recent evidence from these diverse fields is found to support different colonization scenarios. The currently available genetic evidence suggests a “single migration” model, in which both early and later Native American groups derive from one expansion event into the continent. In contrast, the pronounced anatomical differences between early and late Native American populations have led others to propose more complex scenarios, involving separate colonization events of the New World and a distinct origin for these groups.

Methodology/Principal Findings: Using large samples of Early American crania, we: 1) calculated the rate of morphological differentiation between Early and Late American samples under three different time divergence assumptions, and compared our findings to the predicted morphological differentiation under neutral conditions in each case; and 2) further tested three dispersal scenarios for the colonization of the New World by comparing the morphological distances among early and late Amerindians, East Asians, Australo-Melanesians and early modern humans from Asia to geographical distances associated with each dispersion model. Results indicate that the assumption of a last shared common ancestor outside the continent better explains the observed morphological differences between early and late American groups. This result is corroborated by our finding that a model comprising two Asian waves of migration coming through Bering into the Americas fits the cranial anatomical evidence best, especially when the effects of diversifying selection to climate are taken into account.

Conclusions: We conclude that the morphological diversity documented through time in the New World is best accounted for by a model postulating two waves of human expansion into the continent originating in East Asia and entering through Beringia.

 

Minimum Spanning Tree of the Series Calculated from the Mahalanobis Squared Distances Among Groups and Plotted Over Their Geographic Coordinates

The lines represent the closest path for connecting all samples according to the morphological distances between them. Red dots represent samples with Paleoamerican morphology and the brown dot represents the specimens from Zhoukoudian Upper Cave. Blue dots indicate the Late Holocene samples from East Asia, the Americas and Australo-Melanesia.

 

 

* Mitochondrial DNA of Protohistoric Remains of an Arikara Population from South Dakota: Implications for the macro-Siouan language hypothesis by Lawrence DM, et al.

Abstract: Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) was extracted from skeletal remains excavated from three Arikara sites in South Dakota occupied between AD 1600 and 1832. The diagnostic markers of four mtDNA haplogroups to which most Native Americans belong (A, B, C, and D) were successfully identified in the extracts of 55 (87%) of the 63 samples studied. The frequencies of the four haplogroups were 42%, 29%, 22%, and 7%, respectively, and principal coordinates analysis and Fisher's exact tests were conducted to compare these haplogroup frequencies with those from other populations. Both analyses showed closer similarity among the Mohawk, Arikara, and Sioux populations than between any of these three and any other of the comparison populations. Portions of the first hypervariable segment (HVSI) of the mitochondrial genome were successfully amplified and sequenced for 42 of these 55 samples, and haplotype networks were constructed for two of the four haplogroups. The sharing of highly derived lineages suggests that some recent admixture of the Arikara with Algonquian-speaking and Siouan-speaking groups has occurred. The Arikara shared more ancient lineages with both Siouan and Cherokee populations than with any other population, consistent with the Macro-Siouan language hypothesis that Iroquoian, Siouan, and Caddoan languages share a relatively recent common ancestry.

 

 

* An Ancient DNA Test of a Founder Effect in Native American ABO Blood Group Frequencies by Halverson MS, et al.

Abstract: Anthropologists have assumed that reduced genetic diversity in extant Native Americans is due to a founder effect that occurred during the initial peopling of the Americas. However, low diversity could also be the result of subsequent historical events, such as the population decline following European contact. In this study, we show that autosomal DNA from ancient Native American skeletal remains can be used to investigate the low level of ABO blood group diversity in the Americas. Extant Native Americans exhibit a high frequency of blood type O, which may reflect a founder effect, genetic drift associated with the historical population decline, or natural selection in response to the smallpox epidemics that occurred following European contact. To help distinguish between these possibilities, we determined the ABO genotypes of 15 precontact individuals from eastern North America. The precontact ABO frequencies were not significantly different from those observed in extant Native Americans from the same region, but they did differ significantly from the ABO frequencies in extant Siberian populations. Studies of other precontact populations are needed to better test the three hypotheses for low ABO blood group diversity in the Americas, but our findings are most consistent with the hypothesis of a founder effect during the initial settlement of this continent.

 

 

* X-chromosome Lineages and the Settlement of the Americas by S. Bourgeois, et al.

Abstract: Most genetic studies on the origins of Native Americans have examined data from mtDNA and Y-chromosome DNA. To complement these studies and to broaden our understanding of the origin of Native American populations, we present an analysis of 1,873 X-chromosomes representing Native American (n = 438) and other continental populations (n = 1,435). We genotyped 36 polymorphic sites, forming an informative haplotype within an 8-kb DNA segment spanning exon 44 of the dystrophin gene. The data reveal continuity from a common Eurasian ancestry between Europeans, Siberians, and Native Americans. However, the loss of two haplotypes frequent in Eurasia (18.8 and 7%) and the rise in frequency of a third haplotype rare elsewhere, indicate a major population bottleneck in the peopling of the Americas. Although genetic drift appears to have played a greater role in the genetic differentiation of Native Americans than in the latitudinally distributed Eurasians, we also observe a signal of a differentiated ancestry of southern and northern populations that cannot be simply explained by the serial southward dilution of genetic diversity. It is possible that the distribution of X-chromosome lineages reflects the genetic structure of the population of Beringia, itself issued from founder effects and a source of subsequent southern colonization(s).

 

 

* Y Chromosome Markers and Trans-Bering Strait Dispersals by Tatiana Karafet, et al.

Geographic Map Showing the Frequencies of the DYS199-T (black), the DYS199-C (open), and YAP1 (grey) Alleles in the 20 Asian and Nine New World Samples in This Survey

 

 

* Mitochondrial Echoes of First Settlement and Genetic Continuity in El Salvador by Antonio Salas, et al.

Haplogroup Patterns in America

 

 

Argentine Amerindians

There are thirty-five indigenous groups in Argentina, or Argentine Amerindians, according to the Complementary Survey of the Indigenous Peoples of the last national census, in the first attempt in more than a hundred years that the government tried to recognize and classify the population according to ethnicity. In the survey, based on self-identification or self-ascription, around six hundred thousand Argentines declared to be Amerindian or first-generation descendants of Amerindians, that is, around 2% of the population. Nonetheless, in a recent genetic study conducted by the University of Buenos Aires, more than 56% of the Argentine population was shown to have at least one Amerindian ancestor and 10% Amerindians. All indigenous cultures in Argentina have been affected by a process of invisibilization, promoted by the government since the second half of the 19th century.

Argentina's indigenous population is about 403,000 (0.9 percent of total population). Indigenous nations include the Toba, Wichí, Mocoví, Pilagá, Chulupí, Diaguita-Calchaquí, Kolla, Guaraní (Tupí Guaraní and Avá Guaraní in the provinces of Jujuy and Salta, and Mbyá Guaraní in the province of Misiones), Chorote (Iyo'wujwa Chorote and Iyojwa'ja Chorote), Chané, Tapieté, Mapuche (probably the largest indigenous nation in Argentina) and Tehuelche. The Selknam (Ona) people is now virtually extinct in its pure form. The languages of the Diaguita, Tehuelche, and Selknam nations are now extinct or virtually extinct: the Cacán language (spoken by Diaguitas) in the 18th century, the Selknam language in the 20th century; whereas one Tehuelche language (Southern Tehuelche) is still spoken by a small handful of elderly people.

 

Mapuche

The Mapuche (Mäpfuchieu) are the indigenous inhabitants of Central and Southern Chile and Southern Argentina. They were known as Araucanians (araucanos) by the Spaniards. This is now considered pejorative by the people and the term Mapuche is the one most often used by people in conversation. Mapuche make up about 4% of the Chilean population, who are particularly concentrated in the Araucania Region.

A team of academics headed by the University of York's Mummy Research Group and BioArch, while examining a Peruvian mummy at the Bolton Museum, found it had been embalmed using a tree resin. Before this it was thought that Peruvian mummies were naturally preserved. The resin was found to be that of an araucarian conifer related to the 'monkey puzzle tree', was from a variety found only in Oceania and probably New Guinea. "Radiocarbon dating of both the resin and body by the University of Oxford's radiocarbon laboratory confirmed they were essentially contemporary, and date to around AD 1200."

Araucaria is a genus of evergreen coniferous trees in the family Araucariaceae. There are 19 species in the genus, with a highly disjunct distribution in New Caledonia (where 13 species are endemic), Norfolk Island, eastern Australia, New Guinea, Argentina, Chile, and southern Brazil.

Some of the species are relatively common in cultivation because of their distinctive, formal symmetrical growth habit. Several species are economically important for timber production and the edible seeds.

The genus is familiar to many people as the genus of the distinctive Monkey-puzzle Araucaria araucana. The genus is named after the Arauco Indians of central Chile and south-west Argentina whose territory incorporates natural stands of this species, where it is known as the Pehuén. These Native Americans, who name themselves the Pehuenche ('people of the Pehuén'), harvest the seeds extensively for food.

 

 

* Discrepancy between Cranial and DNA Data of Early Americans: Implications for American Peopling by S. Ivan Perez, et al.

Abstract: Currently, one of the major debates about the American peopling focuses on the number of populations that originated the biological diversity found in the continent during the Holocene. The studies of craniometric variation in American human remains dating from that period have shown morphological differences between the earliest settlers of the continent and some of the later Amerindian populations. This led some investigators to suggest that these groups—known as Paleomericans and Amerindians respectively—may have arisen from two biologically different populations. On the other hand, most DNA studies performed over extant and ancient populations suggest a single migration of a population from Northeast Asia. Comparing craniometric and mtDNA data of diachronic samples from East Central Argentina dated from 8,000 to 400 years BP, we show here that even when the oldest individuals display traits attributable to Paleoamerican crania, they present the same mtDNA haplogroups as later populations with Amerindian morphology. A possible explanation for these results could be that the craniofacial differentiation was a local phenomenon resulting from random (i.e. genetic drift) and non-random factors (e.g. selection and plasticity). Local processes of morphological differentiation in America are a probable scenario if we take into consideration the rapid peopling and the great ecological diversity of this continent; nevertheless we will discuss alternative explanations as well.

 

 

Indigenous Peoples of Siberia

Map of Siberia

Including the Russian Far East, the population of Siberia numbers just above 40 million people. As a result of the 17th to 19th century Russian conquest of Siberia and the subsequent population movements during the Soviet era, the demographics of Siberia today is dominated by native speakers of Russian. There remain a considerable number of indigenous groups, between them accounting for below 10% of total Siberian population. Many of the individual groups are close to extinction, or in the process of assimilation ("Russification").

Classifying the diverse population by language, it includes speakers of the following language families (number of speakers reflect the 2002 Russian census):

• "Ural-Altaic"
  • "Uralic-Yukaghir"
    • Uralic
      • Permic (about 1 million speakers)
      • Samoyedic (some 70,000 speakers)
      • Ugric (some 15,000 speakers)
    • Yukaghir (nearly extinct)
  • "Altaic"
    • Turkic
      • Yakuts (456,288 speakers)
      • Dolgans (population: 7,261; speakers: 4,865)
      • Tuvans (population: 243,442; speakers: 242,754)
      • Tofa (population: 837; speakers: 378)
      • Khakas (population: 75,622; speakers: 52,217)
      • Shors (population: 13,975; speakers: 6,210)
      • Chulyms (population: 656; speakers: 270)
      • Altay (some 70,000 speakers)
    • Mongolic (some 400,000 speakers)
    • Tungusic (some 80,000 speakers)
• Chukotko-Kamchatkan (some 25,000 speakers)
• Nivkh (some 5,000 speakers)
• Eskimo-Aleut (some 2,000 speakers)
• Ket (some 1,400 speakers)

Simplified, the indigenous peoples of Siberia listed above can be put in three groups,

1. Uralic
2. Altaic
3. Paleosiberian ("other")

Neither Altaic nor Paleosiberian has been proven to be a language family, a phylogenetic unit. Some approaches regard Altaic as an example of Sprachbund. It would be even more problematic to regard Paleosiberian as a genealogical unit. Here, these two terms are listed just to serve as portal-like starting points — without suggesting genetic considerations.

