Ancient nuclear genomes enable repatriation of Indigenous human remains

Joanne L Wright; Sally Wasef; Tim H Heupink; Michael C Westaway; Simon Rasmussen; Colin Pardoe; Gudju Gudju Fourmile; Michael Young; Trish Johnson; Joan Slade; Roy Kennedy; Patsy Winch; Mary Pappin Sr; Tapij Wales; William "Badger" Bates; Sharnie Hamilton; Neville Whyman; Sheila van Holst Pellekaan; Darren Curnoe; Peter J McAllister; Ruiqiang Li; Paul S C Tacon; Craig Millar; Sankar Subramanian; Eske Willerslev; Anna-Sapfo Malaspinas; Martin Sikora; David M Lambert

doi:10.1126/sciadv.aau5064

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Ancient nuclear genomes enable repatriation of Indigenous human remains

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Ancient nuclear genomes enable repatriation of Indigenous human remains

Joanne L Wright, Sally Wasef, Tim H Heupink, Michael C Westaway, Simon Rasmussen, Colin Pardoe, Gudju Gudju Fourmile, Michael Young, Trish Johnson, Joan Slade, …

Science Advances, Vol.4(12), pp.1-12

2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aau5064

PMCID: PMC6300400

PMID: 30585290

Appears in UniSC Supported Open Access Outputs

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Abstract

After European colonization, the ancestral remains of Indigenous people were often collected for scientific research or display in museum collections. For many decades, Indigenous people, including Native Americans and Aboriginal Australians, have fought for their return. However, many of these remains have no recorded provenance, making their repatriation very difficult or impossible. To determine whether DNA-based methods could resolve this important problem, we sequenced 10 nuclear genomes and 27 mitogenomes from ancient pre-European Aboriginal Australians (up to 1540 years before the present) of known provenance and compared them to 100 high-coverage contemporary Aboriginal Australian genomes, also of known provenance. We report substantial ancient population structure showing strong genetic affinities between ancient and contemporary Aboriginal Australian individuals from the same geographic location. Our findings demonstrate the feasibility of successfully identifying the origins of unprovenanced ancestral remains using genomic methods.

Details

Title: Ancient nuclear genomes enable repatriation of Indigenous human remains
Authors: Joanne L Wright (Author) - Griffith University
Sally Wasef (Author) - Griffith University
Tim H Heupink (Author) - Griffith University
Michael C Westaway (Author) - Griffith University
Simon Rasmussen (Author) - Technical University of Denmark, Denmark
Colin Pardoe (Author) - Australian National University
Gudju Gudju Fourmile (Author) - Gimuy Yidniji Elder
Michael Young (Author) - Barkandji/Paakantyi Elder
Trish Johnson (Author) - Barkandji/Paakantyi Elder
Joan Slade (Author) - Ngiyampaa Elder
Roy Kennedy (Author) - Ngiyampaa Elder
Patsy Winch (Author) - Mutthi Mutthi Elder
Mary Pappin Sr (Author) - Mutthi Mutthi Elder
Tapij Wales (Author) - Thanynakwith Elder
William "Badger" Bates (Author) - Barkandji/Paakantyi Elder
Sharnie Hamilton (Author) - Barapa Barapa Nation
Neville Whyman (Author) - Barapa Barapa Nation
Sheila van Holst Pellekaan (Author) - University of New South Wales
Darren Curnoe (Author) - University of New South Wales
Peter J McAllister (Author) - Springbrook
Ruiqiang Li (Author) - Novogene Bioinformatics Institute, China
Paul S C Tacon (Author) - Griffith University
Craig Millar (Author) - University of Auckland, New Zealand
Sankar Subramanian (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Science, Health, Education and Engineering
Eske Willerslev (Author) - University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Anna-Sapfo Malaspinas (Author) - University of Lausanne, Switzerland
Martin Sikora (Author) - University of Copenhagen, Denmark
David M Lambert (Author) - Griffith University
Publication details: Science Advances, Vol.4(12), pp.1-12
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science
Date published: 2018
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aau5064
ISSN: 2375-2548
PMID: 30585290; PMC6300400
Copyright note: © 2018 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC).
Grants: The peopling of East Asia and Australasia, LP120200144, Australian Research Council (Australia, Canberra) - ARC
Kiacatoo Man: biology, archaeology and environment at the Last Glacial Maximum, LP130100748, Australian Research Council (Australia, Canberra) - ARC
Establishing the provenance of Torres Strait Islander remains: Genetics, craniometrics and isotopes, LP140100387, Australian Research Council (Australia, Canberra) - ARC
The origin of the first Australians, DP110102635, Australian Research Council (Australia, Canberra) - ARC
The origin of the First Australians: A genomic approach, DP140101405, Australian Research Council (Australia, Canberra) - ARC
Grant note: J.L.W. was supported by the Australian Government, the Environmental Futures Research Institute, and the Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution with a PhD scholarship. A.-S.M. is supported by the European Research Council (starting grant 679330) and the Swiss National Science Foundation.
Organisation Unit: School of Science and Engineering - Legacy; School of Science, Technology and Engineering; Centre for Bioinnovation
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99450779902621
Output Type: Journal article

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