Environment and morphology in Australian Aborigines: A re-analysis of the Birdsell database

Environment and morphology in Australian Aborigines: A re-analysis of the Birdsell database

Ian Gilligan *, David Bulbeck

School of Archaeology and Anthropology, Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia

email: Ian Gilligan (ian.g@bigpond.net.au)

^*Correspondence to Ian Gilligan, School of Archaeology and Anthropology, Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia

setDOI(”ADOI=10.1002/ajpa.20640″)

Keywords

climatic adaptation • Bergmann’s rule • human variation

Abstract

Pursuant to his major research interest in the cultural ecology of hunter-gatherers, Birdsell collected an unparalleled body of phenotypic data on Aboriginal Australians during the mid twentieth century. Birdsell did not explicitly relate the geographic patterning in his data to Australia’s climatic variation, instead arguing that the observable differences between groups reflect multiple origins of Australian Aborigines. In this article, bivariate correlation and multivariate analyses demonstrate statistically significant associations between climatic variables and the body build of Australians that are consistent with the theoretical expectations of Bergmann’s and Allen’s rules. While Australian Aborigines in comparison to Eurasian and New World populations can be generally described as long-headed, linear in build, and characterized by elongated distal limbs, the variation in this morphological pattern across the continent evidently reflects biological adaptation to local Holocene climates. These results add to a growing body of evidence for the role of environmental selection in the development of modern human variation. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2007. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

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Received: 18 July 2006; Accepted: 26 March 2007

Use of subpopulation data in Australian forensic DNA casework

Simon J. Walshab, R. John Mitchellc, Fraser Torpya, John S. Buckletond

Received 3 May 2007; accepted 9 May 2007. published online 18 June 2007.

 

Abstract

 

DNA profiling evidence presented in court should be accompanied by a reliable estimate of its evidential weight. In calculating such statistics, allele frequencies from commonly employed autosomal microsatellite loci are required. These allele frequencies should be collected at a level that appropriately represents the genetic diversity that exists in the population. Typically this occurs at broadly defined bio-geographic categories, such as Caucasian or Asian. Datasets are commonly administered at the jurisdictional level. This paper focuses on Australian jurisdictions and assesses whether this current practice is appropriate for Aboriginal Australian and Caucasian populations alike. In keeping with other studies we observe negligible differences between Caucasian populations within Australia when segregated geographically. However segregation of Aboriginal Australian population data along contemporary State and Territory lines appears to mask the diversity that exists within this subpopulation. For this reason datasets collated along more traditional lines may be more appropriate, particularly to distinguish the most genetically differentiated populations residing in the north of the continent.

Customary Land Tenure

ANU Epress edition here.