Between 1500 and 1850, more than 12 million enslaved Africans were transported to the New World. The vast majority were shipped from West and West-Central Africa, but their precise origins are largely unknown. We used genome-wide ancient DNA analyses to investigate the genetic origins of three enslaved Africans whose remains were recovered on the Caribbean island of Saint Martin. We trace their origins to distinct subcontinental source populations within Africa, including Bantu-speaking groups from northern Cameroon and non-Bantu speakers living in present-day Nigeria and Ghana. To our knowledge, these findings provide the first direct evidence for the ethnic origins of enslaved Africans, at a time for which historical records are scarce, and demonstrate that genomic data provide another type of record that can shed new light on long-standing historical questions.

Radiocarbon data suggest the need to reconsider current dates and assumptions for contact-era Iroquoian history.

Radiocarbon dates on samples susceptible to inbuilt age are common in the chronological record of many archaeological and environmental sites. Indeed, fragments of charcoal and wood are sometimes the only materials sufficiently well preserved for dating. However, where high-precision estimates are required the extra uncertainty associated with such measurements often renders them unusable. This article tests three Bayesian modeling approaches that are designed to tackle this problem. The findings of our study suggest that successful corrections can be made for the inherent age offsets. The most effective and versatile approach was based on a version of outlier analysis. It is hoped that this method will become more widely employed and enable samples susceptible to inbuilt age to be included in high-precision chronologies.

The date of the Late Bronze Age Minoan eruption of the Thera volcano has provoked much debate among archaeologists, not least in a recent issue of Antiquity (‘Bronze Age catastrophe and modern controversy: dating the Santorini eruption’, March 2014). Here, the authors respond to those recent contributions, citing evidence that closes the gap between the conclusions offered by previous typological, stratigraphic and radiometric dating techniques. They reject the need to choose between alternative approaches to the problem and make a case for the synchronisation of eastern Mediterranean and Egyptian chronologies with agreement on a ‘high’ date in the late seventeenth century BC for the Thera eruption.