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Dive into the research topics where William W. Fitzhugh is active.

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Featured researches published by William W. Fitzhugh.


Science | 2014

The genetic prehistory of the New World Arctic

Maanasa Raghavan; Michael DeGiorgio; Anders Albrechtsen; Ida Moltke; Pontus Skoglund; Thorfinn Sand Korneliussen; Bjarne Grønnow; Martin Appelt; Hans Christian Gulløv; T. Max Friesen; William W. Fitzhugh; Helena Malmström; Simon Rasmussen; Jesper Olsen; Linea Melchior; Benjamin T. Fuller; Simon M. Fahrni; Thomas W. Stafford; Vaughan Grimes; M. A. Priscilla Renouf; Jerome S. Cybulski; Niels Lynnerup; Marta Mirazón Lahr; Kate Britton; Rick Knecht; Jette Arneborg; Mait Metspalu; Omar E. Cornejo; Anna-Sapfo Malaspinas; Yong Wang

Introduction Humans first peopled the North American Arctic (northern Alaska, Canada, and Greenland) around 6000 years ago, leaving behind a complex archaeological record that consisted of different cultural units and distinct ways of life, including the Early Paleo-Eskimos (Pre-Dorset/Saqqaq), the Late Paleo-Eskimos (Early Dorset, Middle Dorset, and Late Dorset), and the Thule cultures. Genetic origins of Paleo-Eskimos and Neo-Eskimos. All Paleo-Eskimos represent a single migration pulse from Siberia into the Americas, independent of the Neo-Eskimo Thule people (ancestors of modern-day Inuit) and the related extinct Sadlermiut population. The Siberian Birnirk people were likely cultural and genetic ancestors of modern-day Inuit. We also show ancient admixture between the Paleo- and Neo-Eskimo lineages, occurring at least 4000 years ago. Rationale We addressed the genetic origins and relationships of the various New World Arctic cultures to each other and to modern-day populations in the region. We obtained 26 genome-wide sequences and 169 mitochondrial DNA sequences from ancient human bone, teeth, and hair samples from Arctic Siberia, Alaska, Canada, and Greenland, and high-coverage genomes of two present-day Greenlandic Inuit, two Siberian Nivkhs, one Aleutian Islander, and two Athabascan Native Americans. Twenty-seven ancient samples were radiocarbon dated for accurate cultural assignment, of which 25 were corrected for marine reservoir effect to account for the dominant marine component in these individuals’ diets. Results Nuclear and mitochondrial DNA data unequivocally show that the Paleo-Eskimos are closer to each other than to any other present-day population. The Thule culture represents a distinct people that are genetic and cultural ancestors of modern-day Inuit. We additionally find the Siberian Birnirk culture (6th to 7th century CE) as likely cultural and genetic ancestors of the Thule. The extinct Sadlermiut people from the Hudson Bay region (15th to 19th century CE), considered to be Dorset remnants, are genetically closely related to Thule/Inuit, rather than the Paleo-Eskimos. Moreover, there is no evidence of matrilineal gene flow between Dorset or Thule groups with neighboring Norse (Vikings) populations settling in the Arctic around 1000 years ago. However, we do detect gene flow between the Paleo-Eskimo and Neo-Eskimo lineages, dating back to at least 4000 years. Conclusion Our study has a number of important implications: Paleo-Eskimos likely represent a single migration pulse into the Americas from Siberia, separate from the ones giving rise to the Inuit and other Native Americans, including Athabascan speakers. Paleo-Eskimos, despite showing cultural differences across time and space, constituted a single population displaying genetic continuity for more than 4000 years. On the contrary, the Thule people, ancestors of contemporary Inuit, represent a population replacement of the Paleo-Eskimos that occurred less than 700 years ago. The long-term genetic continuity of the Paleo-Eskimo gene pool and lack of evidence of Native American admixture suggest that the Saqqaq and Dorset people were largely living in genetic isolation after entering the New World. Thus, the Paleo-Eskimo technological innovations and changes through time, as evident from the archaeological record, seem to have occurred solely by movement of ideas within a single resident population. This suggests that cultural similarities and differences are not solid proxies for population movements and migrations into new and dramatically different environments, as is often assumed. Arctic genetics comes in from the cold Despite a well-characterized archaeological record, the genetics of the people who inhabit the Arctic have been unexplored. Raghavan et al. sequenced ancient and modern genomes of individuals from the North American Arctic (see the Perspective by Park). Analyses of these genomes indicate that the Arctic was colonized 6000 years ago by a migration separate from the one that gave rise to other Native American populations. Furthermore, the original paleo-inhabitants of the Arctic appear to have been completely replaced approximately 700 years ago. Science, this issue 10.1126/science.1255832; see also p. 1004 Early Arctic humans differed from both present-day Inuit and Native Americans. [Also see Perspective by Park] The New World Arctic, the last region of the Americas to be populated by humans, has a relatively well-researched archaeology, but an understanding of its genetic history is lacking. We present genome-wide sequence data from ancient and present-day humans from Greenland, Arctic Canada, Alaska, Aleutian Islands, and Siberia. We show that Paleo-Eskimos (~3000 BCE to 1300 CE) represent a migration pulse into the Americas independent of both Native American and Inuit expansions. Furthermore, the genetic continuity characterizing the Paleo-Eskimo period was interrupted by the arrival of a new population, representing the ancestors of present-day Inuit, with evidence of past gene flow between these lineages. Despite periodic abandonment of major Arctic regions, a single Paleo-Eskimo metapopulation likely survived in near-isolation for more than 4000 years, only to vanish around 700 years ago.


