Kennewick Man, referred to as the Ancient One by Native Americans,
is a male human skeleton discovered in Washington state (USA) in
1996 and initially radiocarbon-dated to 8,340–9,200 calibrated years
before present ( BP ) 1 . His population affinities have been the subject
of scientific debate and legal controversy. Based on an initial study
of cranial morphology it was asserted that Kennewick Man was
neither Native American nor closely related to the claimant
Plateau tribes of the Pacific Northwest, who claimed ancestral rela-
tionship and requested repatriation under the Native American
Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). The morpho-
logical analysis was important to judicial decisions that Kennewick
Man was not Native American and that therefore NAGPRA did not
apply. Instead of repatriation, additional studies of the remains
were permitted 2 . Subsequent craniometric analysis affirmed
Kennewick Man to be more closely related to circumpacific groups
such as the Ainu and Polynesians than he is to modern Native
Americans 2 . In order to resolve Kennewick Man’s ancestry and
affiliations, we have sequenced his genome to 13 coverage and
compared it to worldwide genomic data including the Ainu and
Polynesians. We find that Kennewick Man is closer to modern
Native Americans than to any other population worldwide.
Among the Native American groups for whom genome-wide data
are available for comparison, several seem to be descended from a
population closely related to that of Kennewick Man, including the
Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation (Colville), one of
the five tribes claiming Kennewick Man. We revisit the cranial
analyses and find that, as opposed to genomic-wide comparisons,
it is not possible on that basis to affiliate Kennewick Man to specific
contemporary groups. We therefore conclude based on genetic
comparisons that Kennewick Man shows continuity with Native
North Americans over at least the last eight millennia
%0 Journal Article
%1 rasmussen2015ancestry
%A Rasmussen, Morten
%A Sikora, Martin
%A Albrechtsen, Anders
%A Korneliussen, Thorfinn Sand
%A Moreno-Mayar, J. Victor
%A Poznik, G. David
%A Zollikofer, Christoph P. E.
%A Ponce de Leon, Marcia S.
%A Allentoft, Morten E.
%A Moltke, Ida
%A Jonsson, Hakon
%A Valdiosera, Cristina
%A Malhi, Ripan S.
%A Orlando, Ludovic
%A Bustamante, Carlos D.
%A Stafford Jr, Thomas W.
%A Meltzer, David J.
%A Nielsen, Rasmus
%A Willerslev, Eske
%D 2015
%I Nature Publishing Group, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited. All Rights Reserved.
%J Nature
%K PCA ancient_DNA f-statistics native_americans
%T The ancestry and affiliations of Kennewick Man
%U http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature14625
%V advance online publication
%X Kennewick Man, referred to as the Ancient One by Native Americans,
is a male human skeleton discovered in Washington state (USA) in
1996 and initially radiocarbon-dated to 8,340–9,200 calibrated years
before present ( BP ) 1 . His population affinities have been the subject
of scientific debate and legal controversy. Based on an initial study
of cranial morphology it was asserted that Kennewick Man was
neither Native American nor closely related to the claimant
Plateau tribes of the Pacific Northwest, who claimed ancestral rela-
tionship and requested repatriation under the Native American
Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). The morpho-
logical analysis was important to judicial decisions that Kennewick
Man was not Native American and that therefore NAGPRA did not
apply. Instead of repatriation, additional studies of the remains
were permitted 2 . Subsequent craniometric analysis affirmed
Kennewick Man to be more closely related to circumpacific groups
such as the Ainu and Polynesians than he is to modern Native
Americans 2 . In order to resolve Kennewick Man’s ancestry and
affiliations, we have sequenced his genome to 13 coverage and
compared it to worldwide genomic data including the Ainu and
Polynesians. We find that Kennewick Man is closer to modern
Native Americans than to any other population worldwide.
Among the Native American groups for whom genome-wide data
are available for comparison, several seem to be descended from a
population closely related to that of Kennewick Man, including the
Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation (Colville), one of
the five tribes claiming Kennewick Man. We revisit the cranial
analyses and find that, as opposed to genomic-wide comparisons,
it is not possible on that basis to affiliate Kennewick Man to specific
contemporary groups. We therefore conclude based on genetic
comparisons that Kennewick Man shows continuity with Native
North Americans over at least the last eight millennia
@article{rasmussen2015ancestry,
abstract = {Kennewick Man, referred to as the Ancient One by Native Americans,
is a male human skeleton discovered in Washington state (USA) in
1996 and initially radiocarbon-dated to 8,340–9,200 calibrated years
before present ( BP ) 1 . His population affinities have been the subject
of scientific debate and legal controversy. Based on an initial study
of cranial morphology it was asserted that Kennewick Man was
neither Native American nor closely related to the claimant
Plateau tribes of the Pacific Northwest, who claimed ancestral rela-
tionship and requested repatriation under the Native American
Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). The morpho-
logical analysis was important to judicial decisions that Kennewick
Man was not Native American and that therefore NAGPRA did not
apply. Instead of repatriation, additional studies of the remains
were permitted 2 . Subsequent craniometric analysis affirmed
Kennewick Man to be more closely related to circumpacific groups
such as the Ainu and Polynesians than he is to modern Native
Americans 2 . In order to resolve Kennewick Man’s ancestry and
affiliations, we have sequenced his genome to 13 coverage and
compared it to worldwide genomic data including the Ainu and
Polynesians. We find that Kennewick Man is closer to modern
Native Americans than to any other population worldwide.
Among the Native American groups for whom genome-wide data
are available for comparison, several seem to be descended from a
population closely related to that of Kennewick Man, including the
Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation (Colville), one of
the five tribes claiming Kennewick Man. We revisit the cranial
analyses and find that, as opposed to genomic-wide comparisons,
it is not possible on that basis to affiliate Kennewick Man to specific
contemporary groups. We therefore conclude based on genetic
comparisons that Kennewick Man shows continuity with Native
North Americans over at least the last eight millennia},
added-at = {2015-06-19T20:33:08.000+0200},
author = {Rasmussen, Morten and Sikora, Martin and Albrechtsen, Anders and Korneliussen, Thorfinn Sand and Moreno-Mayar, J. Victor and Poznik, G. David and Zollikofer, Christoph P. E. and Ponce de Leon, Marcia S. and Allentoft, Morten E. and Moltke, Ida and Jonsson, Hakon and Valdiosera, Cristina and Malhi, Ripan S. and Orlando, Ludovic and Bustamante, Carlos D. and Stafford Jr, Thomas W. and Meltzer, David J. and Nielsen, Rasmus and Willerslev, Eske},
biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/2439b7752b8fcaccf29e4a5d661aaaaab/peter.ralph},
interhash = {76392033c961dc6fe04798a5f03d9111},
intrahash = {439b7752b8fcaccf29e4a5d661aaaaab},
issn = {14764687},
journal = {Nature},
keywords = {PCA ancient_DNA f-statistics native_americans},
month = jun,
publisher = {Nature Publishing Group, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited. All Rights Reserved.},
timestamp = {2015-06-19T20:33:08.000+0200},
title = {The ancestry and affiliations of {Kennewick} {Man}},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature14625},
volume = {advance online publication},
year = 2015
}