Melissa Davey - Aboriginal DNA study reveals 50,000-year story of sacred ties to land
A study of ancient
Aboriginal hair samples has revealed distinct Aboriginal populations were
present in Australia with little geographical movement for up to 50,000 years. The discovery of such
a long, continuous presence in the those regions emphasised why land was so
sacred to Aboriginal people, researchers said. The results emerged
after researchers led by the University of Adelaide’s Australian centre for
ancient DNA analysed the mitochondrial DNA from 111 hair samples collected
during anthropological expeditions in the early to mid-1900s. The samples are
stored at the South Australian Museum.
Mitochondrial DNA is
the powerhouse that drives the conversion of food into energy, and is useful to
researchers because it carries genetic material passed exclusively between a
mother and her children, allowing maternal ancestry to be traced. Despite the age of the
hair samples and the fact that they were collected under harsh environmental
conditions, the researchers were surprised to find high concentrations of good
quality mitochondrial DNA.
Their analysis found
Aboriginal Australians are the descendants of a single founding population that
arrived in Australia 50,000 years ago, while Australia was still connected to
New Guinea. Populations then spread rapidly – within 1,500 to 2,000 years –
around the east and west coasts of Australia, meeting somewhere in South
Australia. One of the
researchers, the geneticist Dr Ray Tobler, said the samples meant Aboriginal
ancestry could now be genetically traced back in time to a point that pre-dated
European colonisation, when Aboriginal people were still living in their
traditional areas, supporting what the archeological evidence already shows.
Having the genetic
information was crucial because after colonisation Aboriginal people were
forced off country or forcibly removed from their families and scattered all
over Australia, Tobler said. “If you want to do historical research on the
connection between people and land you can’t do it using modern Aboriginal
people because of that disconnection,” he said. “I have Aboriginal
ancestry through my granddad but he never spoke about it because he was removed
from his family. A lot of people in my situation interested in recording their
history can do so through this project.”..
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