Dr. Dennis H. O'Rourke

  • Courtesy Foundation Distinguished Professor

Contact Info

785-864-2642
Fraser Hall, Room 635

Education —

Ph.D., University of Kansas, 1980

Research —

My research focuses on the use of molecular genetic methods to address long-standing questions in prehistory. My students and collaborators have conducted fieldwork and research projects in Mexico, the Caribbean, the US Southwest and California, and the North American arctic. Most recently, my group has focused attention on ancient DNA methods to investigate the colonization and dispersal of the North American arctic, and how this informs us about the earlier initial colonization of the Western Hemisphere. Utilizing genomic analyses of both human and archaeofaunal and archaeobotanical materials, my research interests and efforts increasingly are at the intersection of anthropological genetics, bioarchaeology, and paleoecology.

Selected Publications —

  • Hoffecker, J. F., Elias, S. A., O'Rourke, D. H., Scott, G. R., & Bigelow, N. H. (2016). Beringia and the Global Dispersal of Modern Humans. Evol. Anthrop, 25, 64-78.
  • Tackney, J. Potter, B. A., Raff, J. Powers, M. Watkins, S. Warner, D. Reuther, J. D., Irish, J. D., & O'Rourke, D. H. (2015). Two Contemporaneous Mitogenomes from Terminal Pleistocene Burials in Eastern Beringia. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.
  • Hoffecker, J. F., Elias, S. A., & O'Rourke, D. H. (2014). Out of Beringia? Science (Perspective), 343, 979-980.
  • Raghavan, M. DeGiorgio, M. Albrechtsen, A. Moltke, I. Skoglund, P. Korneliussen, T. S., Gronnow, B. Appelt, M. Gullov, H. C., Friesen, M. Fitzhugh, W. Malmström, H. Rasmussen, S. Olsen, J. Melchior, L. Fuller, B. T., Fahrni, S. M., Stafford, T. Grimes, V. P., M. A., Cybulski, J. Lynnerup, N. Lahr, M. M., Britton, K. Knecht, R. Arneborg, J. Metspalu, M. Cornejo, O. E., Malaspinas, A. Wang, Y. Rasmussen, M. Raghavan, V. Hansen, T. Khusnutdinova, E. Pierre, T. Dneprovski, K. Andreasen, C. Lange, H. Hayes, M. G., Coltrain, J. Spitsyn, V. A., Götherström, A. Orlando, L. Kivisild, T. Villems, R. Crawford, M. H., Nielsen, F. C., Dissing, J. Heinemeier, J. Meldgaard, M. Bustamante, C. O'Rourke, D. H., Jakobsson, M. Gilbert, M. P., Nielsen, R. & Willersley, E. (2014). The Genetic Prehistory of the New World Arctic. Science, 345.
  • O'Rourke, D. H., & Enk, J. (2012). Genetics, Geography, and Human Variation. In S. Stinson, B. Bogin, & D. O'Rourke (Eds.), Human Biology: An Evolutionary and Biocultural Approach(2nd ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons.
  • O'Rourke, D. H. (2012). Why Do We Migrate? A Retrospective. In B. C. Campbell & M. Crawford (Eds.), The Causes and Consequences of Migration: An Evolutionary Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Stinson, S., Bogin, B., & O'Rourke, D. H. (Eds.). (2012). Human Biology: An Evolutionary & Biocultural Perspective (S. Stinson, B. Bogin, & D. H. O'Rourke, Eds., 2nd ed.). New York: Wiley-Blackwell.
  • Broughton, J. M., Beck, R. K., Coltrain, J. B., O'Rourke, D. H., & Rogers, A. R. (2012). A Late Holocene Population Bottleneck in California Tule Elk (Cervus elaphus nannodes): Provisional support from ancient DNA. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory.
  • Raff, J. Bolnick, D. A., Tackney, J. & O'Rourke, D. H. (2011). Ancient DNA Perspectives on American Colonization and Population History. Amer. J. Phys. Anthrop., 146(503-514).