"Paleosiberian" Group: Four small language families and isolates, not known to have any linguistic relationship to each other, compose the Paleo-Siberian languages:

1. The Chukotko-Kamchatkan family, sometimes known as Luoravetlan, includes Chukchi and its close relatives, Koryak, Alutor and Kerek. Itelmen, also known as Kamchadal, is also distantly related. Chukchi, Koryak and Alutor are spoken in easternmost Siberia by communities numbering in the thousands. Kerek is close to extinction, and Itelmen is now spoken by fewer than 100 people, mostly elderly, on the west coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula

The Paleolithic of Siberia: New Discoveries and Interpretations by Anatoliy P. Derev'anko, et al.

 

 

 

 

History of the Peoples of Siberia: Russia's North Asian Colony 1581-1990 by James Forsyth

 

 

 

 

In Siberia by Colin Thubron

 

 

 

 

A Prehistory of the North: Human Settlement of the Higher Latitudes by John F. Hoffecker

 

 

 

 

 

The Chukchi People

Chukchi, or Chukchee (Russian: чукчи (plural), чукча (singular)) are an indigenous people inhabiting the Chukchi Peninsula and the shores of the Arctic Ocean and the Bering Sea in the Far East of the Russian Federation. They speak the Chukchi language. The Chukchi originated from the people living around the Okhotsk Sea.

The majority of Chukchi reside within Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, but some also reside in the neighboring Sakha Republic to the west, Magadan Oblast to the southwest, and Koryak Autonomous Okrug to the south. Some Chukchi also reside in other parts of Russia, as well as in Europe and North America. The total number of Chukchi in the world is slightly over 15,000.

The Chukchi are traditionally divided into the Maritime Chukchi, who had settled homes on the coast and lived primarily from sea mammal hunting, and the Reindeer Chukchi, who nomadised in the inland tundra region with their herds of reindeer. The Russian name "Chukchi" is derived from the Chukchi word Chauchu ("rich in reindeer"), which was used by the 'Reindeer Chukchi' to distinguish themselves from the 'Maritime Chukchi,' called Anqallyt ("the sea people"). The indigenous name for a member of the Chukchi ethnic group as a whole is Luoravetlan (literally 'true person').

 

 

* mtDNA Diversity in Chukchi and Siberian Eskimos: Implications for the genetic history of ancient Beringia and the peopling of the New World by Y. B. Starikovskaya, et al.

Abstract: The mtDNAs of 145 individuals representing the aboriginal populations of Chukotka-the Chukchi and Siberian Eskimos-were subjected to RFLP analysis and control-region sequencing. This analysis showed that the core of the genetic makeup of the Chukchi and Siberian Eskimos consisted of three (A, C, and D) of the four primary mtDNA haplotype groups (haplogroups) (A-D) observed in Native Americans, with haplogroup A being the most prevalent in both Chukotkan populations. Two unique haplotypes belonging to haplogroup G (formerly called "other" mtDNAs) were also observed in a few Chukchi, and these have apparently been acquired through gene flow from adjacent Kamchatka, where haplogroup G is prevalent in the Koryak and Itel'men. In addition, a 16111C-->T transition appears to delineate an "American" enclave of haplogroup A mtDNAs in northeastern Siberia, whereas the 16192C-->T transition demarcates a "northern Pacific Rim" cluster within this haplogroup. Furthermore, the sequence-divergence estimates for haplogroups A, C, and D of Siberian and Native American populations indicate that the earliest inhabitants of Beringia possessed a limited number of founding mtDNA haplotypes and that the first humans expanded into the New World approximately 34,000 years before present (YBP). Subsequent migration 16,000-13,000 YBP apparently brought a restricted number of haplogroup B haplotypes to the Americas. For millennia, Beringia may have been the repository of the respective founding sequences that selectively penetrated into northern North America from western Alaska.

 

 

* Mitochondrial Genome Diversity in Arctic Siberians, With Particular Reference to the Evolutionary History of Beringia and Pleistocenic Peopling of the Americas by NV Volodko, et al.

Abstract: Through extended survey of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) diversity in the Nganasan, Yukaghir, Chuvantsi, Chukchi, Siberian Eskimos, and Commander Aleuts, we filled important gaps in previously unidentified internal sequence variation within haplogroups A, C, and D, three of five (A-D and X) canonical mtDNA lineages that defined Pleistocenic extension from the Old to the New World. Overall, 515 mtDNA samples were analyzed via high-resolution SNP analysis and then complete sequencing of the 84 mtDNAs. A comparison of the data thus obtained with published complete sequences has resulted in the most parsimonious phylogenetic structure of mtDNA evolution in Siberia-Beringia. Our data suggest that although the latest inhabitants of Beringia are well genetically reflected in the Chukchi-, Eskimo-Aleut-, and Na-Dene-speaking Indians, the direct ancestors of the Paleosiberian-speaking Yukaghir are primarily drawn from the southern belt of Siberia when environmental conditions changed, permitting recolonization the high arctic since early Postglacial. This study further confirms that (1) Alaska seems to be the ancestral homeland of haplogroup A2 originating in situ approximately 16.0 thousand years ago (kya), (2) an additional founding lineage for Native American D, termed here D10, arose approximately 17.0 kya in what is now the Russian Far East and eventually spread northward along the North Pacific Rim. The maintenance of two refugial sources, in the Altai-Sayan and mid-lower Amur, during the last glacial maximum appears to be at odds with the interpretation of limited founding mtDNA lineages populating the Americas as a single migration.

 

 

* Mitochondrial DNA Diversity in Indigenous Populations of the Southern Extent of Siberia, and the Origins of Native American Haplogroups by EB Starikovskaya, et al.

Abstract: In search of the ancestors of Native American mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroups, we analyzed the mtDNA of 531 individuals from nine indigenous populations in Siberia. All mtDNAs were subjected to high-resolution RFLP analysis, sequencing of the control-region hypervariable segment I (HVS-I), and surveyed for additional polymorphic markers in the coding region. Furthermore, the mtDNAs selected according to haplogroup/subhaplogroup status were completely sequenced. Phylogenetic analyses of the resulting data, combined with those from previously published Siberian arctic and sub-arctic populations, revealed that remnants of the ancient Siberian gene pool are still evident in Siberian populations, suggesting that the founding haplotypes of the Native American A-D branches originated in different parts of Siberia. Thus, lineage A complete sequences revealed in the Mansi of the Lower Ob and the Ket of the Lower Yenisei belong to A1, suggesting that A1 mtDNAs occasionally found in the remnants of hunting-gathering populations of northwestern and northern Siberia belonged to a common gene pool of the Siberian progenitors of Paleoindians. Moreover, lineage B1, which is the most closely related to the American B2, occurred in the Tubalar and Tuvan inhabiting the territory between the upper reaches of the Ob River in the west, to the Upper Yenisei region in the east. Finally, the sequence variants of haplogroups C and D, which are most similar to Native American C1 and D1, were detected in the Ulchi of the Lower Amur. Overall, our data suggest that the immediate ancestors of the Siberian/Beringian migrants who gave rise to ancient (pre-Clovis) Paleoindians have a common origin with aboriginal people of the area now designated the Altai-Sayan Upland, as well as the Lower Amur/Sea of Okhotsk region.

 

 

HLA-DQ8

HLA-DQ8 (DQ8) is a human leukocyte antigen serotype within the HLA-DQ (DQ) serotype group. DQ8 is determined by the antibody recognition of β8 and this generally detects the gene product of DQB1*0302.

DQ8 is commonly linked to autoimmune disease in the human population. DQ8 is the second most predominant isoform linked to coeliac disease and the DQ most linked to juvenile diabetes. DQ8 increases the risk for rheumatoid arthritis and is linked to the primary risk locus for RA, HLA-DR4. .

DQA1*0301:DQB1*0302 (DQ8.1) is the most common DQ8 subtype representing over 98% of the DQ8 bearing population. DQ8.1 is found almost ubiquitously in every human regional population, but because of its unique distribution it becomes an object of molecular anthropology. There are 3 places where haplotype frequency is elevated, Central and South America, NE Pacific Rim, and Northern Europe.

Global Spread of DQ8: DQ8 along with a few other Haplotypes appears to be split NW/SE in Eurasia and with the evidence for DQ2.5 and other haplotypes suggest an ancient Central Asian population was displaced by a more recent African migration. There are many common markers found in France, Germans, Danes, Swedes, Tibetans, Amur River, Japanese and Koreans that are potential indicators of this bilateral spread. The DQ8 haplotypes is found at high frequencies in the !kung, albeit one expects more DQ8 in Austronesia it is ubiquitously spread if at some times low frequencies, other times higher frequencies (Thai). The path of DQ8 spread to the New World is enigmatic, certainly Japan and Amur River are potent sources, but other displaced populations cannot be ruled out. If the mode of travel was through the Beringia corridor as proposed by archaeologist, the very low frequency of DQ8 at present is a very unusual find with regard to evidence for complete displacement elsewhere in the World. Markers that are shared between Japanese, TW-aboriginals tend to decline in frequency as one approaches Siberia, mtDNA markers decline in the Kuril chain. During the Jōmon period of Japan it appears there would have been displacement by Ninhvet/Ainu ancestors and depression of DQ8 through out northern Japan, but the decline throughout the region is somewhat inexplicable outside of a catastrophic climate event between the settling of the New World and the current time. An alternative model is that there were multiple sources of DQ8 in the peopling of NE Asia, some sources were from central Asia and some from the indochinese region, some of the DQ8 found in NW eurasia could be from an admixture of West pacific Rim and Central Asian sources, and were displaced from the more central regions but not from the more Eastern regions.

High Frequencies in the Americas: The global node for DQ8 is in Central America and northern South America where it reaches the highest frequency for any single DQ serotype, close to 90% phenotype frequency (77% haplotype frequency), and is at relatively high frequency in the indigenous North American population, and the coastal regions of the Gulf of Mexico and up the Mississippi Valley. The high freqeuncy of DQ8 in South America's northeastern regions and low frequency in Indigenous Americans of more recent Asian ancestry or Siberian origin suggest that DQ8 was at high frequency in the earliest Amerinds. The pattern of distribution is consistent with recent mtDNA results suggesting the first migrants to the New World settled in the lowland coastal regions, river valleys and moved slowly inland, subsequent settlers moved into the highland regions.

 

DQA1*03:DQB1*0302 haplotype frequencies in the Americas
(given as frequency in %)

Reference Population	DQB1 *0302
Lacandon Mayan (Mexico)	77.9
Perija-Yucpa (Venezuela)	75.0
Mayan (Guatemala)	48.1
Mazatecans (Mexico)	48.5
Lamas (Peru)	45.2
Dakota Sioux (S. Dakota)	45.0
Mixtec (Oaxaca, Mexico)	35.9
Lakota Sioux (S. Dakota)	25.7
Terena (Brazil)	17.5
Tlinglet (Alaska, USA)	8.5
Eskimo (Alaska, USA)	3.8
Canoncito Navajo (NM, USA)	3.5
Eskimo (E. Greenland)	0.0

 

High Levels of DQ8 in Northern Europe: DQ8 is also abundant also in Northern Europe and is found at high frequencies in the German-Scandinavian-Uralic population north of Switzerland. HLA A-B haplotypes suggest that a migration from people east of the Urals is responsible for DQ8, possibly from as far east as the West Pacific Rim. The high level of DQ8 and DQ2.5 is something of great interest for DQ mediated diseases of Scandinavia and Northern Europe. DQ8 is also found in Iberia and places were east to west gene flow by other genetic markers cannot be substantiated, and the levels within the African or Middle Eastern population are possible sources, Iberia has considerable A1/B1 equilibration suggesting independent sources from Africa.

