Scientists Trace an Ancient Connection Between Amazonians and Australasians

The New York Times ^ | July 21, 2015 | James Gorman

[2ndDivisionVet]

Some people in the Brazilian Amazon are very distant relations of indigenous Australians, New Guineans and other Australasians, two groups of scientists who conducted detailed genetic analyses reported Tuesday. But the researchers disagree on the source of that ancestry.

The connection is ancient, all agree, and attributable to Eurasian migrants to the Americas who had some Australasian ancestry, the scientists said.

But one group said the evidence is clear that two different populations came from Siberia to settle the Americas 15,000 or more years ago. The other scientific team says there was only one founding population from which all indigenous Americans, except for the Inuit, descended and the Australasian DNA came later, and not through a full-scale migration. For instance, genes could have flowed through a kind of chain of intermarriage and mixing between groups living in the Aleutian Islands and down the Pacific Coast.

Both papers were based on comparisons of patterns in the genomes of many living individuals from different genetic groups and geographic regions, and of ancient skeletons....

[Jonty30]

There probably a split in those people, with one group going across the Siberian strait and the other group going to Australia by way of Indonesia.

[Cronos]

yes, but these would be very ancient peoples — ancient Caucasian peoples who include the Aborigines and Papua new guineans

[Varda]

bump for later read.
FYI
In the Pleistocene, Australasians were more widespread and there was a significant population of them in China. Australasian ancestry doesn't necessarily come from the South Pacific. Also Australasians are not Caucasians, they are their own genetic category.

[odds]

Depends on how Australasia is defined.

Quick search online for definition of “Australasia” - “Australasia, a region of Oceania, comprises Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean.”

Australasia is in essence Australia and New Zealand, little Islands in-between, PNG included.

Some confuse the term Australasia for Asia-Pacific; not the same.

Aside from European settlers last 200 or so yrs in Australia & NZ, there are mainly Polynesians, Melanesian, and Caucasians in the mentioned boundaries of Australasia.

I was told on FR a few months ago that Indigenous Australians (Aborigines) are actually Caucasians. There is a lot of mixed genes since 15000 yrs ago.

Anyway, a child of an Australian Aborigine and an European today often easily looks much more like a European, complexion, eyes and hair colour.

However, in Australia today, Australian Aborigines and “Islanders” have their own official ‘race’ category.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks 2ndDivisionVet.

[Caipirabob]

Just sayin... in my experience with South Americans of indigenous heritage it’s really hard to see an genetic resemblance between the South Americans and the aboriginal Australians...I mean, we are talking about a radical swing from sweet and hot to...NOT...LOL!!!

[ckilmer]

Just sayin... in my experience with South Americans of indigenous heritage it’s really hard to see an genetic resemblance between the South Americans and the aboriginal Australians...I mean, we are talking about a radical swing from sweet and hot to...NOT...LOL!!!
...............
I don’t know anything about either group. which one is sweet & hot. which one is not.

[BlueLancer]

"Scientists Trace an Ancient Connection Between Amazonians and Australasians"

What about the Zanzibarbarians?

[blam]

Posted 12 years ago:

'First Americans Were Australian'