Analytical Chemistry | 2008

Identification of Protein Remains in Archaeological Potsherds by Proteomics

Caroline Solazzo; William W. Fitzhugh; Christian Rolando; Caroline Tokarski

We demonstrate here the possibility of identifying proteins trapped in few milligrams of the clay matrix of a 1200-1400 AD Iñupiat potsherd fragment from Point Barrow, Alaska, by a dedicated proteomics approach. The four main steps of a proteomics analysis, (i) protein extraction from biological samples, (ii) protein hydrolysis using a hydrolase enzyme, (iii) nanoLC, nanoESI MS, and MS/MS analysis of the generated peptides, and (iv) protein identification using protein databank proceeded from genomic data, have been optimized for archeological remains. Briefly our procedure starts by grinding the potsherds, extraction with 1% trifluoroacetic acid, digestion with excess of trypsin, nanoLC, nanoESI FT-ICR analysis, and data mining by homology search. The developed conditions were evaluated on protein extracts from remains obtained by heated muscle tissues and blubbers of different seal and whale species, these samples representing the main diet sources of the Eskimo population. Most of the proteins were identified by sequence homology to other species due to the lack of cetacean and pinniped proteins in the databanks. More interestingly, two proteins, myoglobin and hemoglobin, respectively, identified in muscle tissue samples and blubber samples highlight several specific peptides of cetacean and pinniped species; these peptides are significant to prove the presence of these marine species in the analyzed samples. Based on the developed methodology and on protein identification results obtained from the heated seal/whale muscle tissues and blubbers, the analysis of the clay matrix of a 1200-1400 AD Iñupiat potsherd fragment from Point Barrow was investigated. The described method succeeds in identifying four peptides corresponding to the harbor seal myoglobin (species Phoca vitulina) with a measured mass accuracy better than 1 ppm (MS and MS/MS experiments) including one specific peptide of the cetacean and pinniped species and one specific peptide of the seal species. These results highlight, for the first time, a methodology able to identify proteins from a few milligrams of archeological potsherd buried for years; the obtained results confirm the presence of a seal muscle tissue protein in this Punuk potsherd.


Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America | 2013

Arctic sea-ice decline archived by multicentury annual-resolution record from crustose coralline algal proxy

Jochen Halfar; Walter H. Adey; Andreas Kronz; Steffen Hetzinger; Evan N. Edinger; William W. Fitzhugh

Significance The most concerning example of ongoing climate change is the rapid Arctic sea-ice retreat. While just a few years ago ice-free Arctic summers were expected by the end of this century, current models predict this to happen by 2030. This shows that our understanding of rapid changes in the cryosphere is limited, which is largely due to a lack of long-term observations. Newly discovered long-lived algae growing on the Arctic seafloor and forming tree-ring–like growth bands in a hard, calcified crust have recorded centuries of sea-ice history. The algae show that, while fast short-term changes have occurred in the past, the 20th century exhibited the lowest sea-ice cover in the past 646 years. Northern Hemisphere sea ice has been declining sharply over the past decades and 2012 exhibited the lowest Arctic summer sea-ice cover in historic times. Whereas ongoing changes are closely monitored through satellite observations, we have only limited data of past Arctic sea-ice cover derived from short historical records, indirect terrestrial proxies, and low-resolution marine sediment cores. A multicentury time series from extremely long-lived annual increment-forming crustose coralline algal buildups now provides the first high-resolution in situ marine proxy for sea-ice cover. Growth and Mg/Ca ratios of these Arctic-wide occurring calcified algae are sensitive to changes in both temperature and solar radiation. Growth sharply declines with increasing sea-ice blockage of light from the benthic algal habitat. The 646-y multisite record from the Canadian Arctic indicates that during the Little Ice Age, sea ice was extensive but highly variable on subdecadal time scales and coincided with an expansion of ice-dependent Thule/Labrador Inuit sea mammal hunters in the region. The past 150 y instead have been characterized by sea ice exhibiting multidecadal variability with a long-term decline distinctly steeper than at any time since the 14th century.


