Re: Archaeology unearths gout in early Pacific people

On Nov 26, 12:26 pm, "Douglas Clark"
<dgdcl...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
"Jack Linthicum" <jacklinthi...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

news:dbfc415c-7880-4f0b-8fbf-dece10dc2f92@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx



Another small clue linking the Pacific peoples with Taiwan, if only
because of a shared sore toe.
Photos at cite.

Ancient voyagers may have carried gout gene across Pacific

Update - The Lapita People

Working with archaeologists from Durham University and the Australian
National University, Dr Hallie Buckley and a team of scientists have
analysed archaeological skeletons to characterise the migrations of
the first Pacific Islanders.

The earliest ancient cemetery yet found in the Pacific Islands -
between 3200 and 3000 years old - was discovered in late 2003 at
Teouma, on Efate Island in Vanuatu. The excavations, co-directed by
Professor Matthew Spriggs and Dr Stuart Bedford of Australian National
University (ANU) and Ralph Regenvanu from the National Museum of
Vanuatu uncovered almost fifty adult burials, more than doubling the
number of skeletal remains of the 'Lapita people' from anywhere around
the Pacific.

In the October issue of American Antiquity, a paper co-authored by Dr
Alex Bentley of the Anthropology Department at Durham and Dr Hallie
Buckley, with ANU and Durham colleagues, the authors reported their
measurements of chemical isotopes in tooth enamel from seventeen of
the excavated skeletons. This research was funded by Dr Buckley's
Marsden Fast-start grant and a University of Otago Research Grant.

The analysis quickly revealed two distinct groups; a majority whose
isotope signatures fit a diet of local plants and seafood, and then
four standouts with a coastal, but still terrestrial diet. Three of
these four were buried in a distinctive position, with the head to the
south, and one was a man buried with three heads on his chest. This
chemical data indicates that the four individuals spent their
childhood somewhere other than Teouma and then 'migrated' into the
community sometime, as adults. The chemically homogenous group, based
on their tooth enamel, were most likely locals of Teouma and spent
their childhood in this community.

Strontium isotopes, which reflect a geological signature, matched
Vanuatu locals, but the four immigrants had signatures like any
coastal location in the Pacific. Carbon isotopes confirmed the
largely land-based diet, and significant levels of barium helped to
rule out the local coral reef platforms, where barium is nearly
absent.

The landmark discovery has revealed a richness of social complexity in
early Lapita communities from direct evidence from the people
themselves which could previously only be extrapolated from material
culture such as exchange of obsidian. This clearly indicates that the
early Lapita populations of the Pacific Ocean were not isolated after
initial colonization, but were dynamic and probably continually
receiving new people, with their accompanying genetic, cultural and
pathogenic input into the communities.

The October issue of Current Anthropology also contains a research
report authored by Dr Buckley on the presence of an erosive
anthropathy in the joints of a number of the Teouma males. Dr Buckley
argues that the pattern of lesions in these 3000 year old skeletons is
most likely the result of gouty arthritis. This surprising finding
suggests a very early antiquity of gout in the Pacific Islands and may
help to explain the unusually high incidence of hyperuricaemia and
gout in many modern Pacific Island populations, including New Zealand
maori.

To read more about Dr Buckley's research, please click here .

Image

Image

Main picture: This figure is of Burial 10, a multiple burial
consisting of an old man with three crania and a mandible placed on
his chest. All of the crania were isotopically 'local' to Teouma,
while the teeth of the old man suggest he spent his childhood
somewhere else.

Picture 2: A diagram of the pattern of erosive lesions in Burial 4, a
middle aged male from Teouma.

Picture 3: A radiograph of some of his toe bones showing changes
typical of gout.
Departmental Seminar
Tuesday 4 December 2007
Time: 1-2pm
Venue: Sayers Common Room, Ground Floor, Sayers Building

Associate Professor John Miller, Victoria University, Wellington

I thought that from DNA analysis of the Polynesians Oppenheimer ruled out
Taiwan as their origin and opted for SE Asia.

