Genomic analysis supports ancient Muwekma Ohlone connection

Date:
March 21, 2022
Source:
Stanford University
Summary:
A research collaboration with the Muwekma Ohlone tribe -- whose
ancestral lands include the Stanford campus -- shows a genetic
relationship between modern-day Tribe members and individuals
buried nearby who lived more than 1,900 years ago.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
A new genetic comparison study between ancient people buried east of
San Francisco Bay and modern members of California's Muwekma Ohlone
people supports the tribe's assertion -- backed by family histories,
government records and records from the Bay Area Spanish missions --
that they and their ancestors have lived in this area longer than many archaeologists have estimated.


==========================================================================
In 2014, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission proposed the
creation of an educational facility near the Water Temple in Sunol,
California. When it was determined that the site would likely uncover
human remains, the Muwekma Ohlone tribe was contacted. The Tribal Council requested a study of two settlement sites found on the land, which date
as far back as 490 BCE, or more than 2,500 years ago.

The Tribe brought in the Far Western Anthropological Research Group,
with archaeology principal investigator Brian F. Byrd, to direct the archaeological excavations, analysis and reporting as a collaborative
endeavor with the Tribe, and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign anthropology Professor Ripan Malhi to design a genomic project on any
remains identified there. Researchers from Stanford University also
joined the collaboration to analyze the genomic data.

"It's a project with the participation of both researchers and tribal leadership from beginning to end," said Noah Rosenberg, the Stanford
Professor in Population Genetics and Society in the School of Humanities
and Sciences and co-author of the paper.

The results of that genomic analysis, published this week in Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences, reveal a thread that connects
the ancient genomes and genomes from modern-day Muwekma Ohlone. This
continuity affirms beliefs held by the Tribe but was somewhat surprising
from the point of view of the researchers, given the impacts of European colonization and what is currently hypothesized about the diversity and movement of populations of people who have lived in and around California throughout this time.

One site, which the tribe has named Si'i Tu'upentak (Place of the Water
Round House Site -- named after the Sunol Water Temple), dates from
between 1345-1850 CE and 76 individuals were buried there. The second
site, called Rummey Ta Ku??uwis Tiprectak(Place of the Stream of the
Lagoon Site), dates back 490 BCE- 1775 CE and contained burials for
29 individuals.

Stanford News spoke with three of the co-authors of this paper:
Rosenberg, Alissa Severson and Alan Leventhal. Severson was a doctoral
student in Rosenberg's lab during this work and is lead author of the
paper. Leventhal is an emeritus lecturer in the Department of Anthropology
at San Jose State University and an ethnohistorian and archaeologist
for the Muwekma Ohlone tribe.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Stanford_University. Original written
by Taylor Kubota.

Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Alissa L. Severson, Brian F. Byrd, Elizabeth K. Mallott, Amanda C.

Owings, Michael DeGiorgio, Alida de Flamingh, Charlene Nijmeh,
Monica V.

Arellano, Alan Leventhal, Noah A. Rosenberg, Ripan S. Malhi. Ancient
and modern genomics of the Ohlone Indigenous population of
California.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2022; 119 (13)
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2111533119 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220321150412.htm

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