Language continuity despite population replacement in Remote Oceania

Abstract

SummaryRecent genomic analyses show that the earliest peoples reaching Remote Oceania – associated with Austronesian-speaking Lapita culture – were almost completely East Asian, without detectable Papuan ancestry. Yet Papuan-related genetic ancestry is found across present-day Pacific populations, indicating that peoples from Near Oceania have played a significant – but largely unknown – ancestral role. Here, new genome-wide data from 19 South Pacific individuals provide direct evidence of a so-far undescribed Papuan expansion into Remote Oceania starting ~2,500 years before present, far earlier than previously estimated and supporting a model from historical linguistics. New genome-wide data from 27 contemporary ni-Vanuatu demonstrate a subsequent and almost complete replacement of Lapita-Austronesian by Near Oceanian ancestry. Despite this massive demographic change, incoming Papuan languages did not replace Austronesian languages. Population replacement with language continuity is extremely rare – if not unprecedented – in human history. Our analyses show that rather than one large-scale event, the process was incremental and complex, with repeated migrations and sex-biased admixture with peoples from the Bismarck Archipelago.

A systematic investigation of human DNA preservation in medieval skeletons

“…However, we also report on seven alternative sampling locations on four other skeletal elements, all of which performed equally well in our evaluation, that show promise as suitable alternatives to the petrous pyramid. Though our sample set is limited both temporally and geographically, our results are likely informative for other climatic regions, time periods and perhaps even in anatomically comparable species as has already been demonstrated for the petrous portions itself [76][77][78][79] . It should also be noted that, as this study has focused on identifying the most efficient sampling locations from which host (in this case human) DNA can be recovered, the sampling strategies and suggestions put forth here may not be applicable in studies seeking to retrieve DNA from pathogens, the microbiome, or other co-cohabitating organisms within the host.…”

Ancient pathogen genomics as an emerging tool for infectious disease research

“…More recently, in solutionbased capture approaches have gained popularity owing to their capacity for greater sample throughput without compromising capture effi ciency [81][82][83] ; every sample library can be captured indi vidually, thus providing, in principle, an equal probe density per specimen. This technique has contributed to the increased number of specimens from which human genome wide single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data could be retrieved 84,85 , even from climate zones that pose challenges to aDNA preservation (pre sented elsewhere [86][87][88] ). In addition, in solutionbased capture has recently become the preferred method for microbial pathogen genome recovery for both bacteria and DNA viruses (for examples, see reFs 34,37,41,43,45,49,50 ).…”

The Genomic Formation of Human Populations in East Asia

“…We detected close kinship between individuals at the same site, including a Boisman nuclear family with 2 parents and 4 children (Table S2). We merged the new data with previously reported data: 4 Jomon individuals, 8 Amur River Basin Neolithic individuals from the Devil’s Gate site, 72 individuals from the Neolithic to the Iron Age in Southeast Asia, and 8 from Nepal 7,12-20 . We assembled 123 radiocarbon dates using bone from the individuals, of which 94 are newly reported (Online Table 3), and clustered individuals based on time period and cultural associations, then further by genetic cluster which in the Mongolian samples we designated by number (our group names thus have the format “<Country>_<Time Period>_<Genetic Cluster>_<Cultural Association If Any>“) (Supplementary Note, Table S1 and Online Table 1).…”