China History Forum, Chinese History Forum > Jomon Linked to Native Americansg

LongMa

Oct 26 2008, 07:00 PM

QUOTE

American Journal of Physical Anthropology doi: 10.1002/ajpa.20923

Mitochondrial DNA analysis of Jomon skeletons from the Funadomari site, Hokkaido, and its implication for the origins of Native American

Noburu Adachi et al.

Abstract

Ancient DNA recovered from 16 Jomon skeletons excavated from Funadomari site, Hokkaido, Japan was analyzed to elucidate the genealogy of the early settlers of the Japanese archipelago. Both the control and coding regions of their mitochondrial DNA were analyzed in detail, and we could securely assign 14 mtDNAs to relevant haplogroups. Haplogroups D1a, M7a, and N9b were observed in these individuals, and N9b was by far the most predominant. The fact that haplogroups N9b and M7a were observed in Hokkaido Jomons bore out the hypothesis that these haplogroups are the (pre-) Jomon contribution to the modern Japanese mtDNA pool. Moreover, the fact that Hokkaido Jomons shared haplogroup D1 with Native Americans validates the hypothesized genetic affinity of the Jomon people to Native Americans, providing direct evidence for the genetic relationships between these populations. However, probably due to the small sample size or close consanguinity among the members of the site, the frequencies of the haplogroups in Funadomari skeletons were quite different from any modern populations, including Hokkaido Ainu, who have been regarded as the direct descendant of the Hokkaido Jomon people. It appears that the genetic study of ancient populations in northern part of Japan brings important information to the understanding of human migration in northeast Asia and America.

Moonstone

Oct 26 2008, 09:08 PM

According to M. Tanaka et al. (2004), the mtDNA haplogroup that occurs most frequently among modern Ainus is haplogroup Y, followed by haplogroup M7a. MtDNA haplogroup N9b is one of those haplogroups that is more-or-less exclusively found in the Japanese Archipelago, but I haven't read of it being particularly common among tested Ainus.

Considering that mtDNA haplogroups M7a and N9b are mostly limited to the Japanese Archipelago, the most frequently occurring mtDNA haplogroup among Ainus is haplogroup Y, and none of these three haplogroups (M7a, N9b, or Y) is shared with any Native American population, I am forced to ask, how does the mtDNA data of the present study support the hypothesis of a genetic link between the prehistoric "Jomon" archaeological complex and Ainus, or between the Jomon and Native Americans, or whatever? The previously announced abstract for this author's study of the mtDNA of Jomon and epi-Jomon skeletons from Hokkaido reported that they had found mtDNA haplogroups D4 and G1 in addition to M7a and N9b, rather than D1a. It all seems a bit fishy and exaggerated.

Furthermore, if one looks at previously published data on the Y-DNA of populations from Hokkaido and indigenous populations of the Americas, there is absolutely no overlap except for haplogroup C3-M217.

LongMa

Oct 27 2008, 06:48 PM

QUOTE (Moonstone @ Oct 26 2008, 10:08 PM)

According to M. Tanaka et al. (2004), the mtDNA haplogroup that occurs most frequently among modern Ainus is haplogroup Y, followed by haplogroup M7a. MtDNA haplogroup N9b is one of those haplogroups that is more-or-less exclusively found in the Japanese Archipelago, but I haven't read of it being particularly common among tested Ainus.

Considering that mtDNA haplogroups M7a and N9b are mostly limited to the Japanese Archipelago, the most frequently occurring mtDNA haplogroup among Ainus is haplogroup Y, and none of these three haplogroups (M7a, N9b, or Y) is shared with any Native American population, I am forced to ask, how does the mtDNA data of the present study support the hypothesis of a genetic link between the prehistoric "Jomon" archaeological complex and Ainus, or between the Jomon and Native Americans, or whatever? The previously announced abstract for this author's study of the mtDNA of Jomon and epi-Jomon skeletons from Hokkaido reported that they had found mtDNA haplogroups D4 and G1 in addition to M7a and N9b, rather than D1a. It all seems a bit fishy and exaggerated.

