The Peopling of the Americas
ForumHistory at 30,000 feet: The Big Picture
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1James.Larry.Deaton
This new book by Jennifer Raff, Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas is a great summary of the current state of knowledge.
I'm posting my book review from elsewhere.
If you want to understand what the latest research shows about the peopling of the Americas, then Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas by Jennifer Raff may be the book for you. Raff is an assistant professor of Anthropology at the University of Kansas and is the President of the American Association of Anthropological Genetics. How and when did the Native Americans of the Americas and the Inuit of the northern lands come to live in the Western Hemisphere? She explains that the theory until recently that all the inhabitants came in three waves out of Asia isn’t quite supported by the most recent evidence and that there is strong evidence to support some earliest inhabitants actually came by water along the Pacific Coast.
A few minor criticisms. The writing is not elegant but it is clear. Usually, but not always. One case was the following sentence: “Now imagine the temperature about twice as cold.” What does that mean? If it was 40 degrees Fahrenheit, does it mean now imagine day when it was 20 degrees? Or is the measurement in Celsius? That would be different. But usually the meaning is clear throughout the book.
A bigger problem is the paucity of footnotes, even where they are definitely called for. I trust that she knows her material, but there are some issues like the evolution of the dogs who accompanied the first inhabitants where more footnotes are called for as she says the recent research has changed. This problem of fewer footnotes (or endnotes)—in some cases many fewer footnotes—seems to be an increasing problem in works of serious nonfiction.
She is very repetitive in her statements about lack of sensitivity in the treatment by researchers of the remains of Native Americans/First Peoples. But I’m not sure at all that that should be a criticism. I think that she is generally right to make this point on a number of occasions. And at the end of the book, when she recounts the why the Kennewick Man’s remains were handled and tested, she really tells this story as well as any account that I I have read. (The Kennewick Man refers to a skeleton found along the Columbia River. The remains were about 9,000 years old, and some who first examined those remains postulated that he was of European origin. The final results proved otherwise.)
She easily provides the best detailed description I’ve ever read about DNA extraction and laboratory handling of ancient bones … she makes it methodical (she mentions that it can be so boring at times that listening to music or podcasts in the lab as she works is necessary) and fascinating at the same time. She does such a good job of reporting excitement shared with the need for cautious reporting of results.
She is clearly cognizant of the latest work going on in the lab of David Reich at Harvard. She cites it several times, and it is important work indeed. Reich’s Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past is probably the best work available on the overall peopling of the Earth. It is a more difficult read than Raff’s book but is still a work to read either before or after the book by Raff.
Finally, she is excellent about the state of play in what we know and what we believe we know about the peopling of the Americas. As an important case, she reports the latest research including the anomaly relating to a discovery in 2016 of possible Australasian ancestry in some native South American populations. And she explains how strange this result is. I’ll just say that after much analysis it does not suggest a Transpacific migration. You can read the book to understand the two different possibilities that it does suggest. And if you have any interest at all how the Western Hemisphere came to be populated before Europeans arrived in 1492, that’s exactly what I recommend. Read the book.
I'm posting my book review from elsewhere.
If you want to understand what the latest research shows about the peopling of the Americas, then Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas by Jennifer Raff may be the book for you. Raff is an assistant professor of Anthropology at the University of Kansas and is the President of the American Association of Anthropological Genetics. How and when did the Native Americans of the Americas and the Inuit of the northern lands come to live in the Western Hemisphere? She explains that the theory until recently that all the inhabitants came in three waves out of Asia isn’t quite supported by the most recent evidence and that there is strong evidence to support some earliest inhabitants actually came by water along the Pacific Coast.
A few minor criticisms. The writing is not elegant but it is clear. Usually, but not always. One case was the following sentence: “Now imagine the temperature about twice as cold.” What does that mean? If it was 40 degrees Fahrenheit, does it mean now imagine day when it was 20 degrees? Or is the measurement in Celsius? That would be different. But usually the meaning is clear throughout the book.
A bigger problem is the paucity of footnotes, even where they are definitely called for. I trust that she knows her material, but there are some issues like the evolution of the dogs who accompanied the first inhabitants where more footnotes are called for as she says the recent research has changed. This problem of fewer footnotes (or endnotes)—in some cases many fewer footnotes—seems to be an increasing problem in works of serious nonfiction.
