Abstract
ABSTRACTThe year 2017 has been another exciting one for anthropology, revealing new and unexpected layers of human history, changing our views about how we conceptualize human variation, and leading to a deeper understanding of the biology of our species. Increases in the accessibility and resolution of genomic analysis as well as other high‐throughput technologies that can now measure the functional impact of genetic variation have continued to be one of the leading drivers of innovations that can address important anthropological questions. I would like to highlight the surprising discoveries this year within the framework of three interconnected themes: (1) increased inclusion of non‐European peoples into mainstream genomics studies; (2) a more comprehensive integration of new technologies beyond genomics to better contextualize human biological variation; and (3) previously underappreciated ethical discussion points emerging from these novel developments. In this review, I will attempt to briefly outline a path for genetic anthropology, primarily using examples from recent work conducted with African populations. Consequently, I will not be able to do justice to breakthrough work in primate genomics, ancient genomics studies from around the world, and other fascinating studies in biological anthropology. That said, it is an incredibly exciting time for our field. We can now ask questions that we did not know were there—and what we are finding is “stranger than we imagined.” [genomics, population genetics, human evolution, four fields].
Published Version
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