Genomic data from present-day individuals can shed light on the history of societies that lack written records, a study suggests. The replacement of small-scale, local societies with large centralized states has had profound consequences in human history. The unification of previously separate communities into a single political system influences economic activity and culture, but the genetic impact of state centralization is unclear. Lucy van Dorp, Garrett Hellenthal, and colleagues collected genome-wide data from 693 individuals representing 27 different self-declared ethnic groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and analyzed DNA variations called single-nucleotide polymorphisms. The authors compared genetic patterns in present-day individuals whose ancestors were part of the pre-colonial Kuba Kingdom, which formed in the early 17th century, with those in neighboring non-Kuba groups. The authors report that the present-day Kuba are more genetically diverse and more similar to other groups in the region than expected. The findings are consistent with the historical unification of distinct sub-groups during state centralization, resulting in increased geographic mobility and genetic mixing across social and ethnic groups within the kingdom. According to the authors, the study underscores the potential of genomics to reconstruct societal histories.
###
Article #18-11211: "Genetic legacy of state centralization in the Kuba Kingdom of the Democratic Republic of the Congo," by Lucy van Dorp et al.
MEDIA CONTACTS: Lucy van Dorp, University College London, UNITED KINGDOM; tel: +44-78-4634-4221; e-mail: lucy.dorp.12@ucl.ac.uk; Garrett Hellenthal, University College London, UNITED KINGDOM; tel: +44-20-7679-2189; e-mail: g.hellenthal@ucl.ac.uk
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences