Newsletter: June 2023

Welcome to the June 2023 chapter newsletter. Instead of a specific music recommendation, this month I’d like to share with you a very cool internet hidden gem. MNspin is a repository of local Minnesota music that I discovered by accident one morning, happening upon a pile of free bumper stickers while browsing a guitar store. 

Read a Good Book? Who We Are and How We Got Here by David Reich

By Paul Mamula, PhD

For those curious about current thinking concerning the origins of Homo sapiens and the peopling of the world, Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the Science of the Human Past by David Reich provides an excellent overview. Reich bases most of his work on analyses of ancient and modern DNA samples but includes archaeological and cultural information when possible. Reich employs DNA from fossil human ancestors to construct how modern humans came to be and analyses of more modern populations to assess human distribution over time. He learned isolation and sequencing procedures from Svante Pääbo, the researcher who perfected the techniques for use on ancient DNA. 

The book consists of 3 sections (12 total chapters), each chapter of which begins with a helpful timeline. Each chapter also has multiple maps that highlight the likely population movements. Reich posits a “family bush” that has many intertwined branches rather than the familiar “family tree” with distinct branches. His work explains our African origins, migrations out of Africa, back migrations and interbreeding to describe how modern humans evolved and later spread. Although the analyses are based on relatively few samples, his views become more likely and clearer as the evidence mounts. The book makes a nice summary of human evolution to date. The book also includes an extensive set of chapter notes and references for the curious. I found them helpful to refresh my knowledge of several of the topics discussed. 

Reich’s computer analyses of Neanderthal, Denisovan (an Asian contemporary of Neanderthals), and modern humans shows that ancient human ancestors likely interbred. He deftly explains how a hypothetical African origin and many back migrations could yield modern populations. Given that we now have DNA evidence, we can rule out the minor skeletal differences that many early anthropologists used to exclude Neanderthals as direct human ancestors. He also provides population migration scenarios for most regions, including the Near East, the Indian subcontinent, and the Americas. Although data are still being collected, his arguments are compelling. 

Of particular interest are his analyses of more recent population movements, notably the peopling of the Americas. I found Chapter 7 fun, because I started out in a physical anthropology PhD program at Arizona State University (I earned an MA there before leaving for a PhD program in medical genetics). Reich does an excellent job of unifying the DNA sequence and cultural data. I found it fascinating because his analyses echo those of many anthropologists—including one of my professors, the late Christy G. Turner II—who proposed 3 migrations into the Americas after glacial melting opened an ice-free corridor. Although some of the fossil material and archaeological evidence suggested these findings, Reich (and Turner) suggest that much of the human fossil (and potential DNA) evidence is likely submerged along the Pacific coast, one of the likely migration routes. 

Reich also addresses more recent controversies. He describes Arizona State University’s misuse of Havasupai blood samples without permission for performing studies not mentioned in the informed consent forms. The misuse led to a lawsuit and a fine, big embarrassments for ASU’s anthropology department. The episode provoked resistance to further research among the Havasupai and other Native tribes. He also discusses the impact that the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) has had on the field. NAGPRA has led to the return of skeletal material held in museums and universities to original tribes. Many of these skeletal collections were looted from graves, and their possession by non-Native Americans had been a sore point for years. He also spends some time describing the findings that led to the repatriation of the “Kennewick Man’s” skeleton. The 8,500-year-old skeleton had European-like features but predated any known European migration in the continental United States. The skeleton was claimed by 5 tribes in Washington state and its possession was tied up in the courts for several years. DNA ultimately resolved the issue and demonstrated that the skeleton was not of European origin and belonged to a single tribe. 

Reich’s book presents the state of knowledge of human evolution and will probably be reissued as more information and ancient DNA become available. I recommend the book as a “one-stop shop” for anyone interested in human origins. 

Podcast recommendation: Old Time Radio Mystery Theater 

If you’re feeling uber-nostalgic, check out this blast-from-the-past podcast recommendation courtesy of Carmen Peterson! Old Time Radio Mystery Theater is pretty much what it sounds like: crackly old radio dramas from the era when your radio weighed 100 pounds and took up a corner in your sitting room. Mix an Old Fashioned, sit back in your armchair and listen to some spooky ghost stories, hardboiled detective adventures or whatever else strikes your fancy.