Abundance in Asia - Hiatus of DQ8 in the NE Siberian Arctic, Elevated Levels in Amur Region and Eastern Turks: The levels of DQ8 in SW to West Pacific Rim are at variable haplotype frequencies, from 2 to 30%, and level off around 10% for Ryūkyūan, Japanese, Koreans, Amur (黑龍江) Regions and in the NW Pacific Rim drop to less than 1% in the Nivkhi. There is a modern hiatus of DQ8 in the Alaska-Eastern Siberian region and it is unclear whether this is due to replacement, selection, or the mode in which first Americans arrived (i.e strictly maritime route). The DR types associated with DQ8 are DRB1*0403, *0404, *0406, *0407, *0408, and *0401 is split between many DQA1:B1 haplotypes. The Cook Island DQ8 had only one associated DR haplotype suggesting diversity limiting introduction into the region, either via the TW-(Japan/Korea/China) route or through the west, for example the Bunun have high DRB1*0403. The majority of DRB1*04 appear to have redistributed from eastern Asia from an unknown source, possibly in Central Asia or India. The distribution can be compared with Native Groups such as South Americans. Three groups with high levels, the Kogui, Sikuni, and Yucpa, have about 75% DQ8, the dominant DRB1* allele in 2 of 3 is the *0411 (N. China = 0), but *0407 (Ryūkyū, Japanese, Mansi-Eastern Ural, Naxi Chinese) and *0403 (Nganasan, Buryat, Negidal, Tunisians, Ryūkyū, Korea, Ainu) are also found. In North America DRB1*0404 and *0407 are more common than *0403 and, in the Lakota Souix, B1*0411 is rare. The DRB1*0404-DQ8 haplotype is more common in North Western Asia, and Northern Europe.

 

DQB1 *0302 levels in the Asia
(given as frequency in %)

Reference Population	DQB1 *0302
Cook Isl. (Pacific)	25.0
Negidal (Siberia)	18.6
Kazahk	11.4
Uyghur, Urumqi (China)	11.4
Nganasan (Siberia)	11.4
Japanese	10.8
South Korea	10.3
Ket, Yenisey (Siberia)	8.4
Thais	7.4
Khalkha (Mongolia)	6.1
China Beijing and Xian	6.1
Shandong Han (China)	3.1
Ainu (Japan)	3.0
Naxi (Lijiang, China)	2.7
Yao (China)	2.6
Madang (Papua New Guinea)	1.5
Khoton (Mongolia)	1.2
Zorastra, Yadz (Iran)	0.8
Nivkh (NNE. Sakalin I.)	0

 

 

HLA Gene Frenquencies from the Origin of Minnan and Hakka, the So-Called "Taiwanese", Inferred by HLA Study by M. Lin, et al.

HLA	Minnan (%)	Hakka (%)
DQB1*0302c	19.4	7.6
DQB1*0302d	7.4	7.6

*0301c:0311-012/04/09/10, *0302d:0302/05/07-08

 

DQ8 and Selection: Like DQ2.5, DQ8 might have been under selection for maritime, coastal foraging peoples and in particular for peoples adapted to the climate/habitat situation on the northern end of the habitable west pacific rim at the Last Glacial Maximum. Triticeae (wheat, barley, and rye) cultivation may apply negative selection on DQ8. While there were numerous members of Triticeae species similar to Mid Eastern wild Triticeae in the Americas, and a great number of domesticated plants in the new world, no single species of Triticeae appears to have been domesticated in the New World, and no clear examples in closely related tribes of grasses. Among new world grass species in post Columbian times, one species of Elymus has been domesticated for human consumption and another as a pastoral cultivar. This could be interpreted in 2 ways. First, that levels of DQ8, negatively, inhibited the domestication of Triticeae strains. Second, that the absence of such cultivars more suitable than already developed cultivars allowed DQ8 to rise or remain high, while DQ2.5 levels in NW under much longer term selection have fallen, or a little of both. Most of American cultivars were domesticated south of the Rio Grande river (exceptions are Caddo rice and Texas varigated squash, etc.). Wheat, particularly Barley and Rye are preferential cultivars in cooler climate, whereas Zea (maize) is more adaptive in tropical climates and some cultivars are relatively drought tolerant, Zea however lacks certain amino acids that must be supplimented by other foods to prevent malnutrition. The proximity of neolithization to the Equator in the New World may have much to do with the unapparent negative selection of DQ8 relative to the neolithization of Western Eurasia.

 

Survival of the Sickest by Sharon Moalem, et al.

 

 

 

 

Celiac Disease: A hidden epidemic by Peter H.R. Green, Rory Jones

 

 

 

 

* Celiac Disease

 

____________________________________________________________________________________________

O3a5a2; O3e1*(M214, M175, M122, M324, M134, M133)

 

The subclades of Haplogroup O with their defining mutation:

.NO (M214)

• O (M175)
  • O*
  • O1 (MSY2.2) Typical of Austronesians, southern Han Chinese, and Tai-Kadai peoples
    • O1*
    • O1a (M119)
      • O1a*
      • O1a1 (M101)
      • O1a2 (M50, M103, M110)
  • O2 (P31, M268)
    • O2*
    • O2a (M95) Typical of Austro-Asiatic peoples, Tai-Kadai peoples, Malays, Indonesians, and Malagasy, with a moderate distribution throughout South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Asia, and Central Asia
      • O2a*
      • O2a1 (M88, M111)
      • O2a2 (M297)
    • O2b (SRY465 (M176)) Typical of Koreans, Japanese, and Ryukyuans, with a moderate distribution in Indonesia, Manchuria, Micronesia, Thailand, and Vietnam
      • O2b*
      • O2b1 (P49)
  • O3 (M122) Typical of populations of East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Austronesian populations of Oceania, with a moderate distribution in Central Asia
    • O3*
    • O3a (M324, P93, P197, P198, P199, P200)
      • O3a*
      • O3a1 (DYS257/P27.2, M121)
      • O3a2 (M164)
      • O3a3 (P201/021354)
        • O3a3*
        • O3a3a (M159) (formerly O3a3)
        • O3a3b (M7) Typical of Hmong-Mien peoples, with a moderate distribution among Han Chinese, Buyei, Qiang, and Oroqen
        • O3a3c (M134) (formerly O3e, O3a5) Typical of Sino-Tibetan peoples, with a moderate distribution throughout East Asia and Southeast Asia
          • O3a3c* (formerly O3a5*)
          • O3a3c1 (M117, M133) (formerly O3e1, O3a5a)
            • O3a3c1* (formerly O3e1*, O3a5a*, O3a5a2?)
            • O3a3c1a (M162) (formerly O3e1a, O3a5a1)
          • O3a3c2 (P101) (formerly O3e2, O3a5b)
      • O3a4 (002611)
        • O3a4*
        • O3a4a (P103)
      • O3a5 (M300)
      • O3a6 (M333)

 

 

Phylogenetic Tree Indicating All Subclades Associated with Subclade O3 in Haplogroup O from Genebase

 

 

O Subclades from The Power of Language Over the Past: Tai settlement and Tai Linguistics in Southern China and Northern Vietnam by Jerold A. Edmondson

 

 

Haplogroup O3 (Y-DNA)

Origins: Haplogroup O3 is a descendant haplogroup of haplogroup O. Some researchers believe that it first appeared in China approximately 10,000 years ago. However, others believe that the high internal diversity of Haplogroup O3 indicates a Late Pleistocene (Upper Paleolithic) origin in South China or Southeast Asia of the M122 mutation that defines the entire O3 clade, while the common presence among a wide variety of modern East and Southeast Asian nations of closely related haplotypes belonging to certain subclades of Haplogroup O3 is considered to point to a recent (e.g., Holocene) geographic dispersion of a certain subset of the ancient variation within Haplogroup O3. The spread of these particular subsets of Haplogroup O3 is conjectured to be closely associated with the sudden agricultural boom associated with rice farming.

The prehistoric peopling of East Asia by modern humans remains controversial with respect to early population migrations. In a systematic sampling and genetic screening of an East Asian–specific Y-chromosome haplogroup (O3-M122) in 2,332 individuals from diverse East Asian populations. Results indicate that the O3-M122 lineage is dominant in East Asian populations, with an average frequency of 44.3%. The microsatellite data show that the O3-M122 haplotypes in southern East Asia are more diverse than those in northern East Asia, suggesting a southern origin of the O3-M122 mutation. It was estimated that the early northward migration of the O3-M122 lineages in East Asia occurred ~25,000–30,000 years ago, consistent with the fossil records of modern humans in East Asia.

Distribution: Although Haplogroup O3 appears to be primarily associated with Chinese populations, it also forms a significant component of the Y-chromosome diversity of most modern populations of the East Asian region. Haplogroup O3 is found in over 50% of all modern Chinese males (ranging up to over 80% in certain regional subgroups of the Han ethnicity), about 40% of Manchurian, Korean, and Vietnamese males, about 33.3% to 60.7% of Filipino males, about 35% of Malaysian males, about 25% of Zhuang and Indonesian males, and about 15% to 20% of Japanese males. The distribution of Haplogroup O3 stretches far into Central Asia (approx. 30% of Salar, 24% of Dongxiang, 18% to 22.8% of Mongolians, 12% of Uyghurs, 9% of Kazakhs, 6.2% of Altayans, and 4.1% of Uzbeks) and Oceania (approx. 25% of Polynesians, 18% of Micronesians, and 5% of Melanesians), albeit with reduced frequencies of most subclades. It should be noted that Haplogroup O3* Y-chromosomes, which are not defined by any identified downstream markers, are actually more common among certain non-Han Chinese populations than among Han Chinese ones, and the presence of these O3* Y-chromosomes among various populations of Central Asia, East Asia, and Oceania is more likely to reflect a very ancient shared ancestry of these populations rather than the result of any historical events. It remains to be seen whether Haplogroup O3* Y-chromosomes can be parsed into distinct subclades that display significant geographical or ethnic correlations.

Among all the populations of East and Southeast Asia, Haplogroup O3 is most closely associated with those that speak a Sinitic, Tibeto-Burman, or Hmong-Mien language. Haplogroup O3 comprises about 50% or more of the total Y-chromosome variation among the populations of each of these language families. The Sinitic and Tibeto-Burman language families are generally believed to be derived from a common Sino-Tibetan protolanguage, and most linguists place the homeland of the Sino-Tibetan language family somewhere in northern China. The Hmong-Mien languages and cultures, for various archaeological and ethnohistorical reasons, are also generally believed to have derived from a source somewhere north of their current distribution, perhaps in northern or central China. The Tibetans, however, despite the fact that they speak a language of the Tibeto-Burman language family, have a very high percentage of the otherwise rare Haplogroup D1, which is also found at much lower frequencies throughout Central and Northeast Asia. These facts suggest that Haplogroup O3 is characteristic of the easterly part of the zone of transition between the Northeast Asian and Southeast Asian genepools: namely, the region that comprises the North China Plain and the area between the Yellow and Yangtze rivers. It is notable that Haplogroup O3 is the only haplogroup beside Haplogroup O2b that occurs at high frequencies among populations that possess Northeast Asian genetic characteristics as well as among populations that possess Southeast Asian genetic characteristics.

Haplogroup O3 has been implicated as a diagnostic genetic marker of the Austronesian expansion when it is found in populations of Oceania. Its distribution in Oceania is mostly limited to the traditionally Austronesian culture zones, including moderately high frequencies in the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Polynesia, with generally lower frequencies found in coastal and island Melanesia, Micronesia, and Taiwanese aboriginal tribes.

The subgroup O3a5-M134 is particularly closely associated with Sino-Tibetan populations, and it is generally not found outside of areas where a Sino-Tibetan language is currently spoken or that are historically supposed to have undergone Chinese colonization or immigration, such as Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia. However, its presence among non-Sino-Tibetan populations is always very limited and never amounts to more than 10% of the total Y-chromosome diversity. There are also reports that Y-chromosomes belonging to Haplogroup O3a5 have been sampled from populations of such far-flung places as Western Samoa. Surprisingly, Haplogroup O3a5-M134 Y-chromosomes have also been found in about 1% to 3% of indigenous Australian men in the northwest of that continent, which might indicate that a certain degree of contact has occurred between the Austronesian expansion from Asia and some indigenous Australian populations. The fact that Haplogroup O3a5 is so strongly associated with Chinese populations, however, and the fact that no Y-chromosome haplogroups characteristic of Austronesian populations have been found among these indigenous Australian populations may be taken to suggest the possibility of some direct Chinese-Australian contact in the precolonial era. Within Japan, the subgroup O3a5-M134 forms the majority of the haplogroup O3 Y-chromosomes detected.

