MORPHOMETRIC AND mtDNA ANALYSES OF ARCHAIC SKELETAL REMAINS FROM SOUTHWESTERN SOUTH AMERICA

Abstract

For decades anthropologists have discussed how and when the Americas were peopled. The prevailing view is that the first Paleoindians, ancestors of the Amerindians, arrived from Asia and Beringia to the American continent using a Pacific coastal route in pre-Clovis times. In this article skeletal remains dated 9000-4000 BP, excavated from archaeological sites in northern, central and southern Chile, were analyzed using geometric morphometric and ancient mtDNA techniques. Results indicate that the ancient cranial material from southwestern South America exhibit a wide range of cranial vault shape variation which is independent of chronology. mtDNA restriction and sequence analysis performed on the same skeletal remains, revealed only the presence of the main four founding mtDNA haplogroups (A, B, C and D) as early as 9,000 BP. Our results using morphometric and molecular mtDNA haplogroup data show that human populations inhabiting the Americas during archaic times can not be considered as belonging to two different groups on the basis of analyzed data. These results are consistent with those recently obtained using complete sequence mtDNA analyses.Key words: Paleoindian and archaic crania; geometric morphometrics; ancient mtDNA; peopling of America. Durante décadas los antropólogos han discutido cómo y cuándo América fue poblada. El punto de vista predominante al respecto plantea que los primeros paleoindios, población amerindia ancestral, llegó en una época pre-Clovis desde Asia y Beringia

Rise and Decline of Chinchorro Sacred Landscapes Along the Hyperarid Coast of the Atacama Desert

“…Based on cultural archaeological material from Camarones 14, Schiappacasse and Niemeyer (1984), suggested an Andean origin of the Chinchorro people, precursory signs of their mortuary rituals have been found at Acha 3, along the coast of Arica, and at Quebrada los Burros in southernmost Peru, both dated around 10,000 to 9,000 cal yrs BP (Delabarde et al 2009;Lavallée et al 2011;. Nevertheless, as will be discussed later, recent ancient mtDNA evidence actually endorses an highland origin (Manríquez et al 2011).Radiocarbon dating has established that of all the Chinchorro funerary rituals, black mummies are the oldest and most complex (7,000 to 4,800 cal yrs BP), and the earliest evidence of AM (child mummies) comes from Camarones (Arriaza and Standen 2002:29). Corpses were skinned, defleshed and dismembered; the abdominal organs and the brain were removed and, in some cases, the thoracic cavity was heat-dried using glowing coals and ashes.…”

Temprana Complejidad Funeraria en La Costa Norte De Chile: Origen, Desarrollo, Funcionalidad Y Relevancia Antropológica

“…En consecuencia, o bien los pescadores de Quebrada de Acha (Muñoz et al 1993) podrían haber sido en parte descendientes de los primeros grupos que avanzaron por el litoral y éstos a su vez ancestros de los pescadores Chinchorro que hace cerca de 7.000 años comenzaron a practicar elaboradas técnicas de embalsamamiento ) o podrían ser parcialmente descendientes de grupos que se acercaron al Pacífico desde zonas precordilleranas, altiplánicas o transaltiplánicas. Evidencia reciente de ADNmt antiguo (Manríquez et al 2011) señala que los pescadores de Quebrada de Acha no estarían directamente relacionados con los grupos Chinchorro de Camarones 14 (Schiapacasse y Niemeyer 1984) y sus descendientes los grupos de Morro 1 y 1-6 (Schiapacasse y Niemeyer 1996), sino más bien con grupos que podrían tener un origen andino. En efecto, Fehren-Schmitz et al (2011) identificaron con base en el análisis de ADNmt antiguo la existencia de dos grupos peruanos prehistóricos, uno costero con frecuencias altas del haplogrupo D (y bajas de B) y uno altiplánico con frecuencias elevadas de haplogrupo B, semejantes a las de los pueblos andinos originarios actuales.…”

“…En consecuencia, poblaciones arcaico-costeras con alta probabilidad establecieron contacto con grupos de tierras altas incursionando por quebradas en dirección hacia la sierra o con grupos altiplánicos que descendieron por la misma vía a la costa del océano Pacífico. Los recientes datos de ADNmt antiguo ya citados (Manríquez et al 2011), no descartan tampoco la posibilidad de contactos tempranos con regiones transandinas como por ejemplo la Amazonia peruana.…”

Genetic analysis of paleo-colombians from Nemocón, Cundinamarca provides insights on the early peopling of northwestern South America

“…Estimates for C1 and D4h3a haplogroups were excluded from these analyzes since MEGA6 calculates between at least two sequences. Tajima Africans ( (Table 1), a success rate of 54.54% (Manríquez, et al 2011). Lower success rates were achieved in a RFLP study ofthe Arroyo Seco 2 site, Argentina (Table 1) [Kemp, et al 2009].…”

“…(3) Multiple waves of migration, including: a) a tripartite model based on linguistic, dental and genetic evidence (Greenberg, et al 1986); b) a threewave model based on analysis of complete mtDNAs or SNPs (Tamm, et al 2007;Reich, et al 2012); c) a three-stage model: mtDNA data (Mulligan, et al 2008). Concerning the Caribbean, an indigenous South American origin for the Caribbean Taínos has been confirmed by genetic and genomic analyses carried out on Mestizo mtDNA (Díaz- (Manríquez, et al 2011); b) One migration wave in two stages (Fuselli, et al 2003); c) Two migration waves (Keyeux, et al 2002); d) An early colonization from north to south, including subsequent transAndean movements in southern South America (Bodner, et al 2012; de Saint-Pierre, et al 2012).…”