In 2018 we published a major interdisciplinary study on the prehistory of Vanuatu bringing together ancient and modern genetics, archaeology and historical linguistics (Posth et al. 2018, Nature Ecology & Evolution). This high-profile study – which demonstrated the possibly unique phenomenon of genetic replacement despite linguistic continuity in post-Lapita Vanuatu – itself became the subject of a forum discussion in Archaeology in Oceania, allowing us to follow-up with a detailed elaboration of our results and integrated approach to prehistory (Posth et al. 2019, Archaeology in Oceania). The 2018 study involved modern genetic sampling in multiple communities in Vanuatu, and we have continued to provide feedback on the research across participating villages – with the latest trip in February / March 2020 (see attached research summary in Bislama, the local lingua franca). Our Vanuatu research was central to a prominent New York Times Magazine cover story, published in February 2019, on the field of ancient DNA and its relationship with the other sciences of the human past. The Archaeogenetics subteam has continued to generate new genome-wide ancient DNA data from over 230 human skeletal remains provided by our Pacific archaeology partners. In collaboration with colleagues in the Department of Archaeogenetics at MPI-SHH, we now envisage the data we are generating leading to multiple separate regional subprojects, similar to our initial Vanuatu study.
The second component of Waves has focused on development and testing of cultural evolutionary / gene-culture coevolutionary models for demographic inference. The Modelling subteam has developed a framework for testing the accuracy and robustness of existing linguistic / cultural phylogenetic reconstruction methods. We have also developed a demic gene-culture model that allows us to explicitly test the various hypotheses on the complex population replacement in Vanuatu we identified in Posth et al. (2018). Both of these novel modeling frameworks are being fully integrated into DeMIGOD, the overarching GIS-based simulation software package that will be the major technical output of the Waves project. Development of DeMIGOD has now reached an initial application phase within the Waves team and with a small network of collaborators – this will lead to a number of publications on integrated human prehistory over the coming year. Public release of DeMIGOD to the broader population genetic and cultural evolutionary research community is planned for summer 2021.