Haplogroup O3's brother clade, Haplogroup O1, displays a similar geographical distribution, being found among nearly all the populations of East and Southeast Asia, but generally at a frequency much lower than that of Haplogroup O3. Another brother clade, Haplogroup O2, has an impressive extent of dispersal, as it is found among the males of populations as widely separated as the Kolarians of India and the Japanese of Japan; however, Haplogroup O2's distribution is much more patchy, and the Haplogroup O2 Y-chromosomes found among the Mundas and the Japanese belong to distinct subclades.

 

 

History of Domestication and Cultivation of Rice

Based on one chloroplast and two nuclear gene regions, Londo et al. (2006) conclude that Oryza sativa rice was domesticated at least twice—indica in eastern India, Myanmar and Thailand; and japonica in southern China—though they concede that there is archaeological and genetic evidence for a single domestication of rice in the lowlands of China.

Because the functional allele for non-shattering—the critical indicator of domestication in grains—as well as five other single nucleotide polymorphisms, is identical in both indica and japonica, Vaughan et al. (2008) determined that there was a single domestication event for Oryza sativa in the region of the Yangtze river valley.

Yangtze River

Continental East Asia: Rice appears to have been used by the Early Neolithic populations of Lijiacun and Yunchanyan. Evidence of possible rice cultivation in China from ca. 11,500 BP has been found, however it is still questioned whether the rice was indeed being cultivated, or instead being gathered as wild rice. Bruce Smith, an archaeologist at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., who has written on the origins of agriculture, says that evidence has been mounting that the Yangtze was probably the site of the earliest rice cultivation.

Zhao (1998) argues that collection of wild rice in the Late Pleistocene had, by 6400 BC, led to the use of primarily domesticated rice. Morphological studies of rice phytoliths from the Diaotonghuan archaeological site clearly show the transition from the collection of wild rice to the cultivation of domesticated rice. The large number of wild rice phytoliths at the Diaotonghuan level dating from 12,000-11,000 BP indicates that wild rice collection was part of the local means of subsistence. Changes in the morphology of Diaotonghuan phytoliths dating from 10,000-8,000 BP show that rice had by this time been domesticated. Analysis of Chinese rice residues from Pengtoushan (彭頭山文化) which were C14 (carbon dating) dated to 8200-7800 BC show that rice had been domesticated by this time.

In 1998, Crawford & Shen reported that the earliest of 14 AMS or radiocarbon dates on rice from at least nine Early to Middle Neolithic sides is no older than 7000 BC, that rice from the Hemudu (河姆渡文化) and Luojiajiao sites indicates that rice domestication likely began before 5000 BC, but that most sites in China from which rice remains have been recovered are younger than 5000 BC.

Map of the Ganges River

South Asia: Wild Oryza rice appeared in the Belan and Ganges valley regions of northern India as early as 4530 BC and 5440 BC respectively, although many believe it may have appeared earlier.

Denis J. Murphy (2007) further details the spread of cultivated rice from India into South-east Asia:

Several wild cereals, including rice, grew in the Vindhyan Hills, and rice cultivation, at sites such as Chopani-Mando and Mahagara, may have been underway as early as 7000 BP. The relative isolation of this area and the early development of rice farming imply that it was developed indigenously.

Chopani-Mando and Mahagara are located on the upper reaches of the Ganges drainage system and it is likely that migrants from this area spread rice farming down the Ganges valley into the fertile plains of Bengal, and beyond into south-east Asia.

Rice was cultivated in the Indus Valley Civilization. Agricultural activity during the second millennium BC included rice cultivation in the Kashmir and Harrappan regions. Mixed farming was the basis of Indus valley economy.

Punjab is the largest producer and consumer of rice in India.

Korean Peninsula and Japanese Archipelago: Mainstream archaeological evidence derived from palaeoethnobotanical investigations indicate that dry-land rice was introduced to Korea and Japan some time between 3500 and 1200 BC. The cultivation of rice in Korea and Japan during that time occurred on a small-scale, fields were impermanent plots, and evidence shows that in some cases domesticated and wild grains were planted together. The technological, subsistence, and social impact of rice and grain cultivation is not evident in archaeological data until after 1500 BC. For example, intensive wet-paddy rice agriculture was introduced into Korea shortly before or during the Middle Mumun Pottery Period (c. 850–550 BC) and reached Japan by the Final Jōmon or Initial Yayoi circa 300 BC.

In 2003, Korean archaeologists alleged that they discovered burnt grains of domesticated rice in Soro-ri, Korea, which dated to 13,000 BC. These predate the oldest grains in China, which were dated to 10,000 BC, and potentially challenge the mainstream explanation that domesticated rice originated in China. The findings were received by academia with strong skepticism, and the results and their publicizing has been cited as being driven by a combination of nationalist and regional interests.

Southeast Asia: Rice is the staple for all classes in contemporary South East Asia, from Myanmar to Indonesia. In Indonesia, evidence of wild Oryza rice on the island of Sulawesi dates from 3000 BC. The evidence for the earliest cultivation, however, comes from eighth century stone inscriptions from Java, which show kings levied taxes in rice. Divisions of labor between men, women, and animals that are still in place in Indonesian rice cultivation, can be seen carved into the ninth-century Prambanan temples in Central Java. In the sixteenth century, Europeans visiting the Indonesian islands saw rice as a new prestige food served to the aristocracy during ceremonies and feasts. Rice production in Indonesian history is linked to the development of iron tools and the domestication of water buffalo for cultivation of fields and manure for fertilizer. Once covered in dense forest, much of the Indonesian landscape has been gradually cleared for permanent fields and settlements as rice cultivation developed over the last fifteen hundred years

In the Philippines, the greatest evidence of rice cultivation since ancient times can be found in the Cordillera Mountain Range of Luzon in the provinces of Apayao, Benguet, Mountain Province and Ifugao. The Banaue Rice Terraces (Tagalog: Hagdan-hagdang Palayan ng Banaue) are 2,000 to 3,000-year old terraces that were carved into the mountains by ancestors of the Batad indigenous people. It is commonly thought that the terraces were built with minimal equipment, largely by hand. The terraces are located approximately 1,500 meters (5000 ft) above sea level and cover 10,360 square kilometers (about 4,000 square miles) of mountainside. They are fed by an ancient irrigation system from the rainforests above the terraces. It is said that if the steps are put end to end it would encircle half the globe. The Rice Terraces (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) are commonly referred to by Filipinos as the "Eighth Wonder of the World".

Evidence of wet rice cultivation as early as 2200 BC has been discovered at both Ban Chiang and Ban Prasat in Thailand.

Ban Chiang pottery

Ban Chiang (Thai: แหล่งโบราณคดีบ้านเชียง) is an archeological site located in Nong Han district, Udon Thani Province, Thailand. It has been on the UNESCO world heritage list since 1992.

During the first formal scientific excavation in 1967, several skeletons, together with bronze grave gifts, were unearthed. Rice fragments have also been found, leading to the belief that the Bronze Age settlers were probably farmers. The site's oldest graves do not include bronze artifacts and are therefore from a Neolithic culture; the most recent graves date to the Iron Age.

The first datings of the artifacts using the thermoluminescence technique resulted in a range from 4420 BC to 3400 BC, which would have made the site the earliest Bronze Age culture in the world. However, with the 1974/75 excavation, sufficient material became available for radiocarbon dating, which resulted in more recent dates—the earliest grave was about 2100 BC, the latest about AD 200. Bronze making began circa 2000 BC, as evidenced by crucibles and bronze fragments. Bronze objects include bracelets, rings, anklets, wires and rods, spearheads, axes and adzes, hooks, blades, and little bells.

* Specialised Vocabularies, Genes and Homelands: The new linguistic palaeontology by George van Driem

 

First Farmers: The Origins of Agricultural Societies by Peter Bellwood

 

 

 

 

 

* Learn About Y-DNA Haplogroup O by Wendy Tymchuk, Genebase.com

A Summary of the Frequency Distribution of Deeper Clades Within Haplogroup O

 

 

* Asian Ancestry based on Studies of Y-DNA Variation: Part 2. Additional migrations and reach. Travels south to Oceania, north to the Americas and in between by Mark S. Lechner

Phylogeography of Y-chromosome Haplogroup O Subclades

 

Phylogeography of Y-chromosome Haplogroup O Subclades in China

 

 

* Male Demography in East Asia: A North–South Contrast in Human Population Expansion Times by Yali Xue, et al.

Haplogroup Frequencies in East Asian Populations

Haplogroup	Daur	Ewenki	Hezhe	Hui	Manchu	Inner Mongolian	Oroqen	Uygur (Urumqi)	Uygur (Yili)	Xibe
N	39	26	45	35	35	45	31	31	39	41
O3e1*(xO3e1a)	3	4	7	1	5	5	1	1	2	2
%	7.7	15.4	15.6	2.9	14.3	11.1	3.2	3.2	5.1	4.9

 

Haplogroup	Han (Harbin)	Han (Yili)	Korean (China)	Buyi	Hani	Li	Qiang	She	Tibetans	Yao (Bama)	Yao (Liannan)
N	35	32	25	35	34	34	33	34	35	35	35
O3e1*(xO3e1a)	5	2	4	1	2		3	6	13		5
%	14.3	6.3	16	2.9	5.9	0	9.1	17.7	37.1	0	14.3

 

Haplogroup	Han (Chengdu)	Han (Lanzhou)	Han (Meixian)	Japanese	Korean (Korea)	Outer Mongolian	Total
N	34	30	35	47	43	65	988
O3e1*(xO3e1a)	5	3	4	8	5	3	100
%	14.7	10	11.4	17	11.6	4.6	10.1

 

 

* Y-chromosomal Binary Haplogroups in the Japanese Population and Their Relationship to 16 Y-STR Polymorphisms

Frequencies of Haplogroup O3e1*

Population	Asahikawa	Kanto	Nagoya	Western Japan	Okinawa	Korea	Taiwan
%	0	4.4	2.9	5.2	2.3	12.6	21.9

 

 

* Association of Y Chromosome Variation with Paternal Ancestry Origin of Three Ethnic Populations in Singapore by R.Y.Y. Yong, et al.

Abstract:In this study, we assessed the possibility and accuracy of inferring paternal ancestry with Y chromosome variation for three main ethnic groups residing in Singapore. 91 Y-SNP potentially classifying 87 haplogroups, and 12 Y-STR loci were genotyped in 564 randomly selected individuals, comprising 209 Chinese, 181 Malay and 174 Indian. A total of 33 haplogroups consisting 14 clades, and 525 unique Y-STR haplotypes were recorded. About 90% and 73% of the Chinese and Malay samples respectively were classified under Clade O, with a dominant haplogroup of O3e1 for Chinese and O2a* for Malay. Indian samples showed a diverse distribution of clades including F, J, H, L and R. Population differentiation tests using AMOVA and exact test both showed significant inter-population differences using either Y-SNP or Y-STR markers. Y-SNPs demonstrated greater variation between populations than Y-STR, confirming it to be better informative marker for population differentiation. Exact tests also confirmed strong association of specific haplogroups to ethnic populations. A method combining both Y-SNP haplogroups and Y-STR haplotypes was devised for ancestry inference. The predictability of ethnic affiliation using this method is estimated to be more than 75% for our present dataset of Singapore populations. Hence chromosome Y markers may be useful in inferring paternal geographical origins within Asian populations.

 

 

Chinese Singaporeans are people of Chinese descent who are born in or immigrated to Singapore and have attained citizenship or permanent residence status. As of 2000, Chinese Singaporeans constitute 78% of Singapore's population, or approximately three out of four Singaporeans. Outside Greater China, Singapore is the only country in which overseas Chinese forms the majority of the population.