  • Enk, J. Debruyne, R. Devault, A. King, C. E., Treangen, T. O'Rourke, D. H., Salzberg, S. L., Fisher, D. Macphee, R. & Poiner, H. (2011). Complete Columbian Mammoth mitogenome suggests interbreeding with Woolly Mammoths. Genome Biology, 12, R51.
  • O'Rourke, D. H. (2011). Contradictions and Concordances in American Colonization Models. Evolution: Education & Outreach, 4(2), 244-253.
  • Scott, G. R., & O'Rourke, D. H. (2010). Genes across Beringia: A Physical Anthropological Perspective on the Dené-Yeniseian Hypothesis. In J. Kari & B. Potter (Eds.), Anthropological Papers of the University of Alaska (New Series). Special Issue: The Dené-Yeniseian Hypothesis(1-2st ed.) (Vol. 5).
  • O'Rourke, D. H., & Raff, J. (2010). The Genetic History of the Americas: The Final Frontier. Current Biology, 20, R202–R207.
  • Raff, J. Tackney, J. & O'Rourke, D. H. (2010). South From Alaska: A Pilot aDNA Study of Genetic History on the Alaska Peninsula and Eastern Aleutians. Human Biology, 82, 677-694.
  • O'Rourke, D. H., West, D. L., & Crawford, M. H. (2010). Unangan Past and Present: The Contrasts Between Observed and Inferred Histories. Human Biology, 82, 759-764.
  • O'Rourke, D. H. (2009). Human Migrations: The Two Roads Taken. Current Biology, 19(5), R203-R205.
  • Smith, S. Haye, M. G., Cabana, G. Coltrain, J. B., Huff, C. & O'Rourke, D. H. (2009). Inferring Population Continuity versus Replacement with aDNA: A Cautionary Tale from the Aleutian Islands. Human Biology, 81(4), 19-38.
  • Enk, J. M., Yesner, D. R., Crossen, K. J., Veltre, D. W., & O'Rourke, D. H. (2009). Mitochondrial DNA Sequence of a Mid-Holocene Woolly Mammoth from the Pribilof Islands, Alaska: Implications for Mammoth Evolution, Dispersal, and Pleistocene Refugia. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 273, 184-190.
  • Goebel, T. Waters, M. & O'Rourke, D. H. (2008). The Late Pleistocene Dispersal of Modern Humans in the Americas. Science, 319, 1497-1502.
  • O'Rourke, D. H. (2007). Ancient DNA and its application to reconstruction of human evolution and population history. In M. H. Crawford (Ed.), Anthropological Genetics: Theory, Methods & Applications. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Marchani, E. E., Rogers, A. R., & O'Rourke, D. H. (2007). The Thule expansion: Rejecting population histories using mtDNA data and computer simulation. Amer. J. Phys. Anthrop., 134(2), 281-284.
  • O'Rourke, D. H. (2006). Classical marker variation in Native North Americans. In D. Ubelaker (Ed.), Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 3, Environment, Origins and Population. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution.
  • Coltrain, J. B., Hayes, M. G., & O'Rourke, D. H. (2006). A Radiometric Evaluation of Hrdlicka’s Aleutian Replacement Hypothesis: Population Continuity and Morphological Change. Current Anthropology, 47(3), 537-548.
  • Hayes, M. G., Coltrain, J. B., & O'Rourke, D. H. (2005). Molecular archaeology of the Dorset, Thule, and Sadlermiut: Ancestor-descendant relationships in Eastern North American arctic prehistory. In P. Sutherland (Ed.), Contributions to the Study of the Dorset Palaeo-Eskimos. Hull, Quebec: Canadian Museum of Civilization.
  • O'Rourke, D. H., Hayes, M. G., & Carlyle, S. W. (2005). The Consent Process and aDNA Research: Contrasting Approaches in Northern North America. In T. Turner (Ed.), Biological Anthropology and Ethics. Albany: State University of New York Press.
  • Coltrain, J. B., Hayes, M. G., & O'Rourke, D. H. (2004). Sealing, Whaling, and Caribou: The Skeletal Isotope Chemistry of Eastern Arctic Foragers. Journal of Archaeological Science, 31, 39-57.
