Tracing the peopling of the world through genomics

Abstract

Advances in the sequencing and the analysis of the genomes of both modern and ancient peoples have facilitated a number of breakthroughs in our understanding of human evolutionary history. These include the discovery of interbreeding between anatomically modern humans and extinct hominins; the development of an increasingly detailed description of the complex dispersal of modern humans out of Africa and their population expansion worldwide; and the characterization of many of the genetic adaptions of humans to local environmental conditions. Our interpretation of the evolutionary history and adaptation of humans is being transformed by analyses of these new genomic data.

Tooth Growth in Ancient and Modern Times Inferred from Perikymata Growth Intervals; Modeled Statistically

“…Denisova) are known from only one partial digit of a child and three teeth [9] and these pictures confirmed the wider growth intervals in this homo compared to modern human histological sections.…”

Evolution and World-Systems: Complexity, Energy, and Form

“…As our ancestors learned how to hunt, so their prey learned how to avoid them; this is why large animals today still survive in Africa. But by the time humans started populating Eurasia and the Americas, they had developed spear-throwers able to deliver a payload of razor-sharp rock at high speed over a considerable distance (Nielsen, Rasmus;et. al.…”

Ancient DNA reveals the Arctic origin of Viking Age cod from Haithabu, Germany

“…17) and have been used to assign historic individuals to their most likely geographic origin (18)(19)(20). In particular, the genome-wide analysis of 1,000s or more single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) allows the determination of an individual's geographic origin with accuracy and precision, even when limited genetic differentiation exists among regions (20)(21)(22).…”