Australian aborigines represent the first branch from Eurasian antecedents: odontometric evidence.

Abstract

Most genetic data suggest that Australian aborigines and Southeast Asians associate, but their relative evolutionary relationship has remained obscure. Historically, the study of tooth crown variables has been important in establishing phylogenetic relationships. Through the quantification of whole tooth structure (GDP), including root, pulp, and enamel, a likely Eurasian phylogeny emerged from a canonical discriminant analysis of the microevolution among the populations. The analysis suggested that in modern human evolutionary history, Australian aborigines are the best representative extant population (first branch) from an unknown antecedent Eurasian founder population. The next branch from the Asian-based antecedent population was Caucasoids. Within the resident antecedent East Asian population, Southeast Asians then evolved, followed by a branch that lead to antecedent east Central Asians. Mongolians and all Native Americans independently evolved from this antecedent east Central Asian population. The relatively short morphogenetic separation between two areas that have been isolated for great periods of time, i.e., Australian aborigines and Native Americans, suggests that their association is not due to gene flow.