Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas

important than their preservation.
iii Obviously, this does not apply to their descendants, who are fully
cognizant of their ancestors’ histories. I ask their indulgence as I write for a
broader audience here.
iv They were also confused by the plants and animals that weren’t present
in Eurasia.
v Most were less concerned about what it said about Native Americans.
vi I remind the reader that although Jefferson argued against the institution
of slavery, he enslaved over 600 people and fathered children with an
enslaved woman, Sally Hemings, who was 14 years old when Jefferson
forced her into a sexual relationship
(https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/sally-hemings-wasnt-thomas-
jeffersons-mistress-she-was-his-property/2017/07/06/db5844d4-625d-11e7-
8adc-fea80e32bf47_story.html). He also believed in fundamental biological
differences between the races, and that Black people were inherently
inferior to whites. Jefferson’s contributions to scholarship and the discipline
of archaeology in particular are profound, and there’s no denying his
genius. But we must also not lose sight of how these contributions were
made. Jefferson’s ability to devote himself to a life of leisure and
scholarship was a direct result of the labor of enslaved Africans on land
stolen from the Monacan people. His contributions to archaeology also
contributed to the desecration of the remains of Monacan ancestors.
vii However, as historian Paul Kelton (Cherokee) notes in his book
Cherokee Medicine, Colonial Germs: An Indigenous Nation’s Fight Against
Smallpox (University of Oklahoma Press: 2009), warfare, slavery, and land
theft perpetrated upon Indigenous peoples by colonizers created massive
upheavals and devastation within Native communities, making them more
vulnerable to infectious disease. Thus, he argues, the so-called “virgin soil”
hypothesis is an insufficient explanation for Native American depopulation;
infectious disease should be viewed as one of many interrelated factors
contributing to population crashes. Along with a number of other scholars
working in this area, Kelton also overturns the historical portrayal of Native
Americans as passive victims of disease through his analysis of the
Cherokee responses to epidemics.
viii About 750,000 items in the Museum of the American Indian would
eventually be transferred to the National Museum of the American Indian. I