New York African Burial Ground Skeletal Biology Final Report, Volume 1. Chapter 5. Origins of the New York African Burial Ground Population: Biological Evidence of Geographical and Macroethnic Affiliations Using Craniometrics, Dental Morphology, and Preliminary Genetic Analysis

Origins are central to understanding the past and present identity of a people.
Origin studies provide, under optimal conditions, a context for all other assessments, such as archaeological, biomedical, and nutritional evaluations. Characterizing the phenotypic status and determining the origins of the eighteenth century New York African population and those individuals interred in the New York African Burial Ground (NYABG) were among the project’s major goals. Towards that end, our craniometric, dental morphology, and genetic teams collaborated extensively with project historians and archaeologists to develop a biocultural, interdisciplinary research strategy for a historically and ethnographically informed interpretation of the ancestral origins of the people disinterred from the NYABG. Our research strategy addressed the inquiries of the descendant African-American community with the professional scientific rigor demanded by our disciplines.