Irish Joel D
Department of Anthropology, University of Alaska at Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska 99775-7720, USA.
Am J Phys Anthropol. 2005 Nov;128(3):520-35. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.20109.
The present study revisits a subject that has been a source of long-standing bioarchaeological contention, namely, estimation of Nubian population origins and affinities. Using the Arizona State University dental anthropology system, frequencies of 36 crown, root, and intraoral osseous discrete traits in 12 late Pleistocene through early historic Nubian samples were recorded and analyzed. Specifically, intersample phenetic affinities, and an indication of which traits are most important in driving this variation, were determined through the application of correspondence analysis and the mean measure of divergence distance statistic. The results support previous work by the author and others indicating that population discontinuity, in the form of replacement or significant gene flow into an existing gene pool, occurred sometime after the Pleistocene. This analysis now suggests that the break occurred before the Final Neolithic. Samples from the latter through Christian periods exhibit relative homogeneity, which implies overall post-Pleistocene diachronic and regional population continuity. Yet there are several perceptible trends among these latter samples that: 1) are consistent with documented Nubian population history, 2) enable the testing of several existing peopling hypotheses, and 3) allow the formulation of new hypotheses, including a suggestion of two post-Pleistocene subgroups predicated on an age-based sample dichotomy.
本研究重新审视了一个长期以来一直是生物考古学争论焦点的主题，即努比亚人口起源和亲缘关系的估计。利用亚利桑那州立大学牙科人类学系统，记录并分析了12个更新世晚期至历史早期努比亚样本中36种牙冠、牙根和口腔内骨质离散性状的频率。具体而言，通过对应分析和平均离散距离统计量的应用，确定了样本间的表型亲缘关系，以及哪些性状在驱动这种变异中最为重要。结果支持了作者和其他人之前的研究工作，表明以替代或大量基因流入现有基因库形式出现的人口间断，发生在更新世之后的某个时间。现在的分析表明，这种间断发生在新石器时代晚期之前。从新石器时代晚期到基督教时期的样本表现出相对的同质性，这意味着更新世之后总体上的历时性和区域人口连续性。然而，在这些后期样本中有几个明显的趋势：1）与有记录的努比亚人口历史一致，2）能够检验几种现有的人类迁徙假说，3）能够提出新的假说，包括基于年龄样本二分法提出的两个更新世后亚群的建议。