Most of the Chinese in Singapore belong to several linguistic-cultural groups, originating from mainly the southern parts of China. The Hokkien, Teochew and Hainanese, all of whom belong to the Min-nan group, jointly form more than three-quarters of the Chinese population. The Cantonese, Hakka and other minor groups account for most of the remainder.

 

 

* 永恆的西拉雅族 －遺傳基因的研究－ by 林媽利, et al.

Excerpt: 分析173人男性的西拉雅族人 (Siraya people) 的父系血緣，發現父系血緣約全部由O群構成，有O*，O1*，O1b，O2*，O2a*，O3a*(O3*)，O3c(O3a3)，O3a4b(O3d*)， O3a5a1(O3e1a)，O3a5a(O3e1*)，O3a5b(O3e*)及O3b血緣，除此外尚有少數C及N* 的血緣。

這些血緣除了O1b血緣只出現在台灣原住民外，其他的血緣全分佈在別的亞洲族 群，在我們超過1000人父系血緣的資料中，除O1b外其他的血緣也在中國、福建、 越南、泰國、印尼及菲律賓找到。

 

 

* Paternal Genetic Structure of Hainan Aborigines Isolated at the Entrance to East Asia by Dongna Li, et al.

Y Chromosome Haplogroup Frequencies (O3a5a*)

 

Abstract

Background: At the southern entrance to East Asia, early population migration has affected most of the Y-chromosome variations of East Asians.

Methodology/Principal Findings: To assess the isolated genetic structure of Hainan Island and the original genetic structure at the southern entrance, we studied the Y chromosome diversity of 405 Hainan Island aborigines from all the six populations, who have little influence of the recent mainland population relocations and admixtures. Here we report that haplogroups O1a* and O2a* are dominant among Hainan aborigines. In addition, the frequency of the mainland dominant haplogroup O3 is quite low among these aborigines, indicating that they have lived rather isolated. Clustering analyses suggests that the Hainan aborigines have been segregated since about 20 thousand years ago, after two dominant haplogroups entered East Asia (31 to 36 thousand years ago).

Conclusions/Significance: Our results suggest that Hainan aborigines have been isolated at the entrance to East Asia for about 20 thousand years, whose distinctive genetic characteristics could be used as important controls in many population genetic studies.

 

 

* Y-Chromosome Evidence of Southern Origin of the East Asian–Specific Haplogroup O3-M122 by Hong Shi, et al.

The Phylogenetic Relationships of the O3-M122 SNPs and Haplotypes

 

The Contour Map of the Y-haplotype O3a5a2 (M117) – Frequency Distribution

 

Distribution of the O3a5a2 Haplotype in the East Asian Populations

NEAS

Population	Han Inner Mongolian	Han Gansu	Han Laizhou	Han Zibo
No.	10	5	2	8
Sample No.	60	60	86	98
%	16.7	8.3	2.3	8.2
Language	Han	Han	Han	Han

 

SEAS

Population	Han Sichuan	Han Guangxi	Han Yunnan	Achang	Bai	Bai Hunan	Tujia	Nu	Hani	Lahuo	Lisu
No.	3	3	16		10	1	7	31	7	4	3
Sample No.	64	39	81	40	80	38	100	50	41	88	49
%	4.7	7.7	19.8		12.5	2.6	7	62	17.1	4.6	6.1
Language	Han	Han	Han	Tibeto-Burman	Tibeto-Burman	Tibeto-Burman	Tibeto-Burman	Tibeto-Burman	Tibeto-Burman	Tibeto-Burman	Tibeto-Burman

 

Population	Yi	Jingpo	Pumi	Naxi	Tibetan Yunnan	Dulong	Zhuang Yunnan	Zhuang Guangxi	Buyi	Shui	Dai	Thais
No.			3	3	11	9	1		1	19	1	4
Sample No.	47	17	47	87	50	28	47	39	48	40	132	60
%			6.4	3.5	22	32.1	2.1		2.1	47.5	0.8	6.7
Language	Tibeto-Burman	Tibeto-Burman	Tibeto-Burman	Tibeto-Burman	Tibeto-Burman	Tibeto-Burman	Daic	Daic	Daic	Daic	Daic	Daic

 

Population	Miao Yunnan	Miao Hunan	Yao Yunnan	Yao Guangxi	Yao Hunan	Yao Guangdong	Wa	Bulang	Deang	Cambodian
No.	2	3	6	25	4	5	5	1	5
Sample No.	48	105	90	225	20	37	31	28	16	14
%	4.2	2.9	6.7	11.1	20	13.5	16.1	3.6	31.3
Language	Hmong-Mien	Hmong-Mien	Hmong-Mien	Hmong-Mien	Hmong-Mien	Hmong-Mien	Austro-Asiatic	Austro-Asiatic	Austro-Asiatic	Austro-Asiatic

 

Population	Manchurian Yunnan	Monngolian Yunnan	Hui Yunnan
No.	21	2	1
Sample No.	41	46	15
%	51.2	4.4	6.7
Language	Altai	Altai	Altai

 

 

Map of Yunnan

 

The Nu people (怒族) are one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. Their population of 27,000 is divided into the Northern, Central and Southern groups. Their homeland is a country of high mountains and deep ravines crossed by the Lancang, Dulong and Nujiang rivers, and this area is rich in natural minerals. The name "Nu" comes from the fact that they were living near the Nujiang river, and the name of their ethnic group derives from there. (Nujiang is also called Nu river; 怒江; or Salween River.)

The Nu live mainly in Yunnan province. 90% of them are found in Gongshan, Fugong, Laping and Bijiang counties in Yunnan Province, along with Lisu, Drung, Tibetan, Nakhi, Bai and Han. There is also a sparse distribution of Nu in Weixi County in the Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and Zayu County in Tibet Autonomous Region, particularly at the border between Yunnan and Tibet.

The Nu speak a language in the Tibeto-Burman family of languages.

 

The Sui people (水族) are an ethnic group living in the Guangxi, Guizhou, and Yunnan areas of southwestern China. They are counted as one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China.

It is believed that the Shui are descended from the Luo-Yue that inhabited the southeast coast of China before the Han dynasty. Their name of Shui, which means "water", was adopted during the Ming dynasty.

The Shui speak the Sui language of the Kradai family.

 

Manchurians in Yunnan: remnants of the Qing administration. The Manchu people (滿族) are a Tungusic people who originated in Manchuria (today's northeastern China). During their rise in the seventeenth century, with the help of Ming rebels (such as general Wu Sangui), they conquered the Ming Dynasty and founded the Qing Dynasty, which ruled China until the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, which established a republican government in its place.

The Manchu ethnicity has largely been assimilated with the Han Chinese. The Manchu language is almost extinct, now spoken only among a small number of elderly people in remote rural areas of northeastern China and a few scholars; there are around ten thousand speakers of Sibe (Xibo), a Manchu dialect spoken in the Ili region of Xinjiang.

 

The Derung (also spelt Drung or Dulong) people (獨龍族) are an ethnic group. They form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. Their population of 6,000 is found in the Nujiang Autonomous Prefecture of Yunnan province, in the Dulong valley. Another 600 can be found east of the Dulong valley, living in the mountains above the Nu Jiang (Salween River) near the village of Binzhongluo in northern Gongshan County.

The Derung speak the Derung language, a Sino-Tibetan language. Their language is unwritten; in the past the Derung have transmitted messages and have made records by making notches on wooden logs.

There are few documents about the origins of the Derung. It is known, nevertheless, that during the period of the Tang dynasty, the Derung were under the jurisdiction of the kingdoms of Nanzhao and Dali. Later on, from the Yuan dynasty to the Qing dynasty, the Derung were governed by the local heads of the Naxi.

 

 

The De'ang (德昂族; also spelt Deang, Palaung and Benglong) people are an ethnic group living in China, Burma and Thailand. Their language is called Palaung or "Ta-ang".

The Palaung language belongs to the Palaungic sub-group of the Mon-Khmer group of languages and forms a bridge between Mon and Khasi (a language spoken in North-Eastern India).

 

 

Map of Meghalaya, India, from Maps of India

 

* Y-chromosome Evidence Suggests a Common Paternal Heritage of Austro-Asiatic Populations by Vikrant Kumar, et al.

Excerpt: Further, the Garo tribe shows haplogroup O-M122 as most common (55%) followed by O-M95 (18%). Since Austro-Asiatic Khasi and Tibeto-Burman Garo live in close proximity in Meghalaya and are known to have frequent marital interactions, we further typed all the samples of haplogroup O-M122 from Garo and Khasi populations to see if O-M122 among the Khasis is not due to admixture with the Garo. We found only 3 out of the 8 haplogroups defined by the binary markers used in this study (Fig. 3) i.e. O-M133*, O-M134* and O-M122*. The frequency of O-M134* was highest in both Khasi (56%) and Garo (67%) followed by O-M133*. Three each of Khasi and Garo out of 27 and 18 O-M122 samples, respectively, remained in the undefined clade O-M122*. Thus the Khasi and Garo show homogeneous distribution of the sub-lineages of O-M122 (χ2 = 1.597; p = 0.45)....

Similarly, the presence of haplogroup O-M122 in the Austro-Asiatic Khasi with relatively high frequency (29%) could be suspected to be due to gene flow from the neighboring Garo, which is substantiated by a similar frequency and composition of subclades of O-M122 between them (χ2 = 1.597; p = 0.45). Concurrently, no separate Y-STR lineages could be identified in the M-J network within the subclades (Fig. S2 [see Additional file]). The comparative data suggests that Southeast Asian Austro-Asiatics near the Northeast border of India have either O-M133* or O-M134* subclades (63%), whereas majority of the Austro-Asiatic populations from geographically distant Southeast China and Cambodia have O-M159 subclade (65%), suggesting that the Austro-Asiatic populations of different regions have different subclades of O-M122, which are characteristic of the neighboring non-Austro-Asiatic groups, possibly due to extensive admixture. Therefore, the presence of O-M133* and/or O-M134* subclades in the Austro-Asiatic Khasi and other Tibeto-Burman populations including Garo from Northeast India may imply that the O-M122 in Khasi probably had its source in the neighboring Tibeto-Burman groups, particularly from the Garo.

 

Rooted maximum-parsimony tree of sub-haplogroups of O-M122 along with their frequencies in Khasi and Garo samples

 

 

Khasi

The Khasi are a tribe in Meghalaya, formerly part of Assam in north-eastern India and in parts of Bangladesh, who call themselves Ki Hynniew trep which means "the seven huts" in the Khasi language. Their language, also called Khasi, was essentially oral until the arrival of European missionaries, and particularly significant in this regard was the Welsh missionry Thomas Jones, who transcribed the Khasi language into the Roman Script. The Khasi people form the majority of the population of the eastern part of Meghalaya. Some Khasi reside in the hilly areas of Sylhet, Bangladesh. The Khasi tribes are usually dependent upon jhoom cultivation in which the vegetation is left to grow totally under the care of nature. In Bangladesh, one of the main products produced by the Khasi using jhoom cultivation is betel leaf.

Khasi from different regions have small, but noted differences. They are descendants of Mon-Khmer speakers who migrated probably from Mongolia to Meghalaya. Most Khasi have brown to light yellow skin, epicanthic folds, high nasal bridges and aquiline noses.

 

 

Garos

The Garos are a tribe in Meghalaya, India and neighboring areas of Bangladesh, who call themselves A·chik Mande (literally "hill people," from a·chik "hill" + mande "people") or simply A·chik or Mande. They are the second-largest tribe in Meghalaya after the Khasi and comprise about a third of the local population.

The Garo language belongs to the Bodo branch of the Bodo-Naga-Kachin family of the Sino-Tibetan phylum. As the Garo language is not traditionally written down, customs, traditions, and beliefs are handed down orally. It is also believed that the written language was lost in its transit to the present Garo Hills.

