Doctoral Dissertation Research: Genetic and Isotopic Investigations of Human Population Origins and Dispersals in Island Settings

现代人类已经分散并定居在地球上几乎每一个地区。过去人口、文化和技术的复杂时间、运动和相互作用是我们人类故事的重要组成部分。这个博士论文项目结合了遗传和地球化学分析的人类骨骼材料从Chelechol ra Orrak网站在帕劳，密克罗尼西亚西部，调查史前殖民的岛屿设置在人类历史上最广泛和快速的扩散。尽管这是最后一个被人类殖民的主要地理区域，但关于定居的时间，方向和起源的信息在许多方面仍然不清楚。这项研究还将通过俄勒冈州大学的本科生培训和指导，为地方、国家和全球社区做出更广泛的贡献;通过公众演讲和分发关于帕劳考古学中aDNA的漫画，促进社区参与和外联;以及实施一个学习模块，教授科学方法，考古实地考察，和遗传技术，以代表性不足的小学和中学生在俄勒冈州。调查人员将分析人类古代DNA（aDNA）和地球化学流动性数据为密克罗尼西亚和提供关键的基线信息，为未来的同位素和遗传研究在该地区。这项研究的目的是调查史前帕劳人在区域范围内的起源，以及随后在群岛内定居的当地人的流动性。虽然语言学，计算机建模和生物距离的研究已经导致的假设，确定广泛的一般地区的西塞西亚人口的起源，许多问题的关系，早期西塞西亚到其他地区的人口，和一个更具体的地区的起源仍然存在。在生成密克罗尼西亚西部的aDNA数据时，该项目将把早期帕劳人置于一个区域框架中，以研究更广泛的遗传关系。通过锶检查迁移率（87 Sr/86 Sr）和铅（206 Pb/204 Pb，207 Pb/204 Pb，208 Pb/204 Pb）同位素分析-结合从整个群岛的地点采集的生物和地质样本-将有助于确定埋葬在Chelechol ra Orrak的个人在其一生中可能居住的地方，并揭示内部该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Modern humans have dispersed and settled nearly every region on the planet. The complex timing, movements, and interactions of populations, cultures, and technology in the past are an important part of our human story. This doctoral dissertation project combines genetic and geochemical analyses of human skeletal material from the Chelechol ra Orrak site in Palau, western Micronesia, to investigate prehistoric colonization of an island setting during one of the most widespread and rapid dispersals in human history. Despite this being the last major geographical region to be colonized by humans, information regarding the timing, direction, and origins of settlement in many respects remains unclear. This research will also make broader contributions to local, national, and global communities through undergraduate training and mentorship at the University of Oregon; community involvement and outreach through public talks and the distribution of comics about aDNA in archaeology in Palau; and the implementation of a learning module that teaches the scientific method, archaeological fieldwork, and genetic techniques to underrepresented elementary and middle school students in Oregon.The investigators will analyze human ancient DNA (aDNA) and geochemical mobility data for Micronesia and provide critical baseline information for future isotopic and genetic research in the region. The objective of this research is to investigate the origins of prehistoric Palauans on a regional scale and subsequent local human mobility within the archipelago following settlement. While linguistic, computer modeling, and biodistance studies have resulted in hypotheses identifying broad general regions of Micronesian population origins, numerous questions regarding the relationship of early Micronesians to other regional populations, and a more specific area of origin still remain. In generating aDNA data for western Micronesia, this project will place early Palauans in a regional framework to examine broader scale genetic relationships. Examination of mobility via strontium (87Sr/ 86Sr) and lead (206Pb/204Pb, 207Pb/204Pb, 208Pb/204Pb) isotope analysis from human remains--in conjunction with biological and geological samples taken from locations across the archipelago--will help to identify where individuals buried at Chelechol ra Orrak may have been residing during their lifetime and shed light on inter-island mobility during the earliest phases of settlement in Palau.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.