Ancient DNA reveals kinship burial patterns of a pre-Columbian Andean community

Abstract

BackgroundA detailed genetic study of the pre-Columbian population inhabiting the Tompullo 2 archaeological site (department Arequipa, Peru) was undertaken to resolve the kin relationships between individuals buried in six different chullpas. Kin relationships were an important factor shaping the social organization in the pre-Columbian Andean communities, centering on the ayllu, a group of relatives that shared a common land and responsibilities. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether this Andean model of a social organization had an influence on mortuary practices, in particular to determine whether chullpas served as family graves.ResultsThe remains of forty-one individuals were analyzed with both uniparental (mtDNA, Y–chromosome) and biparental (autosomal microsatellites) markers. Reproducible HVRI sequences, autosomal and Y chromosomal STR profiles were obtained for 24, 16 and 11 individuals, respectively. Mitochondrial DNA diversity was comparable to that of ancient and contemporary Andean populations. The Tompullo 2 population exhibited the closest relationship with the modern population from the same region. A kinship analysis revealed complex pattern of relations within and between the graves. However mean relatedness coefficients regarding the pairs of individuals buried in the same grave were significantly higher than those regarding pairs buried in different graves. The Y chromosome profiles of 11 males suggest that only members of one male line were buried in the same grave.ConclusionsGenetic investigation of the population that inhabited Tompullo 2 site shows continuity between pre-Columbian and modern Native Amerindian populations inhabiting the Arequipa region. This suggests that no major demographic processes have influenced the mitochondrial DNA diversity of these populations during the past five hundred years. The kinship analysis involving uni- and biparental markers suggests that the community that inhabited the Tompullo 2 site was organized into extended family groups that were buried in different graves. This finding is in congruence with known models of social organization of Andean communities.

Genetic Diversity of a Late Prehispanic Group of the Quebrada de Humahuaca, Northwestern Argentina

“…The affinity with the populations of the Chaco region (Chaco, Guarani, Criollos) seems a little more pronounced for the maternal lineages than for the paternal lineages. This would emphasize that foreign women arrived more frequently than men to the communities of Humahuaca, a pattern consistent with the patrilocal residential norm that is most common in the Andes (Baca et al, 2012). However, this analysis should be interpreted with caution because of the lack of data for the Y-chromosome.…”

A Genealogical Look at Shared Ancestry on the X Chromosome

“…In forensics, recent ancestry is crucial both for accounting for population-level relatedness (Balding and Nichols 1994) and in familial DNA database searches (Belin et al 1997;Sjerps and Kloosterman 1999). Additionally, recent ancestry detection methods have a range of applications in anthropology and ancient DNA to understand the familial relationships among sets of individuals (KeyserTracqui et al 2003;Haak et al 2008;Baca et al 2012;Fu et al 2015). In population genomics, recent ancestry has been used to learn about recent migrations and other demographic events (Palamara et al 2012;Ralph and Coop 2013).…”

Identification of Polynesian mtDNA haplogroups in remains of Botocudo Amerindians from Brazil

“…It is also significant that mtDNA analyses in Peru and Chile have not found Polynesian sequences in the gene pool of extant populations (49)(50)(51). A possible exception was the finding of the motif seen in the HVSI of Polynesians (16189C, 16217C, 16247G, 16261T) in two individuals from a Peruvian archeological site from the 14th and 15th centuries (52). However, the coding mutation 14022G that is critical for definition of the Polynesian motif was not investigated in these remains.…”

“…Although the transition at 16247 has been used to identify a Polynesian motif in earlier studies, it appears to be hypermutable, possibly because of numerous back-mutations, and thus not ideal for ancestry assignment (34). In fact, Baca et al (52) themselves assigned these samples to haplogroup B2.…”