Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: BREAKING NEWS!!! The Yoruba Descended From Archaic "Ghost’ Ancestor- Archaeology - Haaretz.com

I was not ignoring you, my brother. You have brought up a question for which I don't have a clear answer. I am not familiar with the oral traditions stating that Oranmiyan traveled through Imesi to Benin and Asaba. Unfortunately, archaeology cannot give us anything that close in detail. However, we can excavate those Pelupelu mounds  to understand their chronology and the type of society that created the mounds--their economy, culture, and social lives. We can then compare that information to/with other parts of the Yoruba and Edo regions for which we have archaeological data - Ile-Ife, Benin, Ilare, Owo, Oyo, Iffe-Ijumu, and Igbomina. This will give us a sense of the place of Imesi in Yoruba history.

I collected oral traditions in the two Imesi towns (Imesi-Oke and Imesi-Ile) as part of my earlier work in northern Ijesa--Ilare, Ibokun, Esa-Oke, Esa-Odo). I have also traveled in different parts of Ekiti (in collaboration with other archaeologists) collecting oral traditions and doing reconnaissance survey to identify ancient sites. Unfortunately, there are no archaeological excavations in Ekiti region that cover the period of (proto)Yoruba expansion from the present Okun (the Confluence) to central Yoruba region, ca. 300 BC to 500 AD. I agree with the Late Ade Obayemi's hypothesis that the Ekiti region was central to that expansion. That was much earlier than the supposed Oranmiyan travels (possibly in the 12th or 13th century). 

Let's continue the conversation privately on how we can launch archaeological investigations in Imesi.

Akin Ogundiran (ogundiran@gmail.com)

On Monday, February 17, 2020 at 2:49:22 PM UTC-5, OLAYINKA AGBETUYI wrote:

If anything, Prof Ògúndìran has highlighted how the nature of the sampling frame in the Social Sciences determines the outcome ( and integrity of the research.)

I would be interested in the same vein in knowing how the Egyptian ancestry was determined by the site Okey's son visited since by 300, 000 years ago there was no Egypt nor Igbo civilization. That 5% of the genes in his son has affinities with some people in Egypt does not mean the genes came originally from Egypt area.

I am still in the queue for Prof Ògúndìran's attention on ( when the stack of waiting files reach our turn) how the Pelúpelú mound ( by Ìmèsí tributary states) sheds light on the movement of Òrànmíyàn to Benin via Asaba.  Ìmèsí Òjùgbàyè is the last fully Èkìtì (and Yorùbá) township ( before divergence to Àkókó) on the straight road to Asaba (200 kilos) even before Adó Èkìtì was settled.

Would excavation confirm or refute the claim that Onímèsí (of the very first Ìmèsí township among the three competing Ìmèsí townships) of Ìmèsí Òjùgbàyè was among the original 16 crowned Yoruba heads before the destruction by the Fulani jihadist marauders in a failed conversion move?

OAA

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

-------- Original message --------

From: Okey Iheduru <okeyi...@gmail.com>

Date: 17/02/2020 02:49 (GMT+00:00)

To: USAAfrica Dialogue <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: BREAKING NEWS!!! The Yoruba Descended From Archaic "Ghost' Ancestor- Archaeology - Haaretz.com

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Thank you, Prof. Ogundiran for your response to the article I posted on February 13th. I found the Israeli newspaper report intriguing. I felt that if I posted it with the newspaper's original title, folks might not take note of this interesting finding. I know next to nothing about genetics and archaeology. So, I'm sincerely grateful for your insights on the subject.

By the way, you may also be interested to know about my helplessness regarding a recent poser I got from my son. He did his DNA test on 23andMe.com and the report suggested his father's/my side of his family has about 5% DNA traceable to Egypt and about 88% traceable to the Igbo ethnic group. His mother's side is a whopping 98% Igbo. So, my son has been haranguing me to find out who his "Egyptian ancestors" are. So, your deep knowledge of the subject suggests you might provide me with some response to this young man.

Regards,

Okey

On Sun, Feb 16, 2020 at 4:14 PM Akin Ogundiran <ogun...@gmail.com> wrote:

The title of Okey Iheduru's posting on this subject (Feb. 13) is sensational and misleading (BREAKING NEWS!!! The Yoruba Descended From Archaic "Ghost' Ancestor- Archaeology). It is neither consistent with the title of the story he shared nor with the contents of the publication by the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz. The title of the article in Haaretz is "The Ghost' Ancestor Detected in DNA of Today's West Africans. And, the study is not based on any archaeological finding.

 

The Haaretz article itself is a poor online presentation of the scientific study recently published in Science Advances titled "Recovering signals of ghost archaic introgression in African populations." There are three problems that possibly led to the sensational title used by Okey Iheduru. First, most historical geneticists have a poor understanding of culture and human history. Second, most humanists and social scientists lack a basic understanding of the science of DNA. Third, as a result of 1 and 2, the translations of DNA data/findings into the public domain and historical narrative tend to come with inaccuracies and deliberate/unscrupulous manipulation. For those who may be wondering what this is all about, the publication in Science Advances reached this straightforward conclusion:

The present-day West Africans carry the genes of archaic Homo sapiens and possibly the DNA of a branch of Homo erectus. That is, anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens sapiens) who emerged from the archaic Homo sapiens about 300,000 years ago interbred with their archaic Homo sapiens and Homo erectus cousins before those two subspecies died out. This is not surprising. The same thing happened in other parts of the world. For example, when Homo sapiens sapiens arrived in Europe and Asia (from Africa) between 100,000 and 40,000 years ago, they also interbred with the native Neanderthals and Denisovans (the versions of archaic Homo sapiens in those regions).

The reference to the Yoruba and Mende in the original Science Advances study came about because the genetic samples that the authors used in their study were collected from individuals living in these two culture areas. These samples are currently banked at Yale University's Human Relations Area File. Most geneticists interested in early human migrations and evolution often use these samples in their laboratory work. But there are problems with the methodology by which the sample was obtained. The so-called "Yoruba DNA" samples were collected in Ibadan from members of the same family across three generations. Those who collected these samples did not do any historical study to understand the ancestry of this family. We don't know how this arrived in Ibadan, from where, and when. Anyone who knows the history of Ibadan and what DNA is about would giggle at the sloppy way the data was collected, and how this data is now called "Yoruba DNA." This is a  misnaming. We can talk of Yoruba culture and history, but there is no peculiar Yoruba DNA found in an isolated Yoruba population. So, what has become "Yoruba or Mende DNA" in genetic studies is no more than two samples (populations) of DNA from West Africa.

Those interested in a more informed popular version of the original research (beyond the sensation) should read this Feb 12 New York Times article, "Ghost DNA Hints at Africa's Missing Ancient Humans". And those interested in the original publication in Science Advances should visit https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/7/eaax5097.

 

Akin Ogundiran

UNC Charlotte

On Thursday, February 13, 2020 at 2:56:40 PM UTC-5, okeyiheduru wrote:

https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/.premium-ghost-ancestor-detected-in-dna-of-today-s-west-africans-1.8526887 

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Okey C. Iheduru

e-mail: okeyi...@gmail.com

Just published "The African Corporation, 'Africapitalism' and Regional Integration in Africa" (September 2018). DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781785362538.

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