  • Hayes, M. E., Coltrain, J. B., & O'Rourke, D. H. (2003). Mitochondrial analyses of Dorset, Thule, Sadlermiut, and Aleut skeletal samples from the prehistoric North American Arctic. In N. Lynnerup, C. Andreasen, & J. Berglund (Eds.), Mummies in a New Millenium. Proceedings of the 4th World Congress on Mummy Studies. Copenhagen: Danish Polar Center.
  • O'Rourke, D. H. (2003). Anthropological Genetics in the Genomic Era: A Look Back and Ahead. American Anthropologist, 105(1), 101-109.
  • Stinson, S., Bogin, B., Huss-Ashmore, R., & O'Rourke, D. H. (Eds.). (2000). Human Biology: An Evolutionary & Biocultural Perspective (S. Stinson, B. Bogin, R. Huss-Ashmore, & D. H. O'Rourke, Eds.). New York: Wiley-Liss, Inc.
  • O'Rourke, D. H., Hayes, M. G., & Carlyle, S. W. (2000). Spatial and Temporal Stability of mtDNA Haplogroup Frequencies in Native North America. Human Biology, 72(1), 15-34.
  • Carlyle, S. W., Parr, R. L., Hayes, M. G., & O'Rourke, D. H. (2000). The Context of Maternal Lineages in the Greater Southwest. Amer. J. Phys. Anthrop., 113(1), 85-101.
  • O'Rourke, D. H., Parr, R. L., & Carlyle, S. W. (1999). Molecular genetic variation in prehistoric inhabitants of the Eastern Great Basin. In B. E. Hemphill & C. S. Larsen (Eds.), Understanding Prehistoric Lifeways in the Great Basin Wetlands: Bioarchaeological Reconstruction and Interpretation. University of Utah Press.
  • Parr, R. L., O'Rourke, D. H., & Carlyle, S. W. (1996). Ancient DNA analysis of Fremont Amerindians of the Great Salt Lake Wetlands. Amer. J. Phys. Anthrop., 99(4), 507-519.
  • O'Rourke, D. H., Carlyle, S. W., & Parr, R. L. (1996). Ancient DNA: A review of methods, progress, and perspectives. Amer. J. Hum. Biol., 8(5), 557-571.
  • Suarez, B. K., Hampe, C. L., O'Rourke, D. Van Eerdewegh, P. & Reich, T. (1995). Sib-based detection of QTLs. Genetic Epidemiology, 12(6), 675-680.
  • Bamshad, M. Crawford, M. H., O'Rourke, D. H., & Jorde, L. B. (1994). Biochemical heterozygosity and morphologic variation in a colony of Papio hamadryas hamadryas baboons. Evolution, 48(4), 1211-1221.
  • O'Rourke, D. H., Mobarry, A. & Suarez, B. K. (1992). Patterns of genetic variation in Native America. Human Biology, 64(3), 417-434.
  • Shearin, N. L., King, E. J., & O'Rourke, D. H. (1989). DNA preservation in Precolumbian remains from the American Southwest. Human Evolution, 4(4), 263-270.
  • O'Rourke, D. H., & Lichty, A. S. (1989). Spatial analysis and gene frequency maps of native North American populations. Collegium Antropologicum, 13(1), 73-84.
  • Crawford, M. H., Devor, E. J., O'Rourke, D. H., Yakovleva, L. A., Voevodin, A. J., & Lapin, B. A. (1987). Genetics of primate lymphomas in a baboon (Papio hamadryas) colony of Sukhumi, U.S.S.R. Genetica, 73, 145-157.
  • McCullough, J. M., & O'Rourke, D. H. (1986). Geographical distribution of consanguinity in Europe. Ann. Hum. Biol., 13(4), 359-367.
  • O'Rourke, D. H., & Suarez, B. K. (1986). Patterns and correlates of genetic variation in South Amerindians. Ann. Hum. Biol., 13(1), 13-31.
  • Suarez, B. K., O'Rourke, D. H., & Crouse, J. D. (1985). Genetic variation in North Amerindian populations: Association with sociocultural complexity. Amer. J. Phys. Anthrop., 67(3), 233-239.
  • O'Rourke, D. H., Suarez, B. K., & Crouse, J. D. (1985). Genetic variation in North Amerindian populations: Covariance with climate. Amer. J. Phys. Anthrop., 67(3), 241-250.