Furthermore, if one looks at previously published data on the Y-DNA of populations from Hokkaido and indigenous populations of the Americas, there is absolutely no overlap except for haplogroup C3-M217.

Well the study did have a small population size, I just thought it was interesting.

According to Tanaka et al. (2004), their mtDNA lineages mainly consist of haplogroup Y (21.6%) and haplogroup M7a (15.7%). My wife is M7a btw, but she is from Nagano in Central Japan. She is aware of no none "Japanese" ancestry.

First and foremost I would warn in trying to link MtDNA to Y Chromosome, they often do not match up. Every major population on earth shows more diversity in the MtDNA than in Y Chromosome. The reasons are obvious. Men often bartered women like cattle. Even more common is the fact that invading males often would use superior technology and/or organization to take over a population. Usually the local males were killed or oppressed so badly they did not procreate nearly as much if at all. Men tended not to do this to women...they would enslave them, force them into marriage, concubine them, etc.

There have been other studies that link Ainu to Native Americans, which test for far more markers of recombinant DNA. I think this is more valid, since it is thought Native Americans experienced an extreme bottleneck. MtDNA and Y Chromosome evidence can be misinterpreted in many ways because it is very narrow. We also have to take into account that present Ainu have more than one or two different ancestrial groups and one of them was absorbed to the point where there is no Y Chromosome evidence left that would denote a different people.

I will give an example from America. If a black slave was impregnated by their Master and had a boy. That boy might have an R1b Y Haplogroup. that boy is half white (lets say some type of Brit). That boy has 2 girls and no boys. His daughters are 1/4 white or some mix...maybe he married a woman who had a white grandfather...the girls will still have an African L2 haplogroup. If you just look at a report of Haplogroup you will say "oh that woman is African" when she could be 62.5% white. This is the problem with Haplogroup. They are interesting and they tell us something but they are just a narrow window. I would prefer a test that test for a few hundred markers. Those test are done but they are less frequent because they are more expensive.

Immune system studies shows pretty firm links between Ainu and native Americans (as well as other East Asians).

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11543902

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"Mongoloid" populations were highly diversified, in which several clusters such as Northeast Asians, Southeast Asians, Oceanians, and Native Americans were observed. Interestingly, an indigenous population in North Japan, Ainu, was placed relatively close to Native Americans in the correspondence analysis.

snip

Moreover, relatively small genetic distances and the sharing of several HLA haplotypes between Ainu and Native Americans suggest that these populations are descendants of some Upper Paleolithic populations of East Asia.

The Ainu are not a pure representation of the Jomon anyway...

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This study reevaluates the relationship between the prehistoric Jomon and modern Ainu based on 18 nonmetric cranial traits. Although the two Ainu series from the northeast coast and central/southern regions of Hokkaido Island are always associated with Jomon, significant differences between the Ainu and Jomon were detected in the frequencies of seven traits: metopism, supraorbital foramen, ovale–spinosum confluence, hypoglossal canal bridging, jugular foramen bridging, biasterionic suture vestige, and occipitomastoid bone. Regarding these traits, the Ainu series are more similar to the Okhotsk than to the Jomon series. A broad comparison among pan-Pacific populations confirms the maintenance of distinctive morphologies in the remote regions of group ranges, as represented by the Jomon and to a lesser extent the recent Hokkaido Ainu. The Ainu occupies an intermediate position between Jomon and Northeast Asians on the one hand, and between Jomon and the Native Americans on the other.

Either there was significant intermarriage with Japanese or people to the north or the Ainu experienced extreme genetic drift or a bottleneck...average skull shape does not just change in 2,000 years significantly without some major event. From what I've read the Ainu have significantly intermarried with tribes to the north, like the Nivk and/or Okhotsk people.