She is very repetitive in her statements about lack of sensitivity in the treatment by researchers of the remains of Native Americans/First Peoples. But I’m not sure at all that that should be a criticism. I think that she is generally right to make this point on a number of occasions. And at the end of the book, when she recounts the why the Kennewick Man’s remains were handled and tested, she really tells this story as well as any account that I I have read. (The Kennewick Man refers to a skeleton found along the Columbia River. The remains were about 9,000 years old, and some who first examined those remains postulated that he was of European origin. The final results proved otherwise.)
She easily provides the best detailed description I’ve ever read about DNA extraction and laboratory handling of ancient bones … she makes it methodical (she mentions that it can be so boring at times that listening to music or podcasts in the lab as she works is necessary) and fascinating at the same time. She does such a good job of reporting excitement shared with the need for cautious reporting of results.
She is clearly cognizant of the latest work going on in the lab of David Reich at Harvard. She cites it several times, and it is important work indeed. Reich’s Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past is probably the best work available on the overall peopling of the Earth. It is a more difficult read than Raff’s book but is still a work to read either before or after the book by Raff.
Finally, she is excellent about the state of play in what we know and what we believe we know about the peopling of the Americas. As an important case, she reports the latest research including the anomaly relating to a discovery in 2016 of possible Australasian ancestry in some native South American populations. And she explains how strange this result is. I’ll just say that after much analysis it does not suggest a Transpacific migration. You can read the book to understand the two different possibilities that it does suggest. And if you have any interest at all how the Western Hemisphere came to be populated before Europeans arrived in 1492, that’s exactly what I recommend. Read the book.
2Rood
Agree with the importance of Reich's Who We Are And How We Got Here .... but it has long puzzled me as to why it was assumed everything in North and South America happened during and after the melting of the Ice Sheet.
I'm now in my 84th year, but I read whatever I could find on the subject during my high school years ... 1952-56 ... and taking a broad look over available material ... I easily saw the fallacy of the accepted truth. Of course i didn't have any background in research, but it just didn't make sense to me that people would reach and populate the whole of North and South America ... down to its very tip ... in such a brief amount of time. There would have had to have been an absolute FLOOD of people, whereas the slow growth of groups of people, ... slowly moving East and South would take untold generations of time.
I"m just happy to have lived long enough to have my hunch confirmed.
I'm now in my 84th year, but I read whatever I could find on the subject during my high school years ... 1952-56 ... and taking a broad look over available material ... I easily saw the fallacy of the accepted truth. Of course i didn't have any background in research, but it just didn't make sense to me that people would reach and populate the whole of North and South America ... down to its very tip ... in such a brief amount of time. There would have had to have been an absolute FLOOD of people, whereas the slow growth of groups of people, ... slowly moving East and South would take untold generations of time.
I"m just happy to have lived long enough to have my hunch confirmed.
3clamairy
>1 James.Larry.Deaton: "She is very repetitive in her statements about lack of sensitivity in the treatment by researchers of the remains of Native Americans/First Peoples."
I'm actually reading this one now, and I am finding these parts to be depressing enough that they cause me to keep setting the book aside. As you said I realize it is important that we learn about these occurrences, but it's painful.
I'm actually reading this one now, and I am finding these parts to be depressing enough that they cause me to keep setting the book aside. As you said I realize it is important that we learn about these occurrences, but it's painful.
4James.Larry.Deaton
>3 clamairy: I had pretty much the same emotional response as you did.
5James.Larry.Deaton
>2 Rood: Rood, I'm only 73 years old myself, but I share your happiness in having some of my hunches and suppositions confirmed.
The work done by Reich and his team is pretty amazing. He is very good scientist and is a good writer for those who have a either a lot of technical training or have done a lot of reading in the subject. That said, he is not a good writer for the general audience. I wish that an editor had been more ruthless in refining his words.
The work done by Reich and his team is pretty amazing. He is very good scientist and is a good writer for those who have a either a lot of technical training or have done a lot of reading in the subject. That said, he is not a good writer for the general audience. I wish that an editor had been more ruthless in refining his words.
6stellarexplorer
>1 James.Larry.Deaton: I am fascinated by the topic, but sadly am not finding her a compelling writer. Sad to have to push to get through a book on a topic I’m deeply interested in…
“As an important case, she reports the latest research including the anomaly relating to a discovery in 2016 of possible Australasian ancestry in some native South American populations. And she explains how strange this result is. I’ll just say that after much analysis it does not suggest a Transpacific migration.”
This was covered in detail and greater depth in Reich’s book.
“As an important case, she reports the latest research including the anomaly relating to a discovery in 2016 of possible Australasian ancestry in some native South American populations. And she explains how strange this result is. I’ll just say that after much analysis it does not suggest a Transpacific migration.”
This was covered in detail and greater depth in Reich’s book.
