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978-0-521-59280-2 — The Origins of Native Americans

Evidence from Anthropological Genetics
Michael H. Crawford
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Who are the Native Americans? When and how did they colonize the New World? What
proportion of the biological variation in contemporary Amerindian populations was 'made
in America' and what was brought from Siberia? This book is a unique synthesis of the gen-
etic, archeological and demographic evidence concerning the Native peoples of the Americas,
using case studies from contemporary Amerindian and Siberian indigenous groups to unravel
the mysteries. It culminates in an examination of the devastating collision between European
and Native American cultures following Contact, and the legacy of increased incidence of
chronic diseases that still accompanies the acculturation of Native peoples today. This compel-
ling account will be required reading for all those interested in the anthropology of Native
Americans, past, present and future.

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978-0-521-59280-2 — The Origins of Native Americans
Evidence from Anthropological Genetics
Michael H. Crawford
Frontmatter
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Cambridge University Press & Assessment
978-0-521-59280-2 — The Origins of Native Americans
Evidence from Anthropological Genetics
Michael H. Crawford
Frontmatter
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The Origins of
Native Americans
Evidence from anthropological genetics

MICHAEL H. CRAWFORD
Department of Anthropology,
University of Kansas, U.S.A.

H CAMBRIDGE
UNIVERSITY PRESS

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Cambridge University Press & Assessment
978-0-521-59280-2 — The Origins of Native Americans
Evidence from Anthropological Genetics
Michael H. Crawford
Frontmatter
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© Cambridge University Press & Assessment 1998
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions
of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take
place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press & Assessment.
First published in Spanish as Antropología Biología de los Indios Americanos,
Editorial MAPFRE, S.A., 1992; revised English version (by the author) 1998.
First paperback edition 2001
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-0-521-59280-2 Hardback
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Cambridge University Press & Assessment
978-0-521-59280-2 — The Origins of Native Americans
Evidence from Anthropological Genetics
Michael H. Crawford
Frontmatter
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to The native people who made the long journey from Siberia,
and to their progeny who founded civilizations;
and to Marshall T. Newman (1911-1994), a friend and colleague

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978-0-521-59280-2 — The Origins of Native Americans
Evidence from Anthropological Genetics
Michael H. Crawford
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Contents

Preface xiii

Acknowledgement xvii

1 Origins of New World populations 1

1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Early theories of origin 2
1.3 Scientific evidence for Amerindian origins 3
1.4 Ecological background 11
1.5 Siberian chronology and New World peopling 14
1.6 Archeological evidence 16
1.7 The new synthesis? 21
1.8 Siberian founders 27
1.9 Settlement of North America 28
1.10 Peopling of South America 30

2 Population size and the effects of European contact 32

2.1 Introduction 32
2.2 Methods of estimation 32
2.3 Estimates of regional population size 33
2.4 Regional variation in depopulation 41
2.5 Evolutionary consequences of population reduction 49
2.6 Impact of Old World diseases 50
2.7 Aboriginal New World diseases 53
2.8 Old World disease imports 61
2.9 Conclusion 62

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Cambridge University Press & Assessment
978-0-521-59280-2 — The Origins of Native Americans
Evidence from Anthropological Genetics
Michael H. Crawford
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Contents

3 Demography of Amerindian populations 63

3.1 Introduction 63
3.2 Demography of pre-Columbian Amerindians 63
3.3 Demography of the living 70
3.4 Conclusion 86

4 Genetic variation in contemporary populations of the Americas 88

4.1 Introduction 88
4.2 Accuracy and reliability of samples 89
4.3 Amerindian and Siberian markers 93
4.4 Traditional markers of the blood 95
4.5 Electrophoretic markers 108
4.6 Immunoglobulins (GMs and KMs) 123
4.7 Histocompatibility systems 128
4.8 DNA polymorphisms 134
4.9 Conclusion 147

