Response to “Ancient DNA and its contribution to understanding the human history of the Pacific Islands” (Bedford<i>et al</i>. 2018)

Posth, Cosimo; Nägele, Kathrin; Colleran, Heidi; Valentin, Frédérique; Bedford, Stuart; Gray, Russell D.; Krause, Johannes; Powell, Adam

doi:10.1002/arco.5181

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…The genetics studies sparked debate between geneticists, linguists and archaeologists Posth et al 2019;. The claims about cultural practices, however, escaped scrutiny, perhaps because the archaeological evidence was convincing, and it was obvious that migrants would have taken their cultural practices with them.…”

Section: Genetics and Vanuatumentioning

confidence: 99%

Echoes of distant pasts? New Britain, Vanuatu and Felix Speiser

Specht

2024

Forty Years in the South Seas: Archaeological Perspectives on the Human History of Papua New Guinea and the Western Pacific Reg

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Recent papers on the genetics of the First Remote Oceanians raised questions about the nature of two population movements into the islands of Vanuatu, particularly the dominance of 'Papuan' lineages in the second phase. The papers identified potential ancestral lineages in New Britain, Papua New Guinea and cited Vanuatu linguistic features and cultural practices as additional evidence for the origin of the second phase in that region. This paper reviews these claims through an examination of ethnographic and archaeological records, focusing on the head binding of babies (artificial cranial modification), the raising of full-circle tusker pigs and their tusks, aspects of pottery forms, and stone arrangements. While noting some differences, the review broadly supports the claims of Speiser, the geneticists and the archaeologists, and proposes likely contacts between Vanuatu and the New Guinea -New Britain -north Solomons areas during the last 1000 years or so. There is currently no cultural evidence for the postulated earlier secondary movement that introduced 'Papuan' genetic ancestry to Vanuatu.

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Section: Genetics and Vanuatumentioning

confidence: 99%

Echoes of distant pasts? New Britain, Vanuatu and Felix Speiser

Specht

2024

Forty Years in the South Seas: Archaeological Perspectives on the Human History of Papua New Guinea and the Western Pacific Reg

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“…Another recently developed technique not discussed in the chapters in this section, ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis, is increasingly being used to draw conclusions about the ancestry and past migrations of Pacific Islanders. While promising, it is not without controversy (Bedford et al 2018;Lipson et al 2020;Posth et al , 2019Spriggs et al 2019;Spriggs and Reich 2020). Generally speaking, it is important to bear in mind that even the most sophisticated scientific techniques are not infallible, and that archaeology in the Pacific, as elsewhere, is far from being an apolitical pursuit .…”

Section: Looking Beyondmentioning

confidence: 99%

Uncovering Pacific Pasts: Histories of Archaeology in Oceania

Spriggs

2022

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Since 2009, her interest in cosmologies and knowledge systems has led her to collaborate with the Vatican Museums' Anima Mundi -Peoples, Arts and Cultures Museum. She culturally reconnected their Indigenous collections with communities around the world, bringing the Indigenous voice into the museum space for exhibitions and catalogues. She edited Australia (2017), the catalogue dedicated to the Vatican's collection, and with Fr Nicola Mapelli PhD published Oceania (2022), the fourth catalogue in the series, the others being Ethnos (2012) and The Americas (2014).

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“…The rise of genomics and the analysis of ancient DNA (aDNA) from an early Lapita cemetery (discovered in 2004) at Teouma on the island of Efate in central Vanuatu (Skoglund et al 2016;Lipson et al 2018;, in association with a large assemblage of relatively complete pots (Bedford et al 2010), dramatically expanded the sample of Lapita era human remains and led to further debates among geneticists and archaeologists about population replacement with language continuity (Bedford et al 2018;Posth et al 2019). Another watershed event in Lapita research was the discovery in 2010 of late Lapita pottery in south Papua, which resulted in the establishment of a "South Papuan Lapita" Province (David et al 2011).…”

Section: Historical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%