Some say that, some don't. I have seen papers that say the men are
from SE Asia and the women from Taiwan. Obviously, the whole idea
needs work.

http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/97/15/8225.pdf

Polynesian origins: Insights from the Y chromosome

Bing Su*, Li Jin*?, Peter Underhill?, Jeremy Martinson§, Nilmani
Saha¶, Stephen T. McGarveyi, Mark D. Shriver**,
Jiayou Chu??, Peter Oefner?, Ranajit Chakraborty*, and Ranjan Deka??§§
*Human Genetics Center, University of Texas Health Science Center,
Houston, TX 77225; ?Institute of Genetics, Fudan University, Shanghai,
China 200433;
?Department of Genetics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305;
§Department of Genetics, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7
2UH, United
Kingdom; ¶Department of Molecular Medicine, Australian National
University, Canberra, Australia ACT 2601; iDepartment of Medicine and
International
Health Institute, Brown University School of Medicine, Providence, RI
02912; **Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University,
University Park,
PA 16802; ??Institute of Medical Biology, Chinese Academy of Medical
Sciences, Kunming, China 650107; and ??Department of Environmental
Health,
University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45267-0056
Communicated by Francisco Salzano, University of Rio Grande do Sul,
Porto Alegre, Brazil, March 3, 2000 (received for review January 27,
2000)

The question surrounding the colonization of Polynesia has remained
controversial. Two hypotheses, one postulating Taiwan as
the putative homeland and the other asserting a Melanesian origin
of the Polynesian people, have received considerable attention. In
this work, we present haplotype data based on the distribution of
19 biallelic polymorphisms on the Y chromosome in a sample of 551
male individuals from 36 populations living in Southeast Asia,
Taiwan, Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia. Surprisingly, nearly
none of the Taiwanese Y haplotypes were found in Micronesia and
Polynesia. Likewise, a Melanesian-specific haplotype was not
found among the Polynesians. However, all of the Polynesian,
Micronesian, and Taiwanese haplotypes are present in the extant
Southeast Asian populations. Evidently, the Y-chromosome data
do not lend support to either of the prevailing hypotheses. Rather,
we postulate that Southeast Asia provided a genetic source for two
independent migrations, one toward Taiwan and the other toward
Polynesia through island Southeast Asia.
<more>

and

http://dienekes.blogspot.com/2005/07/archaic-mtdna-in-taiwan-and-polynesian.html

Archaic mtDNA in Taiwan and Polynesian origins
posted by Dienekes on Thursday, July 07, 2005
No comments | No trackbacks
A reader brought a new study to my attention regarding Polynesian
origins. Trejaut et al. have found that aboriginal Taiwanese have
largely their own mtDNA lineages dating from Pleistocene times; these
lineages belong to common Asian mitochondrial haplogroups, but they
differ from those of the Han of mainland China and Taiwan. Moreover,
Polynesians seem to be related to these aboriginal Taiwanese,
reinforcing the idea that Polynesian women may have originated in
Taiwan.

PLoS Biology (Online)

Mitochondrial DNA Provides a Link between Polynesians and Indigenous
Taiwanese

Jean A. Trejaut et al.

Genetic affinities between aboriginal Taiwanese and populations from
Oceania and Southeast Asia have previously been explored through
analyses of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), Y chromosomal DNA, and human
leukocyte antigen loci. Recent genetic studies have supported the
"slow boat" and "entangled bank" models according to which the
Polynesian migration can be seen as an expansion from Melanesia
without any major direct genetic thread leading back to its initiation
from Taiwan. We assessed mtDNA variation in 640 individuals from nine
tribes of the central mountain ranges and east coast regions of
Taiwan. In contrast to the Han populations, the tribes showed a low
frequency of haplogroups D4 and G, and an absence of haplogroups A, C,
Z, M9, and M10. Also, more than 85% of the maternal lineages were
nested within haplogroups B4, B5a, F1a, F3b, E, and M7. Although
indicating a common origin of the populations of insular Southeast
Asia and Oceania, most mtDNA lineages in Taiwanese aboriginal
populations are grouped separately from those found in China and the
Taiwan general (Han) population, suggesting a prevalence in the
Taiwanese aboriginal gene pool of its initial late Pleistocene
settlers. Interestingly, from complete mtDNA sequencing information,
most B4a lineages were associated with three coding region
substitutions, defining a new subclade, B4a1a, that endorses the
origin of Polynesian migration from Taiwan. Coalescence times of B4a1a
were 13.2 ± 3.8 thousand years (or 9.3 ± 2.5 thousand years in Papuans
and Polynesians). Considering the lack of a common specific Y
chromosomal element shared by the Taiwanese aboriginals and
Polynesians, the mtDNA evidence provided here is also consistent with
the suggestion that the proto-Oceanic societies would have been mainly
matrilocal.

Link (go to cite to activate this link)
.

Relevant Pages

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  • Re: The Polynesian Motif
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