Quaternary Research | 1990

Late deglaciation of the central Labrador coast and its implications for the age of glacial lakes Naskaupi and McLean and for prehistory

Peter U. Clark; William W. Fitzhugh

Abstract The age of the marine limit and associated deglaciation has been estimated from relative sea-level curves for the Hopedale and Nain areas of the central Labrador coast as approximately 7600 ± 200 and 8500 ± 200 yr ago, respectively. These ages indicate that the ice margin remained on the coast for up to 3000 yr longer than previously estimated. Because the central coast is due east of glacial lakes Naskaupi and McLean, the earliest the lakes could have formed was


WCSS | 2007

Agent-Based Modeling Simulation of Social Adaptation and Long-Term Change in Inner Asia

Claudio Cioffi-Revilla; Sean Luke; Dawn C. Parker; J. Daniel Rogers; William W. Fitzhugh; William Honeychurch; Bruno Frohlich; Paula De Priest; Chunag Amartuvshin

We present a new international project to develop temporally and spatially calibrated agent-based models of the rise and fall of polities in Inner Asia (Central Eurasia) in the past 5,000 years. Gaps in theory, data, and computational models for explaining long-term sociopolitical change—both growth and decay—motivate this project. We expect three contributions: (1) new theoreticallygrounded simulation models validated and calibrated by the best available data; (2) a new long-term cross-cultural database with several data sets; and (3) new conceptual, theoretical, and methodological contributions for understanding social complexity and long-term change and adaptation in real and artificial societies. Our theoretical framework is based on explaining sociopolitical evolution by the process of “canonical variation”.


Human Ecology | 1997

Biogeographical Archaeology in the Eastern North American Arctic

William W. Fitzhugh

Environmental conditions of the Eastern North American Arctic make this region suitable for biogeographical approaches to culture. Although composed of a vast assemblage of large and small islands, the Eastern Arctic differs from other “oceanic” environments where modern biogeographical work has been pioneered. This paper outlines conditions which make the Eastern Arctic suitable for biogeographical study and considers the nature of “islands” as analytical constructs rather than as discrete entities. Biogeographical concepts are considered in relation to the “core-periphery model” that has been the organizing principle for interpreting patterns of Eastern Arctic culture history. Abstractions, aspects, and conclusions reached from these studies outline some of the opportunities available for application of more directed anthropological biogeographical work in the future.


Nature Communications | 2016

DNA evidence of bowhead whale exploitation by Greenlandic Paleo-Inuit 4,000 years ago

Frederik Valeur Seersholm; Mikkel Winther Pedersen; Martin Jensen Søe; Hussein Shokry; Sarah Siu Tze Mak; Anthony Ruter; Maanasa Raghavan; William W. Fitzhugh; Kurt H. Kjær; Morten Meldgaard; Christian Moliin Outzen Kapel; Anders J. Hansen

The demographic history of Greenland is characterized by recurrent migrations and extinctions since the first humans arrived 4,500 years ago. Our current understanding of these extinct cultures relies primarily on preserved fossils found in their archaeological deposits, which hold valuable information on past subsistence practices. However, some exploited taxa, though economically important, comprise only a small fraction of these sub-fossil assemblages. Here we reconstruct a comprehensive record of past subsistence economies in Greenland by sequencing ancient DNA from four well-described midden deposits. Our results confirm that the species found in the fossil record, like harp seal and ringed seal, were a vital part of Inuit subsistence, but also add a new dimension with evidence that caribou, walrus and whale species played a more prominent role for the survival of Paleo-Inuit cultures than previously reported. Most notably, we report evidence of bowhead whale exploitation by the Saqqaq culture 4,000 years ago.


Arctic Anthropology | 2009

Stone Shamans and Flying Deer of Northern Mongolia: Deer Goddess of Siberia or Chimera of the Steppe?

William W. Fitzhugh

Mongolia’s Bronze Age deer stones are one of the most striking expressions of early monumental art in Central Asia, yet their age, origins, relationships, and meaning remain obscure. Speculation about Scythian connections has stimulated recent research in Mongolia that has begun to peel away their mysteries and reveals connections to Scytho-Siberian and northern art. Radiocarbon-dated horse skulls indicate pre-Scythian ages of “classic Mongolian” deer stones as well as firm association with the Late Bronze Age khirigsuur [kurgan] burial mound complex.