According to one such oral tradition, the Garos first came to Meghalaya from Tibet about 400 years ago under the leadership of Jappa Jalimpa, crossing the Brahmaputra River and tentatively settling in the river valley. It is said that they were later driven up into the hills by other groups in and around the Brahmaputra River. Various records of the tribe by invading Mughal armies and by British observers in what is now Bangladesh wrote of the brutality of the people.

The earliest written records about the Garo dates from around 1800. They "...were looked upon as bloodthirsty savages, who inhabited a tract of hills covered with almost impenetrable jungle, the climate of which was considered so deadly as to make it impossible for a white man to live there" (Playfair 1909: 76-77). The Garo had the reputation of being headhunters.

 

 

* Austro-Asiatic Tribes of Northeast India Provide Hitherto Missing Genetic Link between South and Southeast Asia by B. Mohan Reddy, et al.

Rooted Maximum-parsimony Tree of Y-chromosome Haplogroups Defined by Binary Markers along with Their Frequency in Nine Meghalayan Populations

 

 

Map of Nepal

 

* Mitochondrial and Y-chromosome Diversity of the Tharus (Nepal): A reservoir of genetic variation by Simona Fornarino, et al.

Phylogeny and Frequencies (%) of Y-chromosome Haplogroups in the Populations Studied (partial tree)

 

Population	Tharus-Chitwan I	Tharus-Chitwan II	Tharus-Eastern Terai	Hindus-Terai	Hindus- New Delhi	Tribals-Andhra Pradesh
Number	57	77	37	26	49	29
O3a3c1	49.1	28.6	18.9			3.4

 

 

A Tharu man in Nepal (photo by *saipal)

The Tharu people mainly live in the Surkhet Valley in the west mountain region, Chitwan Valley, Dang Valley,Deukhuri Valley,Sindhuli and Udyapur in Inner Terai Valleys of Nepal and the Terai plains on the border of Nepal and India. The population of Nepal is 28,287,147 (July 2006 est.), of which the Tharu people make up 6.6%. A smaller number of Tharus live in India, mostly in Champaran District of Bihar and in Nainital District of Uttarakhand

The Tharu is the largest and oldest ethnic group of the Terai region (southern plains along the length of Nepalese foothills), living in villages near dense malaria-infested jungles in regions that were isolated over the millennia, allowing them to develop a unique culture. They work usually as farmers or peddlers. Although physically the Tharu are similar to other peoples in the area, they speak their own Tharu language, an Eastern zone (Magadhan) Indo-Aryan language.

 

 

* Paternal Genetic Affinity between Western Austronesians and Daic Populations by Hui Li, et al.

Y-SNP Haplogroup O3a5a Frequencies of the Newly Studied Samples (%)

Population	Bolyu	Yerong	Qau	Blue Gelao	Lachi	Mollao	Red Gelao	White Gelao	Hlai-Qi	Jiamao	Buyang	Cun	Laqua
Size	30	16	13	30	30	30	31	14	34	27	32	31	25
O3a5a	10.0		7.7		23.3		16.1		2.9			3.2

 

Population	Man-Caolan	Zhuang-N	Zhuang-S	Lingao	E	Laka	Kam/Dong	Sui	Mak&AiCham	Mulam	Maonan
Size	30	22	15	30	31	23	38	50	40	40	32
O3a5a		4.6		26.7			10.5

 

Population	Biao	Then	Danga	DornQdayc-S	DornQdayc-N	CaoMiao	Amis	Pazeh	Makatao (Siraya)	Thao	Paiwan
Size	34	30	40	74	51	33	28	21	37	22	22
O3a5a		6.7	15.0		13.7

 

Population	Atayal	Rukai	Pyuma	Tsou	Bunun	Saisiyat	Batak	Bangka	Malay	Minangkabau	Palembang
Size	22	11	11	18	17	11	13	13	13	15	11
O3a5a

 

Population	Nias	Dayak	Banjar	Javanese	Tengger	Balinese	Bugis	Torajan	Minahasa	Makassar	Kaili
Size	12	15	15	15	12	14	15	15	14	13	15
O3a5a							6.7

 

Population	Sasak	Sumbawa	Sumba	Alor	Irian	Cham	Tsat
Size	15	18	14	13	11	11	31
O3a5a				7.7

 

 

Raja Ali Haji

The Bugis are the most numerous of the three major linguistic and ethnic groups of South Sulawesi, the southwestern province of Sulawesi, Indonesia's third largest island. Although many Bugis live in the large port cities of Makassar and Parepare, the majority are farmers who grow wet rice on the lowland plains to the north and west of the town of Maros. The name Bugis is an exonym which represents an older form of the name; (To) Ugi is the endonym.

The homeland of the Bugis is the area around Lake Tempe and Lake Sidenreng in the Walennae Depression in the southwest peninsula. It was here that the ancestors of the present-day Bugis settled, probably in the mid- to late second millennium BC. The area is rich in fish and wildlife and the annual fluctuation of Lake Tempe (a reservoir lake for the Bila and Walennae rivers) allows speculative planting of wet rice, while the hills can be farmed by swidden orshifting cultivation, wet rice, gathering and hunting. Around AD 1200 the availability of prestigious imported goods including Chinese and Southeast Asian ceramics and Gujerati print-block textiles, coupled with newly discovered sources of iron ore in Luwu stimulated an agrarian revolution which expanded from the great lakes region into the lowland plains to the east, south and west of the Walennae depression. This led over the next 400 years to the development of the major kingdoms of South Sulawesi, and the social transformation of chiefly societies into hierarchical proto-states.

Long before European colonialists extended their influence into these waters, the Makasar, the Bajau, and the Bugis built elegant, ocean-going schooners in which they plied the trade routes. Intrepid and doughty, they travelled as far east as the Aru Islands, off New Guinea, where they traded in the skins of birds of paradise and medicinal masoya bark, and to northern Australia, where they exchanged shells, birds'-nests and mother-of-pearl for knives and salt with Aboriginal tribes. The products of the forest and sea that they brought back were avidly sought after in the markets and entrepots of Asia, where the Bugis bartered for opium, silk, cotton, firearms and gunpowder.

The Bugis sailors left their mark and culture on an area of the northern Australian coast which stretches over two thousand kilometers from the Kimberley to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Throughout these parts of northern Australia, there is much evidence of a significant Bugis presence. There are the remains of Bugis buildings on islands, Bugis words have become part of the Aboriginal languages and Bugis men and their craft feature in the indigenous art of the people of Arnhem Land. Each year, the Bugis sailors would sail down on the northwestern monsoon in their wooden pinisi. They would stay in Australian waters for several months to trade and take trepang (or dried sea cucumber) before returning to Makassar on the dry season off shore winds. These trading voyages continued until 1907.

As Thomas Forrest wrote in Voyage from Calcutta, "The Bugis are a high-spirited people: they will not bear ill-usage...They are fond of adventures, emigration, and capable of undertaking the most dangerous enterprises."

Respected as traders and sailors, and feared occasionally as adventurers and pirates, the seafarers of southern Sulawesi looked outwards, seeking their fortunes throughout the Indonesian archipelago. While trade was the seafarers' main goal, the Makasar, Bajau, and Bugis often set up permanent settlements, either through conquest or diplomacy, and marrying into local societies. However, their reputation as seafarers dates to after 1670; most Bugis were, and are, rice farmers.

 

 

Map of Lesser Sunda Islands

Alor is the largest island in the Alor Archipelago located at the eastern-most end of the Lesser Sunda Islands that runs through southern Indonesia, which from the west include such islands as Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, Komodo, and Flores.

More than 15 different indigenous languages are spoken on Alor, the majority of them classified as Papuan or non-Austronesian. These include Abui, Adang, Hamap, Kabola, Kafoa, Woisika, Kelon, and Kui. In addition, Alorese (Bahasa Alor; ISO 693-3: aol) is a Malayo-Polynesian language which is spoken along the coast of the western and southern Bird's Head of Alor Island and in places on surrounding islands.

 

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體染色體的組織抗原 (HLA) 基因型 (HLA-A-B-DRB1 ) 單倍型:

A*1101/02-B*4001-DRB1*0901

A*3303-B*5101-DRB1*1202

解釋 : B*4001-DRB1*0901 廣泛的分佈在台灣各族中, 以泰雅族 (Atayal; 8.7%) 最高, 閩南人 (Hoklo) 有 3.6% 及客家人 (Hakka) 4.5%. B*5101-DRB1*1202 只見於西拉雅族 (Siraya; 1%).

 

 

* HLA Class I (A, B, C) and Class II (DRB1, DQA1, DQB1, DPB1) Alleles and Haplotypes in the Han from Southern China by Trachtenberg E, et al.

Abstract: In this study, polymerase chain reaction-sequence-specific oligonucleotide prode (SSOP) typing results for the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I (A, B, and C) and class II (DRB1, DQA1, DQB1, and DPB1) loci in 264 individuals of the Han ethnic group from the Canton region of southern China are presented. The data are examined at the allele, genotype, and haplotype level. Common alleles at each of the loci are in keeping with those observed in similar populations, while the high-resolution typing methods used give additional details about allele frequency distributions not shown in previous studies. Twenty distinct alleles are seen at HLA-A in this population. The locus is dominated by the A*1101 allele, which is found here at a frequency of 0.266. The next three most common alleles, A*2402, A*3303, and A*0203, are each seen at frequencies of greater than 10%, and together, these four alleles account for roughly two-thirds of the total for HLA-A in this population. Fifty alleles are observed for HLA-B, 21 of which are singleton copies. The most common HLA-B alleles are B*4001 (f= 0.144), B*4601 (f= 0.119), B*5801 (f= 0.089), B*1301 (f= 0.068), B*1502 (f= 0.073), and B*3802 (f= 0.070). At the HLA-C locus, there are a total of 20 alleles. Four alleles (Cw*0702, Cw*0102, Cw*0801, and Cw*0304) are found at frequencies of greater than 10%, and together, these alleles comprise over 60% of the total. Overall, the class II loci are somewhat less diverse than class I. Twenty-eight distinct alleles are seen at DRB1, and the most common three, DRB1*0901, *1202, and *1501, are each seen at frequencies of greater than 10%. The DR4 lineage also shows extensive expansion in this population, with seven subtypes, representing one quarter of the diversity at this locus. Eight alleles are observed at DQA1; DQA1*0301 and 0102 are the most common alleles, with frequencies over 20%. The DQB1 locus is dominated by four alleles of the 03 lineage, which make up nearly half of the total. The two most common DQB1 alleles in this population are DQB1*0301 (f= 0.242) and DQB1*0303 (f= 0.15). Eighteen alleles are observed at DPB1; DPB1*0501 is the most common allele, with a frequency of 37%. The class I allele frequency distributions, expressed in terms of Watterson's (homozygosity) F-statistic, are all within expectations under neutrality, while there is evidence for balancing selection at DRB1, DQA1, and DQB1. Departures from Hardy-Weinberg expectations are observed for HLA-C and DRB1 in this population. Strong individual haplotypic associations are seen for all pairs of loci, and many of these occur at frequencies greater than 5%. In the class I region, several examples of HLA-B and -C loci in complete or near complete linkage disequilibrium (LD) are present, and the two most common, B*4601-Cw*0102 and B*5801-Cw*0302 account for more than 20% of the B-C haplotypes. Similarly, at class II, nearly all of the most common DR-DQ haplotypes are in nearly complete LD. The most common DRB1-DQB1 haplotypes are DRB1*0901-DQB1*0303 (f= 0.144) and DRB1*1202-DQB1*0301 (f= 0.131). The most common four locus class I and class II combined haplotypes are A*3303-B*5801-DRB1*0301-DPB1*0401 (f= 0.028) and A*0207-B*4601-DRB1*0901-DPB1*0501 (f= 0.026). The presentation of complete DNA typing for the class I loci and haplotype analysis in a large sample such as this can provide insights into the population history of the region and give useful data for HLA matching in transplantation and disease association studies in the Chinese population.