5 Population structure of Native Americans 149

5.1 Introduction 149
5.2 Intrapopulation subdivision 150
5.3 Interpopulation subdivision 155
5.4 Display techniques 166
5.5 Admixture and gene flow 177
5.6 Hybridization in the New World 181
5.7 Conclusion 191

6 Morphological variation 194

6.1 Introduction 194
6.2 Racial classifications 196
6.3 Anthropometries 197
6.4 Dermatoglyphics 205
6.5 Dentition 220
6.6 Skin color 229
6.7 Congruence between morphology, genetics and geography 233
6.8 Conclusions 233

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Evidence from Anthropological Genetics
Michael H. Crawford
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Contents xi

The survivors 239

7.1 Introduction 239
7.2 The effects of reservations 240
7.3 Heritage of conquest: disease 241
7.4 Hybridization 259
7.5 Epilog 260

References 262

Author index 297

Subject index 304

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Cambridge University Press & Assessment
978-0-521-59280-2 — The Origins of Native Americans
Evidence from Anthropological Genetics
Michael H. Crawford
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Preface

Like the histories - both biological and cultural - of the native peoples to whom
this book is dedicated, the making of this book is a story of expansion and confron-
tation, admixture and adaptation, though, fortunately, on a gentler plain: the plain of
science. My interests in the human biology of New World populations were originally
stimulated by my association with the late Marshall T. Newman at the University of
Washington. Bud, as he was known to his friends, joined the anthropology faculty
there in 1966, as I was completing my final year of graduate studies. Although I never
received any formal instruction from him, I did sit in on a number of his seminars,
and, over the course of that year, we discussed many aspects of Amerindian biology.
The idea for this particular volume came into existence more than twenty years
ago, at a dinner at Bud's house in Seattle. Although we had shared many interests
and ideas, Bud and I had never published anything together, and, that night, we
decided that we should begin work on a volume concerning the biology of the native
populations of the New World. Unfortunately, this project never came to fruition,
pushed to the back burner by the protracted illness and eventual death of Bud's wife,
Judy, and last year by Bud's death.
The next stage in the evolution of this volume occured six years ago, when I was
approached by the MAPFRE Foundation to write a volume on the physical anthro-
pology of American Indians. This impetus led to a volume entitled Antropologia
Biologica de los Indios Americanos, which was released in October, 1992 at the World's
Fair in Seville, Spain, as part of a book series commemorating Columbus' journeys to
the Americas.
From 1992 this volume underwent a considerable update and metamorphosis as I
refocused it from general biological anthropology of the native peoples of the Americas
to their anthropological genetics. I decided to emphasize the subject matter that I
knew best, and to personalize the text with examples primarily from my own field
work. Thus, the Tlaxcaltecans of Mexico, the Eskimos of St. Lawrence Island and
Alaska, the Black Caribs of St. Vincent and the Caribbean, and several founder
populations from Siberia are given disproportionate coverage. On the other hand, the
interrelationship of the questions that governed the original studies of these popu-

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Evidence from Anthropological Genetics
Michael H. Crawford
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xiv Preface

