Features
Shane Superville
Studies showing the migration and culture of the Caribbean’s earliest settlers are still ongoing, but academics and indigenous groups hope that modern technology can help paint a clearer picture of the region’s first inhabitants.
As June has been officially declared Caribbean-American Heritage Month by US President Joe Biden, members of the Caribbean diaspora have been inspired to take a closer look at their family history to understand their heritage and that of the region’s First Peoples. .
For now, researchers still working to fill in the gaps in the history of the Caribbean’s first inhabitants are optimistic that these secrets can be unlocked with new scientific tools.
In a virtual lecture on Ancient DNA and the Genetic History of the Caribbean, postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology Dr Kathrin Nägele said that understanding the genealogy of indigenous peoples can further our understanding not only of their biology but also their civilization. The lecture was organized by the National Fund.
Referring to work done by paleontologists who analyzed DNA from the skeletons of early farmers to study the spread of agriculture across Europe in the Neolithic era, Nägele said similar analyzes done on the remains of early humans in the Caribbean could provide valuable information.
However, Nägele said one of the main challenges in these studies lies in the Caribbean climate and the availability of “viable” samples.
“Even shortly after a person’s death, their DNA becomes highly fragmented, until only small fragments remain, and this process is accelerated in the presence of water and occurs faster in warmer climates. The longer it passes, the more fragmented the DNA will be.
“We are also only now beginning to understand how microclimates, such as soil acidity and mineral content, are important factors in the quality of the samples we will receive.”
However, newer techniques for extracting and analyzing DNA samples can be used to explore more.
Nägele said these new methods usually use either the bone oil found in the skull or the teeth, since the DNA is protected by the enamel. In this process a small hole is drilled into the sample to produce bone or tooth particles which can be digested to release the DNA samples.
Scientists then use a magnet to extract the desired DNA fragments that they will use to study.
These DNA fragments, says Nägele, can tell a lot not only about the individual whose remains were found, but also about the state of the populations at the time of their death.
DOCUMENT PHOTO/ANGELO MARCELLE –
She noted that these samples are also useful for understanding the level of immunity of indigenous people at the time and the types of pathogens they would have been vulnerable to.
Such scientific techniques are particularly effective in understanding the lives and interactions between the various populations of early Caribbean people, given the region’s complex history of colonization and intermingling with people from different parts of the globe.
Even with current technology it can be difficult to sift through the genetic information desired to map the history of early indigenous people.
Responding to questions from Sunday Newsday via e-mail on Thursday, Nägele said the genetic history of the region during the Pottery Age – the period of the earliest settlement of the Caribbean – was more complicated than first thought, but he was optimistic that as scientific methodologies are perfect. time, more detailed information will be available.
She noted that while researchers have a good general idea of the genealogical history of the Caribbean, there were crucial details that still needed to be understood for researchers to get a clearer picture of the indigenous people.
“There are some signals that we don’t understand yet. In Trinidad, we are just getting started. I wanted to inform the public in Trinidad about this work that we are starting and I will come back with new results after the data is analyzed.”
For now, Nägele says the researchers have a lot of work ahead of them, but they hope local First Peoples groups will take an interest in the research and cooperate with their work.
“From Trinidad, this will be the first genome data produced.
“If this collaboration is well received by Trinidad and its first peoples, we can discuss the hope of extending the sampling and continuing to work on the topic with this line of evidence.”
Reached for comment, Santa Rosa First Nations Chief Ricardo Bharath Hernandez said that while he had an interest in researchers visiting Trinidad, he hoped they would make their findings more accessible to First Nations communities.
He said academics routinely visit Trinidad for research on First Peoples but have not made their work available to them and hoped future programs would keep their community more informed.
“In Manzanilla I know they did a lot of research and the landowners promised to give us, the local community, a copy of the research, which they can’t seem to get a copy of at all.
“We don’t have a problem with others coming in, but what we are saying is that when they do their research, they should supply the local community with a copy so that the local community is educated and aware of what is taken. on their ancestors and so on.
“Through research we can really know a lot more than we know now. So we have no problem with that.”
He said the First Peoples community approved of any effort to shed more light on the lives of their ancestors.
Referring to their participation in academic pedigree testing from the University of Pennsylvania several years ago, Hernandez said such initiatives were welcome.
He also hoped the research might reveal further details on a group of indigenous settlers called the Napuyos and their descent from tribes in mainland South America.
“It is believed that the community in Arima, the Napuyos, lived in this area, so we, for our records and for our education, would like to know a little more about the Napuyos to see which group now exists in the southern continent. America is closest to this group that we call the Napuyos, because we have the Carinas who are the Caribs, the Laconos, who are the Arawaks, you have the Waraos and these are all different nations.
“Napuyos was one nation, but we understand that it was a mixture of two or more nations. So in the research if we can find out a little bit more about that, then we will be happy about that.”
Nägele said she would also be interested in exploring a link in genealogy between the indigenous population of South America and those in Trinidad and other Caribbean islands.
“I think it will be more interesting to compare settlers from different periods to see how genetics changed with the geographic situation in the Caribbean. Were there more exchanges with the mainland (eg Venezuela) when they were connected to the mainland ?Did this change later, or already in the archaic era, when the island separated from the continents?
“I’m also interested to see if proximity to the mainland led to stronger ties or more migration.”
For now, scientists continue to work with the tools and samples available to get a bigger picture of the Caribbean’s first inhabitants. Like an actual puzzle, these efforts require an eye for detail as well as time and patience to understand their history.
