Tracing Ancestry, Researchers Produce a Genetic Atlas of Human Mixing Events. By Nicholas Wade. New York Times, February 13, 2014.
A Genetic Atlas of Human Admixture History. By Garrett Hellenthal et al. Science, Vol. 343, February 14, 2014.
Abstract:
Modern
genetic data combined with appropriate statistical methods have the potential
to contribute substantially to our understanding of human history. We have
developed an approach that exploits the genomic structure of admixed
populations to date and characterize historical mixture events at fine scales.
We used this to produce an atlas of worldwide human admixture history,
constructed by using genetic data alone and encompassing over 100 events occurring
over the past 4000 years. We identified events whose dates and participants
suggest they describe genetic impacts of the Mongol empire, Arab slave trade,
Bantu expansion, first millennium CE migrations in Eastern Europe, and European
colonialism, as well as unrecorded events, revealing admixture to be an almost
universal force shaping human populations.
