A contextualised review of genomic evidence for gene flow events between Papuans and Indigenous Australians in Cape York, Queensland

Wasef, Sally; Wrobel, Gabriel D.; Wright, Nathan; Wright, Joanne L.; Adams, Suzi; Kariwiga, Jason; Leavesley, Matthew; Collard, Mark; Westaway, Michael C.

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2021.02.011

Cited by 10 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…The study also found evidence for a continuous, modest gene flow, mostly unidirectional from Papuans to Australian First Nations and apparently geographically restricted to northeast Australia. Additional studies from the Queensland coast and offshore islands designed to recover ancient genomes from archaeological contexts will undoubtedly be more helpful in improving our understanding of the extent of Holocene contacts (Wasef et al 2021). Linguistic evidence for external contact is similarly equivocal.…”

Section: Types Of Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence of external contact between the Pacific Basin and the east coast of Australia during the Holocene: A review

Kerkhove¹

2022

QAR

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The prospect that First Nations Australians were in contact with cultures beyond Australia prior to European arrival has fascinated theorists for over a century. Early views tended to see Aboriginal culture as too primitive to have independently developed ‘higher level’ cultural traits. Once this view was abandoned, further enquiry into external contact largely ceased. However, it has been gradually recognised that transformations occurred within Australia not only independently but also through external elements arriving from the north (Macassans and Papuans). This paper offers perhaps the first comprehensive overview of a less studied potential conduit: the eastern seaboard of Australia. Given the vast scale of the eastern seaboard (and its geographic position directly opposite the seafaring cultures of the Pacific Basin it is surprising that the notion of contact between these two realms has received such limited attention. The east coast is a potentially very large target for contact. Queensland and New South Wales mainland and island coastlines comprise in excess of 15,000 km. The Pacific Basin is similarly a huge potential source for contact, covering over one-third of the world’s surface, and containing over 20,000 islands. Our paper first considers the contrast between studies of the eastern and western edges of the Pacific Basin, and then the means (and evidence) by which ‘contact’ is normally discerned. We next consider the potential for contact based on ocean currents and similar factors. The bulk of the paper assesses specific source regions and purported evidence of contact from these regions: Papua New Guinea, Island Melanesia, Polynesia and two islands between these areas (Norfolk and Lord Howe). Our study concludes that evidence for Pacific-Australian contact ought to be relatively abundant, given the size of the source area (the Pacific Basin) and the target area (the eastern seaboard). Instead, contact must have been very limited and sporadic, as most evidence has been either inconclusive or requires further substantiation. Equally, the impact of these cultures on the development of Australian First Nations seems to have been negligible. On the other hand, this review accumulated enough evidence to suggest there was considerable potential for such contacts. We conclude that archaeological frameworks should be developed to investigate purported and possible Pacific-Eastern seaboard contacts.

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Section: Types Of Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence of external contact between the Pacific Basin and the east coast of Australia during the Holocene: A review

Kerkhove¹

2022

QAR

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“…It has also provided some insights into the diffusion of language without significant gene flow in Australia (Malaspinas et al, 2016). Such an approach is yet to be integrated with archaeological data sets to any great extent in Australia (but see Wasef et al, 2021 where ancient genomes dismiss the proposal that diffusion of cultural traits into Cape York was likely accompanied by significant gene flow), and I do think this book could provide inspiration to Australian archaeologists, if of course we are prepared to listen and be a little adventurous, and importantly, build the close community collaborations needed to make such work possible.…”

Section: Patrick V Kirch University Of Hawai'imentioning

confidence: 99%

Uncovering Pacific Pasts: Histories of Archaeology in Oceania by HilaryHowes, TristenJones, and MatthewSpriggs. ANU Press, Canberra, 2022. ISBN 9781760464868 (Paperback). Pp. xv + 578. AU $100.

KIRCH

2022

Archaeology in Oceania

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“…It has also provided some insights into the diffusion of language without significant gene flow in Australia (Malaspinas et al., 2016). Such an approach is yet to be integrated with archaeological data sets to any great extent in Australia (but see Wasef et al., 2021 where ancient genomes dismiss the proposal that diffusion of cultural traits into Cape York was likely accompanied by significant gene flow), and I do think this book could provide inspiration to Australian archaeologists, if of course we are prepared to listen and be a little adventurous, and importantly, build the close community collaborations needed to make such work possible.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity by DavidGraeber and DavidWengrow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 2021. ISBN: 9780374157357. pp. 704. US$35.00

Westaway

2023

Archaeology in Oceania

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A contextualised review of genomic evidence for gene flow events between Papuans and Indigenous Australians in Cape York, Queensland

Cited by 10 publications

References 43 publications

Evidence of external contact between the Pacific Basin and the east coast of Australia during the Holocene: A review

Evidence of external contact between the Pacific Basin and the east coast of Australia during the Holocene: A review

Uncovering Pacific Pasts: Histories of Archaeology in Oceania by HilaryHowes, TristenJones, and MatthewSpriggs. ANU Press, Canberra, 2022. ISBN 9781760464868 (Paperback). Pp. xv + 578. AU $100.

The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity by DavidGraeber and DavidWengrow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 2021. ISBN: 9780374157357. pp. 704. US$35.00

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