 

 

* The Origin of Minnan & Hakka, the So-Called "Taiwanese" Inferred by HLA Study by Marie Lin

Discussion: Because of the high degree of the polymorphism of HLA system, it is a useful genetic marker for the characterization of human populations and analysis of their relationships for anthropological purposes. Differences in the distribution of HLA alleles among various human populations are more marked when compared to other genetic markers. This becomes even more obvious if HLA haplotypes (particular combinations of alleles) are used as an index. It is interesting that many haplotypes were found to have a unique organization of HLA genes that have been well-conserved through thousands of years and also each characteristic haplotype shows a limited regional distribution. Therefore the HLA haplotype is a powerful marker and is useful for surveys among closely related ethnic groups (8). Family studies have been found to be the best method for studying multilocus HLA haplotype distribution in Taiwan, this studies is the first report based on family study in “Taiwanese” (Minnan and Hakka).

A33-B58-DRB1*03 was found to be the most common and also the best conserved A-B-DR three-locus haplotype among “Taiwanese” (6.3%), was exclusively related to the most common five locus haplotype, A33-Cw10-B58-DRB1*03-DQB1*02 (6.3%). Similar to our results, the haplotype A33-B58-DR17 (DRB1*03) was also proven to be the most common haplotype in Taiwan among Minnan (n = 7137, 5.59%) and Hakka (n = 714, 5.10%) by the Tzu Chi Taiwan Marrow Donor Registry as estimated by the maximum likelihood method (7). The three-locus haplotype A33-B58-DRB1*03 has also been found among southeast Asians (Thai-Chinese 7.1%; Singapore Chinese 4.4%) (5) and northern Asians (Han in Urumchi, China 3.5%; Khalha in Mongolia 3.4%; Uygur in Urumchi, China 1.8%; Kazakhs in Urumchi, China 1.8%; Korean 1.2%) (9, 10). The five-locus haplotype has also been found in Thais (Present-day Thais 2.2%; Black Thai 2.8%) (11). It is interesting to note that the HLA-A, B two-locus haplotype A33-B58 among southern Han (n = 138, samples collected in Human and Fuchien) was reported to be only 2.4%, with no significant A-B-DR three-locus haplotype frequency at the 11 IHW (5), while in an earlier report the A33-B17 haplotype frequency among southern Han (n = 844) was 1.53%, and for southern minorities (n = 621) was 1.29% (12). In another report, the haplotype A33-Cw10-B58 was found among northern Han (n = 196, 3.1%), however, the most frequently associated DR gene with this haplotype in northeast Asians is more likely DR13 than DR3 (13), and the distribution of haplotype B58-DR3 was found clearly focused in southeast Asian population (8). Therefore, although three- to five-locus haplotype of A33-Cw10-B58-DRB1*03-DQB1*02 has been found to be distributed among all east and southeast Asians, however, the highest frequencies have been found in “Taiwanese”, Singapore Chinese and Thai-Chinese, and these three populations are presumed to be the descendants on early settlers from the southeast coast of China. Therefore, this haplotype is probably the most well-conserved haplotype among these three populations.

The second most common three locus haplotype among “Taiwanese” in this study A2-B46-DRB1*09 (3.0%) has also been found in Singapore Chinese (7.7%); Vietnamese (5.2%); southern Han (5.1%); Thais (4.7%) and Thai-Chinese (2.4%) (5). The corresponding five-locus haplotype A2-Cw1-B46-DRB1*09-DQB1*0303 (2.7%) has also been found in Black Thai (8.3%), Dai Lui (Thais, 5.1%), and present-day Thais (2.1%) (11). This haplotype is thus characteristic for southern Asians (8).

It is well known from the results of HLA studies that there are genetic differences between southern and northern Han Chinese (7, 8, 14, 15). This corresponds well with the prehistory and history of China. The Central Plains (Chung Yuan) culture developed in the loess region of the Hunag Ho (Yellow River) basin in the north of China. And was dated to sixth or even seventh millennium BC from excavated millets (16). This culture went through the Shia civilization, followed by the Shang and Chou Dynasties and was limited to the north (north of Yangtze River). Only in the Chin Dynasty (221 – 206 B.C.), there was political control over the central region of the south gained (17). Recent new archeological discoveries showed that in the south of China there was an independent Yueh coastal culture (from the Yangtze delta to the Hong river delta in North Vietnam) in existence almost at the same period of time (18). However, the history of the south only began around 500 B.C. just before the battles between two countries of Yueh and Wu (17). There is a well known story about the King of the Yueh who slept on firewood for mattress and had gall hung over his bed to remind him of the bitterness of his defeat by Wu which finally enabled him to win the battle, and resulted in national recovery. The Yueh people lived along southeast coast of China (Chechiang, Fuchien, Kwangton and Kwangsi), and were named the Hundred (Pai) Yueh before the Han Dynasty (206 B.C – 220 A.D.) due to the great diversity of local cultures. Not very much Yueh history has been available from Chinese history (of the Central Plains) apart from battles between Yueh and Wu during the Spring and Autumn Warring States Period, and the dispersion of part of the Yueh peoples to the north during the Han Dynasty, since in Chinese history populations other than those of the Central Plains have considered as “barbarians” (17, 19). The Minnan (Min) were one of the ethnic groups among the Yueh who lived in Fuchien, and according to Lin (17) and Meacham (19) the present-day Minnan are descendants of indigenous Minnan peoples although probably limited gene flow from the northern Han occurred during the Chin and Han Dynasties and also during the following several centuries, due to invasions of nomads from Mongolia in the north which caused internal migration from north to south (17). As the barbarian status of the Yueh gradually disappeared and they were finally given Han status in history, thus probably resulting in misinterpretation and erroneous self-assertion of present-day Minnan as “pure” descendants of the northern Han. In Chinese history, many ethnic minorities adopted Han culture, and many peoples from these ethnic groups often announced that they were Han, most likely because the Han culture was more dominant at that time and so being a member of a Han ethnic group was both beneficial and a source of pride in the past (17, 19, 20). This also imply to Hakka, as during South Song Dynasty (1127 – 1279 A.D.) or even earlier there were limited immigrants from Central Plains to southeast region of China. These peoples with their dominant Han culture influenced culturally and linguistically the indigenous Yueh peoples especially those who live in Kwangton. Subsequently few initial immigrants and the vast majority of indigenous Yueh peoples forming the Hakka ethnic group.

Two phylogenetic trees constructed by calculation of the genetic distances D and DA showed a slight difference in the order of clustering among southern Asians. The D tree appears to better fit into the history of “Taiwanese”, Thai-Chinese and Singapore Chinese, since they originated from the same area of the southeast coast of China but migrated to different places during the last few centuries. However, the trees constructed both by D and DA separated the southern Asian populations, including “Taiwanese”, from northern Han. Correspondence analysis of “Taiwanese” and many other populations also showed that there was a clear separation between the “Taiwanese” and northern Han. A phylogenetic tree constructed by HLA gene frequencies on marrow donors also showed that” Taiwanese” (Minnan and Hakka) clustering together with the southern Han are separated from the northern Han (8). Many other studies including HLA as well as other genetic markers such as immunoglobulins (22), blood groups (23), glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (24) and microsatellites (25) also clearly separate the southern Han from the northern Han. A study on Chinese surnames and genetic differences between north and south China also separated southern Han from the northern Han (20). In that study, the southern Han cluster can be further subdivide into three subclusters: the lower Yangtze river centering around Shanghai; most of the Yangtze river basin; and the southeast coastal areas and islands off the coast (including Taiwan). Chinese surnames have a history of probably more than 4,000 years and are transmitted via the male line and can thus be considered as a Y-chromosome gene. The finding of southeast coastal subdivisions of the southern Han corresponds well with the history and populations of the Yueh. Also in that study, the map of the first two principal coordinates calculated by the gene frequencies for ABO, MN, and Rh(D) of 28 provinces of China plus Taiwan, it was revealed that there was a clear split between the populations of Taiwan and the southeast coastal provinces from all other parts of China, suggesting that “Taiwanese” and its originating southeast coastal populations (Yueh peoples) might be genetically distinct from the others.

These genetic data indicate that the southern Han are basically of southern origin and remain genetically distinct from the northern Han. “Taiwanese” who are descendants of the ancient Yueh peoples preserve the ancestral HLA haplotype A33-Cw10-B58-DRB1*03-DQB1*02 of the Yueh. The genetic distance between “Taiwanese” and southern Han warrant further study because half of the population samples contributing to the HLA data of southern Han used in this study were from Fuchien (5).

 

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HLA-A33

A33 shows two different distributions that can be discriminated by subtyping capability of SSP-PCR: A*3301 and A*3303.

Certain alleles confound population histories. At the top of that list is A*3303. This allele appears to jump, literally, out of West Africa into South Asia. The point of origin is Africa, most likely central or western Africa given the low levels in East Africa (although much of East Africa is undersampled). In certain tested populations of the Middle East the level of A*3303 is either very low, or non-existent. Within East Africa Sudan appears to be the highest at around 2%. The frequency of A*3303 begins to rise in eastern Arabia (Oman, UAE) and then markedly rise in the Brahui and Balochi of Pakistan.

 

Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is an Arab country in southwest Asia on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula.

The name we call the country by today, Oman, is believed to originate from the Arab tribes who migrated to its territory from the Uman region of Yemen. Many tribes settled in Oman making a living by fishing, herding or stock breeding and many present day Omani families are able to trace their ancestral routes to other parts of Arabia.

From the 6th century BC to the arrival of Islam in the 7th century AD, Oman was controlled and/or influenced by three Persian dynasties, the Achaemenids, Parthians and Sassanids. Achaemenids in the 6th century BC controlled and influenced the Oman peninsula. This was most likely exerted from a coastal center such as Sohar. By about 250 B.C. the Parthian dynasty brought the Persian Gulf under their control and extended their influence as far as Oman. Because they needed to control the Persian Gulf trade route, the Parthians established garrisons in Oman. In the third century A.D. the Sasanids succeeded the Parthians and held the area until the rise of Islam four centuries later

 

The United Arab Emirates, most earliest known human occupation for which there is significant evidence dated from the Neolithic period, 5500 BC. Even at this early stage, there is proof of interaction with the outside world, especially with civilisations to the north. These contacts persisted and became wide-ranging, probably motivated by trade in copper from the Hajar Mountains, commencing around 3000BC. Foreign trade, the recurring motif in the history of this strategic region, seems to have flourished also in later periods, facilitated by domestication of the camel at the end of the second millennium BC.

By the first century AD overland caravan traffic between Syria and cities in southern Iraq, followed by seaborne travel to the important port of Omana (perhaps present-day Umm al-Qaiwain) and thence to India was an alternative to the Red Sea route used by the Romans. Pearls had been exploited in the area for millennia but at this time the trade reached new heights. Seafaring was also a mainstay and major fairs were held at Dibba, bringing merchants from as far as China.

 

The Baloch (بلوچ) is an ethnic group that inhabits the region of Balochistan in the southeast corner of the Iranian plateau in Southwest Asia, including parts of Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

The Baloch speak Balochi, an Iranian language. They mainly inhabit mountainous terrains, which have allowed them to maintain a distinct cultural identity and resist domination by neighbouring rulers. Some 60 percent of the total Baloch population live in Pakistan. About 25 percent inhabit the contiguous region of southeastern Iran. In Pakistan the Balochi people are divided into two groups, the Sulaimani and the Makrani, separated from each other by a compact block of Brahui tribes.

There are different viewpoints about the origins of the Balochs, including Arabs, Turks, Iranis, and Italians who migrated to Balochistan with Alexander The Great and did not return back.

L. M. Dames says that Balochs are ancestral Irani, who migrated from the southern coastline of the Caspian Sea. L. W. Oshanen, a well-known anthropologist of the Soviet Union, has supported Dames' theory. The northern and southern Baloch, however, consider themselves of Arab descent, and Aleppo their first homeland. There is no doubt that Baloch tribes, particularly Bugti, and Rind, joined the Balochis during wars in Baloch regions, so there were many Arabs in that area at the time. To this viewpoint that Balochis are Arabs, Rai Bahadur Hetoraam also agrees and identifies them as descendants of Hazrat Ameer Hamza, uncle of Hazrat Muhammad.

