title: Aboriginal mitogenomes reveal 50,000 years of regionalism in Australia.
abstract: Aboriginal Australians represent one of the longest continuous cultural complexes known. Archaeological evidence indicates that Australia and New Guinea were initially settled approximately 50 thousand years ago (ka); however, little is known about the processes underlying the enormous linguistic and phenotypic diversity within Australia. Here we report 111 mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) from historical Aboriginal Australian hair samples, whose origins enable us to reconstruct Australian phylogeographic history before European settlement. Marked geographic patterns and deep splits across the major mitochondrial haplogroups imply that the settlement of Australia comprised a single, rapid migration along the east and west coasts that reached southern Australia by 49-45 ka. After continent-wide colonization, strong regional patterns developed and these have survived despite substantial climatic and cultural change during the late Pleistocene and Holocene epochs. Remarkably, we find evidence for the continuous presence of populations in discrete geographic areas dating back to around 50 ka, in agreement with the notable Aboriginal Australian cultural attachment to their country.
authors.affiliation: Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia.
authors.forename: Ray
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tobler
authors.affiliation: School of Mathematical Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia.|ARC Centre of Excellence for Mathematical and Statistical Frontiers, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia.
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rohrlach
authors.affiliation: Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia.|Genetics and Molecular Pathology, SA Pathology, Adelaide, South Australia 5000, Australia.
authors.forename: Julien
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Soubrier
authors.affiliation: Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia.
authors.forename: Pere
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bover
authors.affiliation: Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia.
authors.forename: Bastien
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Llamas
authors.affiliation: School of Mathematical Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia.|ARC Centre of Excellence for Mathematical and Statistical Frontiers, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia.
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tuke
authors.affiliation: School of Mathematical Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia.|ARC Centre of Excellence for Mathematical and Statistical Frontiers, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia.
authors.forename: Nigel
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bean
authors.affiliation: South Australian Museum, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Abdullah-Highfold
authors.affiliation: South Australian Museum, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia.
authors.forename: Shane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Agius
authors.affiliation: South Australian Museum, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia.
authors.forename: Amy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: O'Donoghue
authors.affiliation: South Australian Museum, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia.
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: O'Loughlin
authors.affiliation: South Australian Museum, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia.|School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sutton
authors.affiliation: South Australian Museum, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia.
authors.forename: Fran
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zilio
authors.affiliation: South Australian Museum, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia.
authors.forename: Keryn
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Walshe
authors.affiliation: Palaeontology, Geobiology and Earth Archives Research Centre, and Climate Change Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Australia.
authors.forename: Alan N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.affiliation: Palaeontology, Geobiology and Earth Archives Research Centre, and Climate Change Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Australia.
authors.forename: Chris S M
authors.initials: CSM
authors.lastname: Turney
authors.affiliation: Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia.|School of Archaeology and Anthropology, College of Arts and Social Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 0200, Australia.
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.affiliation: Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia.
authors.forename: Stephen M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Richards
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Genetics, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia.
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Mitchell
authors.affiliation: Alfred Deakin Institute, Deakin University, Melbourne, Victoria 3125, Australia.
authors.forename: Emma
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kowal
authors.affiliation: Australian Genome Research Facility, The Waite Research Precinct, Adelaide, South Australia 5064, Australia.
authors.forename: John R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Stephen
authors.affiliation: Community Elder and Cultural Advisor, Cherbourg, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Lesley
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.affiliation: Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia.|Department of Archeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, 07745 Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Haak
authors.affiliation: Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia.|Environment Institute, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia.
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cooper
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D003468:Cultural Evolution; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D054629:Genome, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics*; D006239:Haplotypes / Q000235:genetics; D049690:History, Ancient; D063426:Human Migration / Q000266:history*; D006801:Humans; D010802:Phylogeny; D058974:Phylogeography
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial