CATALYST TRUST

BRINGING IDEAS TO LIFE

  • Home
  • What is Catalyst?
    • Catalyst People
    • Catalyst Supporters
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • MindJam 2019
    • Past Events
      • 2021 Highlights
      • 2020 Highlights
      • 2019 Highlights
      • 2018 Highlights
      • 2017 Highlights
      • inSight 2017
      • inSight 2015
      • MindJam
  • Lilliput Libraries
  • Media
  • Blog Archives
    • Event Reviews
    • Catalyst News
  • Get Involved
    • Share Your Feedback

What Makes a New Zealander?

August 14, 2014 By Cath Gilmour

From Africa to Aotearoa

13 August, 2014

2About 65,000 years ago modern humans started expanding across the globe. The final landmass settled by humans was Aotearoa/New Zealand, just 750 years ago.

While Maori were the first to arrive, they were joined by later migrants, primarily from Europe, Asia and the Pacific Islands.

But Allan Wilson Centre’s Professor Lisa Matisoo-Smith related how her research into DNA ancestry trails reveals we can all, ultimately, trace our origins back to Africa.

She described the implications of the first year of her genetic diversity study in terms of understanding New Zealand’s settlement history. Fifty of the 80-plus audience were then offered the opportunity to help Prof Matisoo-Smith with her study, having a simple cheek swab to provide genetic material to be analysed for genetic heritage tracing direct ancestry on the maternal (mtDNA) and paternal (Y chromosome) lineages.

For more information on the Africa to Aotearoa project see: http://www.africatoaotearoa.otago.ac.nz/
For the Allan Wilson Centre: http://www.allanwilsoncentre.ac.nz/
and for National Geographic’s Genographic project: https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/

1

Filed Under: Reviews

Upcoming Events

  • We're planning something special, check back soon.

Never Miss An Event Again

Join the Catalyst Trust Early Warning System to get first notification of upcoming events.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Explore The Website

  • Home
  • What Is Catalyst?
  • Upcoming Events
  • Lilliput Libraries
  • Media Snippets
  • Supporters
  • Blog Archives
  • Get Involved

Blog Archives

Categories

  • Community
  • News
  • Reviews

Search The Archives

Recent Events

  • Historic amnesia – and the need to end the forgetting… on March 30, 2023 6:00 pm
  • NZ & EU: Partners in Turbulent Times on November 21, 2022 6:00 pm
  • Two problems searching for solutions … declining population and growing hate speech on November 14, 2022 6:00 pm
  • Space: The Next Generation on November 1, 2022 12:00 pm
  • Shining Light in the Darkness on October 25, 2022 6:00 pm

Join Our Mailing List

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Copyright © 2023 Catalyst Trust · With Support from Our Community · Log in