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Article
Ancient and modern genomics of the Ohlone Indigenous population of California
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
  • Alissa L. Severson, Stanford University
  • Brian F. Byrd, Far Western Anthropological Research Group
  • Elizabeth K. Mallott, Northwestern University
  • Amanda C. Owings, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
  • Michael DeGiorgio, Florida Atlantic University
  • Alida de Flamingh, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
  • Charlene Nijmeh, Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area
  • Monica V. Arellano, Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area
  • Alan Leventhal, San Jose State University
  • Noah A. Rosenberg, Stanford University
  • Ripan S. Malhi, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Publication Date
3-29-2022
Document Type
Article
DOI
10.1073/pnas.2111533119
Abstract

Traditional knowledge, along with archaeological and linguistic evidence, documents that California supports cultural and linguistically diverse Indigenous populations. Studies that have included ancient genomes in this region, however, have focused primarily on broad-scale migration history of the North American continent, with relatively little attention to local population dynamics. Here, in a partnership involving researchers and the Muwekma Ohlone tribe, we analyze genomic data from ancient and present-day individuals from the San Francisco Bay Area in California: 12 ancient individuals dated to 1905 to 1826 and 601 to 184 calibrated years before the present (cal BP) from two archaeological sites and eight present-day members of the Muwekma Ohlone tribe, whose ancestral lands include these two sites. We find that when compared to other ancient and modern individuals throughout the Americas, the 12 ancient individuals from the San Francisco Bay Area cluster with ancient individuals from Southern California. At a finer scale of analysis, we find that the 12 ancient individuals from the San Francisco Bay Area have distinct ancestry from the other groups and that this ancestry has a component of continuity over time with the eight present-day Muwekma Ohlone individuals. These results add to our understanding of Indigenous population history in the San Francisco Bay Area, in California, and in western North America more broadly.

Funding Number
BCS-1518026
Funding Sponsor
National Science Foundation
Keywords
  • genes and languages,
  • identity by descent,
  • Indigenous population genetics,
  • paleogenomics,
  • Penutian hypothesis
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
Citation Information
Alissa L. Severson, Brian F. Byrd, Elizabeth K. Mallott, Amanda C. Owings, et al.. "Ancient and modern genomics of the Ohlone Indigenous population of California" Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Vol. 119 Iss. 13 (2022)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/alan_leventhal/120/