PLOS ONE | 2017

Molecular markers in keratins from Mysticeti whales for species identification of baleen in museum and archaeological collections

Caroline Solazzo; William W. Fitzhugh; Susan A. Kaplan; Charles W. Potter; Jolon M. Dyer

Baleen has been harvested by indigenous people for thousands of years, as well as collected by whalers as an additional product of commercial whaling in modern times. Baleen refers to the food-filtering system of Mysticeti whales; a full baleen rack consists of dozens of plates of a tough and flexible keratinous material that terminate in bristles. Due to its properties, baleen was a valuable raw material used in a wide range of artefacts, from implements to clothing. Baleen is not widely used today, however, analyses of this biomolecular tissue have the potential to contribute to conservation efforts, studies of genetic diversity and a better understanding of the exploitation and use of Mysticeti whales in past and recent times. Fortunately, baleen is present in abundance in museum natural history collections. However, it is often difficult or impossible to make a species identification of manufactured or old baleen. Here, we propose a new tool for biomolecular identification of baleen based on its main structural component alpha-keratin (the same protein that makes up hair and fingernails). With the exception of minke whales, alpha-keratin sequences are not yet known for baleen whales. We therefore used peptide mass fingerprinting to determine peptidic profiles in well documented baleen and evaluated the possibility of using this technique to differentiate species in baleen samples that are not adequately identified or are unidentified. We examined baleen from ten different species of whales and determined molecular markers for each species, including species-specific markers. In the case of the Bryde’s whales, differences between specimens suggest distinct species or sub-species, consistent with the complex phylogeny of the species. Finally, the methodology was applied to 29 fragments of baleen excavated from archaeological sites in Labrador, Canada (representing 1500 years of whale use by prehistoric people), demonstrating a dominance of bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus) in the archaeological assemblage and the successful application of the peptide mass fingerprinting technique to identify the species of whale in unidentified and partially degraded samples.


Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America | 2018

Origins of equine dentistry

William Timothy Treal Taylor; Jamsranjav Bayarsaikhan; Tumurbaatar Tuvshinjargal; Scott Bender; Monica Tromp; Julia Clark; K. Bryce Lowry; Jean-Luc Houle; Dimitri Staszewski; Jocelyn Whitworth; William W. Fitzhugh; Nicole Boivin

Significance The domestication of horses and adoption of horse riding were critical processes that culminated in the emergence of mounted warriors and nomadic empires that shaped world history. The constraints of horse biology and riding equipment meant that equine veterinary care, particularly of teeth, was a core component of the success of the human–horse relationship. We report the earliest evidence of equine dentistry, from the Mongolian Steppe, at 1150 BCE. Key shifts in equine dentistry practice through time can be linked first to the emergence of horseback riding and later to the use of metal bits that enabled better control of horses. The maintenance of horse health through dentistry underwrote the key role of horses in cultures and economies around the world. From the American West to the steppes of Eurasia, the domestic horse transformed human societies, providing rapid transport, communication, and military power, and serving as an important subsistence animal. Because of the importance of oral equipment for horse riding, dentistry is an essential component of modern horse care. In the open grasslands of northeast Asia, horses remain the primary form of transport for many herders. Although free-range grazing on gritty forage mitigates many equine dental issues, contemporary Mongolian horsemen nonetheless practice some forms of dentistry, including the removal of problematic deciduous teeth and the vestigial first premolar (“wolf tooth”). Here, we present archaezoological data from equine skeletal remains spanning the past 3,200 y, indicating that nomadic dental practices have great antiquity. Anthropogenic modifications to malerupted deciduous central incisors in young horses from the Late Bronze Age demonstrate their attempted removal, coinciding with the local innovation or adoption of horseback riding and the florescence of Mongolian pastoral society. Horse specimens from this period show no evidence of first premolar removal, which we first identify in specimens dating to ca. 750 BCE. The onset of premolar extraction parallels the archaeological appearance of jointed bronze and iron bits, suggesting that this technological shift prompted innovations in dentistry that improved horse health and horse control. These discoveries provide the earliest directly dated evidence for veterinary dentistry, and suggest that innovations in equine care by nomadic peoples ca. 1150 BCE enabled the use of horses for increasingly sophisticated mounted riding and warfare.

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Aron L. Crowell

National Museum of Natural History

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Ives Goddard

Smithsonian Institution

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Charles W. Potter

National Museum of Natural History

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Andreas Kronz

University of Göttingen

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