title: Complete mitochondrial DNA genome sequences from the first New Zealanders.
abstract: The dispersal of modern humans across the globe began ~65,000 y ago when people first left Africa and culminated with the settlement of East Polynesia, which occurred in the last 1,000 y. With the arrival of Polynesian canoes only 750 y ago, Aotearoa/New Zealand became the last major landmass to be permanently settled by humans. We present here complete mitochondrial genome sequences of the likely founding population of Aotearoa/New Zealand recovered from the archaeological site of Wairau Bar. These data represent complete mitochondrial genome sequences from ancient Polynesian voyagers and provide insights into the genetic diversity of human populations in the Pacific at the time of the settlement of East Polynesia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. michael.knapp@anatomy.otago.ac.nz
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Knapp
authors.forename: K Ann
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Horsburgh
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Prost
authors.forename: Jo-Ann
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Stanton
authors.forename: Hallie R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Buckley
authors.forename: Richard K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Walter
authors.forename: Elizabeth A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Matisoo-Smith
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics*; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D054629:Genome, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics*; D005843:Geography; D006239:Haplotypes / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009520:New Zealand; D010140:Pacific Ocean; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial