7 research outputs found
It's Getting Better All the Time: Comparative Perspectives from Oceania and West Africa on Genetic Analysis and Archaeology
Technological advances are making genetic data collection and analysis
feasible on a scale unimaginable only a few years ago. Early genetic research using
mitochondrial DNA and the Y chromosome provided important insights for macroscale
modeling of regional and continent-wide population movements, but the capacity to
study the entire genome now opens an era of finer-grained,mesoscale studies of regional
and local population histories that are more compatible with the scale of archaeological
analysis. The utility of integrating both types of data is illustrated by a case study from
Oceania, where genetic studies were used to evaluate two models for the geographic
origins of the populations that colonized Polynesia beginning ca. 3000 BP, bringing with
them the distinctive Lapita cultural assemblage. A second case study considers the
application of genetic studies to an understanding of Fulbe history, especially that of
the pastoral Fulbe. Both archaeological and genetic data are underdeveloped for the
key Fulbe homeland regions of Mauritania and Senegal, but recent research in the
Middle Senegal Valley permits some conjectures on the history of Fulbe nomadic
pastoralism. The article concludes with suggestions for a multidisciplinary research
agenda to expand and upgrade the quality of relevant archaeological data, incorporate
biodistance studies of human skeletal material, and improve and expand genetic
sampling using more historically sensitive collection protocols