The Savage and the Innocent: Sophisticated Techniques and Naive Theory in the Study of Human Population Genetics in Melanesia (original) (raw)

1975, Yearbook of Physical Anthropology

Just as paleontologists draw upon the evolutionary theories and contemporary observations of students of the modern biota when predicting and interpreting biogeographical patterns within the fossil record, so too archeologists req uire knowledge about the population dynamics of human groups, in order to model and fully comprehend the biogeography and evolution of prehistoric man and his cultures. In return, paleontologists and archeologists are in the best position to give theories and inferences the test of time. Acknowledging this give-and-take, this paper surveys human biological research in Melanesia since 1962 to learn how successful physical anthropologists have been in analyzing and interpreting the heterogeneity of the Melanesian peoples,' which has long provoked speculation about prehistoric migrations, ethnic conquests, and racial intrusions into the southwest Pacific. It is found that little has apparently been achieved in understanding geographic patterns of variation in genetic factors, anthropometric measurements, etc., in spite of recent progress in taking and assaying genetical data. Research problems seem poorly formulated; hypotheses advanced often appear trivial; insufficient attention has been given to non-genetic variables likely to be influencing the growth, maintenance, and stability of biological similarities and differences among local and regional populations. It is suggested that future research incorporating needed information about health, human ecology, population parameters, sociocultural variables, and other circumstances affecting gene frequencies, etc., should better enable physical anthropologists, archeologists and others to ascertain the events and processes that have led to the remarkable biological, ethnological, and linguistic diversity of Melanesians.