Ancient mitochondrial DNA evidence for prehistoric population movement: The numic expansion

Abstract

The mitochondrial DNA of modern Native Americans has been shown to fall into one of at least five haplogroups (A, B, C, D, or X) whose frequencies differ among tribal groups. The frequencies of these five haplogroups in a collection of ancient individuals from Western Nevada dating to between approximately 350-9,200 years BP were determined. These data were used to test the hypothesis, supported by archaeological and linguistic data, that the current inhabitants of the Great Basin, the Numic speakers, are recent immigrants into the area who replaced the previous non-Numic inhabitants. The frequency distributions of haplogroups in the ancient and modern Native Americans differed significantly, suggesting that there is a genetic discontinuity between the ancient inhabitants and the modern Numic speakers, providing further support for the Recent Numic Expansion hypothesis. The distribution of mitochondrial haplogroups of the ancient inhabitants of the Great Basin is most similar to those of some of the modern Native American inhabitants of California.

Middle Holocene climate change and human population dispersal in western North America

“…15.4). This accords well with the mtDNA from Pyramid Lake and Stillwater Marsh, which shows ancient populations most similar to California Penutian groups, and unlike the later Numic peoples who occupied the Great Basin historically (Kaestle and Smith, 2001). So, the conspicuous cluster of OGR beads in Middle Holocene western Nevada may not comprise part of an ethnolinguistically-defined cultural interaction sphere among Uto-Aztecans, but perhaps reflect trade interaction between groups at the northwestern frontier of UtoAztecan territory.…”

“…3000 cal yr BP (Hill, 2002) is contradicted by several lines of evidence that show few similarities between modern Uto-Aztecans of the Southwest and Mesoamerica, though they share some linguistic and cultural traditions (Smith et al, 2000;Malhi et al, 2003;Kemp, 2006). In the northern Great Basin, Kaestle and Smith (2001) found genetic discontinuity between prehistoric (primarily 6000-1000 cal yr BP) populations from the Stillwater Marsh and Pyramid Lake sites and extant Northern Paiute people in western Nevada (Fig. 15.4), consistent with the relatively late expansion of Numic peoples into the northern Great Basin hypothesized by Baumhoff (1982, 1983) on the basis of archeological evidence.…”

“…Ancient populations in each region cannot be differentiated from each other (e.g., Stillwater Marsh and Pyramid Lake in western Nevada, P ¼ 0.79; Cecil Site and Middle Horizon in the Central Valley, P ¼ 0.88), as is the case with the San Clemente Island samples (Eel Point and Nursery Site, P ¼ 0.26). This suggests some degree of temporal continuity within each region during the first part of the Late Holocene (Kaestle and Smith, 2001;Eshleman, 2002). The prehistoric western Nevada populations are differentiated from most groups except Yok-Utian, Northern Paiute (compared to Stillwater Marsh), and the Nursery Site at the P o 0.05 level, which indicated to Kaestle and Smith (2001) that these groups were pre-Numic, and probably Penutian rather than Uto-Aztecan.…”

“…This suggests some degree of temporal continuity within each region during the first part of the Late Holocene (Kaestle and Smith, 2001;Eshleman, 2002). The prehistoric western Nevada populations are differentiated from most groups except Yok-Utian, Northern Paiute (compared to Stillwater Marsh), and the Nursery Site at the P o 0.05 level, which indicated to Kaestle and Smith (2001) that these groups were pre-Numic, and probably Penutian rather than Uto-Aztecan. As Eshleman (2002) found, the prehistoric Central Valley populations are differentiated from all groups except for Takic at the P o 0.05 level.…”

“…Some groups may have moved into the southwestern Great Basin where conditions were dry but less severe than those in the southern California desert areas. The western Great Basin (specifically the Carson and Humboldt sinks in western Nevada) appear on genetic grounds to have been occupied by Penutian peoples (Kaestle and Smith, 2001), whose presence may have forced migrating Uto-Aztecans to the southern coast and into the Central Valley from the south. Dry conditions were ameliorated on the coast by maritime influences and the environment provided a range of additional resources not available in the desert interior.…”