 

The Brahui people or Brohi people (Brahui: بروہی) are a Dravidian ethnic group of about 2.2 million people with the majority found in Kalat, Pakistan, but also found in smaller numbers in neighboring Afghanistan, India, and Iran. They are closely linked to the Baloch with whom they have substantially intermingled and whose cultural traits they have absorbed. Linguistically they were believed to be a remnant of the inhabitants of the Indus Valley civilization. The Brahui language, also called Bravi, has been theorized as the remnant of a North Dravidian language. Due to its isolation from the other Dravidian tongues it has considerable Balochi vocabulary and counting begins with Balochi numbers. There is no distinct indigenous script for Brahui; like Balochi it is written in Perso-Arabic alphabet. Brahui is spoken in the following areas: Merv area of Turkmenistan, Sindh, Zahedan and Zabol in Iranian Balochistan, southern parts of Afghanistan, Pakistani Balochistan and with the bulk in the Jhalawan region.

 

HLA A*3303 Frequencies

Population	(%)
Cameroon Baka	25.0
Cameroon Sawa	23.1
India West Bhils	18.0
Pakistan Burusho	17.9
South Korea (3)	16.3
India West Parsis	14.0
Singapore Thai	13.3
India Mumbai Marathas	13.0
Japan	12.8
Pakistan Baloch	12.7
China South Han	11.5
Singapore Riau Malay	10.9
Singapore Chinese	10.1
Hong Kong Chinese	10.0
Chaoshan	9.8
Mali Bandiagara	9.4
China Inner Mongolia	9.3
Singapore Chinese Han	9.3
Singapore Javan	9.0
India North Hindus	8.7
Guinea Bissau	8.5
Taiwan Minnan	8.3
Taiwan Hakka	8.2

 

A33-B58-DR3-DQ2: One haplotype stands out, the A33-B58-DR3-DQ2 haplotype which is found in West Africa, in Sudan, and Pakistan, scattered along West Indias coast, the Turkic republics and appears to have recently introgressed into Korea (post-Yayoi period of Japan) and China. So recent arrival into Asia that the level of HLA DR3-DQ2 (see celiac disease) in Korea is 2.9%. Korea is the major recent source of Japanese genes, by the Yayoi period that lasted from 3000 to 1600 years ago approximately 3/4ths of Japanese genetic makeup is attributed to this migration. And yet there is trace DR3-DQ2 in the Japanese, none in the Ainu nor many other indigeonous Siberian groups.

 

HLA DR3-DQ2 is not spread evenly in the among humans. It is has a substantially higher frequency in the western world, except indigenous Native American. It is virtually absent in some Asian populations. It current world distribution suggest that it spread from Africa with a wave that spread late in human evolution which reached central Asia more recently, a possibility is that it spread with agrarian cultures that migrated from Africa.

DR3-DQ2 probably originated from Central or West Africa. DQ2.5cis haplotype is the second highest frequency haplotype in the Aka (N. Congo) and several other surrounding groups it is virtually absent in the !Kung. DQ2.5 primarily spread to the northwest and appears to have spread late in global spread of anatomically modern humans. The !Kung and Austronesians are reasonable marker populations earliest (eatward) spread out of Africa and those that spread rapidly, since the ancestors of the !Kung appear to have come from East Africa and share many Cw_B types in common with Austronesians and Northern Eurasians. DQ2.5 is at low frequencies in both of these populations, and it did not spread to Japan or the New World in pre-Columbian times. There is the possibility it spread to Arabia, but through stepwise expansion of small groups was lost from the DQ genetic repertoire.

DQ2.5 appears to be derived from DQ2.2 by gene recombination. One haplotype DQA1*0501:DQB1*0202 can be found in Africa suggesting DQB1*0201 evolved from DQB1*0202. The regions of Africa where DQ2.5 is at its highest frequencies indicate potential sources for western European haplotypes (e.g. bedoin) but also indicate recent dispersion making precise evolution difficult to interpret. Other evidence for a west African origin/expansion is seen with the probable origin of DQA1*0501 from DQA1*0505, which is at relatively high frequencies in west-central Africa.

 

A33-Cw3-B58-DR3-DQ2: Within eastern Asia A*3303 is in linkage dissiquilbrium with on haplotype in particular, the specific genetic makeup is:

A*3303 : C*0302 : B*5801 : DRB1*0301 : DQA1*0501 : DQB1*0201

It is interesting that the Cw allele in the Pakistani population is the same as the allele in the east Asian population C*0302. 8.3 of 11.1% of the A33-B58 in the Baloch Pakistani can is linked to DR3 and presumbably DQ2.5 (There are few exceptions outside of Africa). This extends a haplotype the forms a semi-circle around the Indian subcontinent indicating a subsantive and relatively recent genetic relationship. The parsis of Pakistan lack A33-B58, as with groups to the far west of Pakistan. The A33-B58-DR3-DQ2 haplotype appears to have originated in whole from West Africa, with current possibilities for Sudan or Northern Ethiopia as points of exit from Africa and a migration by the Indian ocean to the western side of the Indus River.

HLA A*33-B58 Frequencies

Population	freq (%)
Chinese (Thailand)	12.6
Baloch (Pakistan)	11.1
Chaoshan (China)	8.1
Chinese (Singapore)	5.5
Burusho (Pakistan)	4.6
Hui	4.0
Mongolian	3.7
Kalash (Pakistan)	3.6
Korea	3.5
Yaku	3.2
Panthan (Pakistan)	3.0
Tribals (India)	3.0
Baloch (SE Iran)	2.9
Brahui (Pakistan)	2.9
Southern Han	2.8
Thais	2.5
Vietnamese	2.3

 

 

* The Origin of Minnan & Hakka, the So-Called "Taiwanese" Inferred by HLA Study by M. Lin

Abstract: The Minnan and Hakka people groups, the so-called "Taiwanese", are the descendants of early settlers from the southeast coast of China during the last few centuries. Genetically they showed affinities to southern Asian populations as determined by phylogenetic trees and correspondence analysis calculated from HLA allele frequencies. This corresponds historically with the fact that they are the descendants of the southeast coastal indigenous population (Yueh) of China and should therefore not be considered as descendants of "pure" northern Han Chinese. A33-B58-DRB1*03 (A33-Cw10-B58-DRB1*03-DQB1*02), the most common HLA haplotype among "Taiwanese", with a haplotype frequency of 6.3%, has also been found to be the most common haplotype among Thai-Chinese and Singapore Chinese, two other populations also originating from the southeast coast of China. These observations suggest that this haplotype is the most well conserved ancient haplotype of the Yueh (從組織抗原推論閩南人及客家人，所謂「台灣人」的來源 by 林媽利).

 

 

Silk Road

 

 

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HLA-DR12

HLA-DR12(DR12) is a HLA-DR serotype.

There are only 2 common allels for DRB1*12, *1201 and *1202. *1202 is more common on the West Pacific Rim and particularly Indochina and the South Pacific.

Indochina, or the Indochinese Peninsula, is a region in Southeast Asia. It lies roughly east of India, south of China. The word has French origins, Indochine, and was adopted when French colonizers in Vietnam began expanding their territory to bordering countries.

Historically, the countries of Mainland Southeast Asia received cultural influence from China and India, but to varying degrees. Some Southeast Asian cultures, such as that of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand are influenced mainly by the culture of India with a smaller influence from the culture of China. Others, such as the culture of Vietnam, received a much larger influence from China, with only minor cultural influences from India, largely via the Champa civilization that Vietnam conquered during its southward expansion.

Indochina comprises the territory of the following countries:

• in strict sense, only the former colonial French Indochina:
  • Cambodia
  • Laos
  • Vietnam
• in the wider sense, better described as Mainland Southeast Asia, it also includes:
  • Peninsular Malaysia (comprising the southern end of the Malay peninsula but none of the Malay islands)
  • Myanmar (formerly Burma and part of British India until 1937)
  • Singapore (also considered part of Maritime Southeast Asia if the man-made Johor-Singapore Causeway is not taken into account)
  • Thailand (formerly Siam)

* Pacific Islanders' Ancestry Emerges in Genetic Study by John Noble Wilford

* The Genetic Structure of Pacific Islanders by Jonathan S. Friedlaender, et al.

* New Research Forces U-Turn in Population Migration Theory by University of Leeds

 

Disease Associations

DR12 is associated with vulval lichen sclerosus, and undifferentiated spondyloarthritis.

DRB1*1201 is associated with iritis in juvenile arthritis, primary antiphospholipid syndrome, tiopronin intolerance in rheumatoid arthritis, adult chronic articular Still's disease.

DRB1*1202 is found to be increased in narcolepsy associated sudden death syndrome in the Thai population, and narcolepsy in the Japanese population.

 

* HLA-DR and -DQB1 DNA polymorphisms in a Vietnamese Kinh population from Hanoi by A. Vu-Trieu, et al.

Abstract: SUMMARY: We report here the DNA polymerase chain reaction sequence-specific oligonucleotide (PCR-SSO) typing of the HLA-DR B1, B3, B4, B5 and DQB1 loci for a sample of 103 Vietnamese Kinh from Hanoi, and compare their allele and haplotype frequencies to other East Asiatic and Oceanian populations studied during the 11th and 12th International HLA Workshops. The Kinh exhibit some very high-frequency alleles both at DRB1 (1202, which has been confirmed by DNA sequencing, and 0901) and DQB1 (0301, 03032, 0501) loci, which make them one of the most homogeneous population tested so far for HLA class II in East Asia. Three haplotypes account for almost 50% of the total haplotype frequencies in the Vietnamese. The most frequent haplotype is HLA-DRB1*1202-DRB3*0301-DQB1*0301 (28%), which is also predominant in Southern Chinese, Micronesians and Javanese. On the other hand, DRB1*1201(frequent in the Pacific) is virtually absent in the Vietnamese. The second most frequent haplotype is DRB1*0901-DRB4*01011-DQB1*03032 (14%), which is also commonly observed in Chinese populations from different origins, but with a different accessory chain (DRB4*0301) in most ethnic groups. Genetic distances computed for a set of Asiatic and Oceanian populations tested for DRB1 and DQB1 and their significance indicate that the Vietnamese are close to the Thai, and to the Chinese from different locations. These results, which are in agreement with archaeological and linguistic evidence, contribute to a better understanding of the origin of the Vietnamese population, which has until now not been clear.

 

 

HLA-A11

HLA-A11 (A11) is an HLA-A serotype. A11 is more common in eastern Asia particularly along the coastal regions of China.

 

 

HLA-B51

Behçet disease is considered more prevalent in the areas surrounding the old silk trading routes in the Middle East and in Central Asia. Thus, it is sometimes known as Silk Road Disease. However, this disease is not restricted to people from these regions.

Behçet disease is a chronic condition due to disturbances in the body’s immune system. This system, which normally protects the body against infections through controlled inflammation, becomes overactive and produces unpredictable outbreaks of exaggerated inflammation. This extra inflammation affects blood vessels, usually the small ones. As a result, symptoms occur wherever there is a patch of inflammation, and can be anywhere where there is a blood supply.

Behçet Disease is genetically linked to the HLA-B51 antigen.

* Behcet 病---絲綢之路病 by 藍忠亮

* 貝西氏病 (Behcet's Disease) by 廖俊正, et al.

* Association of the MIC-A Gene and HLA-B51 with Behçet's Disease in Arabs and Non-Ashkenazi Jews in Israel by R. Cohen, et al.

 

 

HLA-B40

* Diversity of Alleles Encoding HLA-B40: Relative frequencies in United States populations and description of five novel alleles by N. Pimtanothai, et al.

* 認識僵直性脊椎炎 by 賴寧生

* Distribution of HLA-B Alleles in Mexican Amerindian Populations by Gilberto Vargas-Alarcón

* Diversity of HLA-B*40 Alleles and Haplotypes in Koreans by DH Whang, et al.

 

 

HLA-DR9

Disease Associations

DRB1*0901: Early childhood myastenia gravis

 

 

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