lations provides the 'glue' that holds this volume together; the use of case studies
adds a degree of depth which would otherwise be lacking in a general survey of the
literature.
Although there are many other fascinating areas of biological anthropology, such
as osteology, nutrition, growth and development, and high-altitude adaptations, I have
limited this book to the anthropological genetics of New World groups in the broadest
sense. Chapter 1 focuses on the origins of New World populations and reviews the
historical, archeological, morphological and genetic evidence for a Siberian migration.
This chapter includes attempts to answer the following questions. Who were the
founders? When did they come? How did they colonize two continents? The second
chapter estimates the Amerindian population size at contact and examines the impact
of disease on the subsequent depopulation. Examples are given from Tlaxcala, St.
Lawrence Island and St. Vincent Island, each with its distinct pattern of depopulation
and with differing severity of morbidity and mortality. Chapter 3 includes a discussion
of the demography of the dead and the living populations. It contains a reconstruction
of the demographic patterns prior to the arrival of Europeans into the New World
and links these patterns to mortality, fertility and migration of living populations of
Siberia, North, Middle, and South America. In Chapter 4 the breadth of the observed
genetic variation and its evolutionary consequences are assessed by studying the blood-
group, serum-protein, red-cell-protein and DNA polymorphisms. In the fifth chapter
I apply some of the contemporary genetic models to the observed genetic variability
in the New World. Population structure is examined based upon isolation by distance,
spatial autocorrelation, synthetic gene maps and the fission-fusion model. The focus
of the sixth chapter is the vast morphological diversity observed among the native
peoples scattered from Alaska to the tip of South America. Their bodily morphology
(anthropometrically assessed), skin color (based on reflectance), dermatoglyphics, and
dental morphology are discussed. A seventh chapter, focuses upon the cost of survivor-
ship, both medically and evolutionarily, to those who lived through the tragic depopu-
lation of the Americas after contact. These effects include a series of chronic diseases,
such as the so-called New World Syndrome, essential hypertension, coronary heart
disease, and alcoholism, plus genetic hybridization on a massive scale.
This volume contains a greater emphasis on the Indians and Eskimos of North
America, the indigenous groups of Central America and the founder Siberian groups.
There is less emphasis on the South American populations because a current and
well-written volume by Francisco Salzano and Sidia M. Callegari-Jacques is available to
the reader. However, most of the publications on North American Indians are either
strongly slanted towards osteology or are badly out of date.
Throughout this volume, I have referred to the native peoples of the Americas as
Amerindians or American Indians. This terminology is not meant in disrespect nor

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Michael H. Crawford
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Preface xv

does it carry any pejorative meaning. I have used Amerindian, Native American, and
American Indian interchangeably as a means of identifying, for purposes of communi-
cation, a particular group, in much the same vein that I refer to Europeans, Africans,
and Asians.
Despite the fact that I am used to referring to genes, genotypes, and phenotypes
in the traditional ways, I have applied to this volume a standard notational system.
An international system for gene nomenclature (ISGN, 1987) has been utilized
throughout this book (Shows et al., 1987). The exceptions occur in the discussions of
the discoveries of some of these systems. The notational system that was appropriate
for that particular time period is employed. The relatively new notational system
minimizes some of the ambiguities associated with whether an author is referring to
a genetic locus, genotype, phenotype or gene. The literature contains considerable
notation sloppiness and the use of the new international standard notation should aid
in distinguishing between the gene-product markers from the DNA haplotypes.
There are many people who have contributed to the successful completion of this
volume. My wife Carolynn and son Kenneth have made this writing project possible
by taking over many of my duties at home, thus freeing me to concentrate on the
writing. During the past few years my research assistants have contributed to this
volume by compiling bibliographic materials, dermatoglyphic counts and some analyses.
I thank my graduate students, including Ravi Duggirala, Lisa Martin, Tony Comuzzie,
Rector Arya and Joe McComb, for their assistance. Joe McComb scanned some of the
figures into a computer and improved these rough-hewn illustrations. Several colleagues
have kindly read various versions of this manuscript or have discussed and criticized
some of my half-baked ideas with me. They include Tibor and Audry Koertvelyessy,
Peter Nute and Moses Schanfield. I am particularly grateful to Peter Nute, who has
spent enormous time trying to 'exorcise' from my prose Russian and German sentence
structures. Although I thank my colleagues for their help, I alone am responsible for
any oversights or inaccuracies in this volume.

M. H. Crawford

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Evidence from Anthropological Genetics
Michael H. Crawford
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Acknowledgement

Supported by the MAPFRE America Foundation of Madrid, Spain, in commemoration

of the five hundredth anniversary of Columbus' Contact with the New World.

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