Pre‐Hispanic Mortuary Practices in Quebrada de Humahuaca (North‐Western Argentina): Genetic Relatedness among Individuals Buried in the Same Grave

Abstract

Almost all pre-Hispanic societies from Quebrada de Humahuaca (north-western Argentina) buried their defuncts in domestic areas, demonstrating the importance of death and its daily presence among the living. Presumably, the collective graves contained related individuals, a hypothesis that can be tested through the study of ancient DNA. This study analyzes autosomal and uniparental genetic markers in individuals from two archaeological sites in Quebrada de Humahuaca occupied during the Late Formative (1450-1050 BP) and Regional Developments I (1050-700 BP) periods. Mitochondrial and Y-chromosome haplotypes were compared in order to establish possible maternal and paternal relatedness. Genotypes for 15 autosomal STRs were used to calculate pairwise relatedness coefficients and pedigree probabilities. High kinship levels among individuals buried in the same graves were found in both sites. Although only two particular cases were analyzed, these results represent an important contribution to the study of mortuary practices in the region by means of ancient DNA.

New Evidence of Ancient Mitochondrial DNA of the Southern Andes (Calchaquí Valleys, Northwest Argentina, 3,600–1,900 Years before Present)

“…Although archaeological evidence indicate that NWA has been inhabited at least since 11000 YBP (Martínez 2018), our knowledge of the genetic constitution of pre-Hispanic populations still remains incipient. Genetic studies carried out in ancient Andean human remains show high frequency of mitochondrial haplogroup B2 (Moraga et al 2005;Kemp et al 2009;Rothhammer et al 2009;Baca et al 2012Baca et al , 2014Mendisco et al 2014;Russo et al 2014Russo et al , 2016Fehren-Schmitz et al 2015;Llamas et al 2016), in accordance with the frequencies observed in contemporary Andean populations (Barbieri et al 2011;Gayà-Vidal et al 2011; de Saint Pierre et al 2012).…”

Ancient DNA reveals temporal population structure within the South‐Central Andes area

“…From each of the four available extracts, PCR amplifications of autosomal STRs were carried out systematically. Following a previously published protocol (Russo, Mendisco, Avena, Dejean, & Seldes, ), a total of 15 autosomal STRs (D2S1338, D3S1358, vWA, FGA, D5S818, D7S820, D8S1179, D13S317, D16S539, D18S51, D19S433, D21S11, TH01, CSFPO, and TPOX) were analyzed with AmpFlSTR ® Identifiler™ kit (Applied Biosystems). We also used AmpFlSTR ® MiniFiler™ kit (Applied Biosystems) which amplified only nine of them but in shorter amplicons.…”

“…On one hand, an early study (Carnese et al, ) analyzed some STRs markers in individuals buried during the Formative Period in Las Pirguas site (Salta province). On the other hand, in two RDP sites from Quebrada de Humahuaca STR amplification has been accomplished: Muyuna (Russo et al, ) and Los Amarillos (Mendisco et al, 2018).…”

“…Before running population analyses, we excluded individuals with first‐degree relatives (parent, offspring, and/or full siblings) in the same archaeological site. Pairwise kinship relationships were investigated using Familias3 (Kling, Tillmar, & Egeland, ) following a previous study (Russo et al, ). This software allows to calculate posterior probabilities for specific family relationships based on Maximum Likelihood estimations.…”

Residencia posmarital, movilidad y relaciones sociales en el Área Andina Centro-Sur

“…En el Área Andina Centro-Sur (AACS) no existen antecedentes sobre el tema desde la arqueología ni desde la bioantropología. Tampoco se conocen otros trabajos interesados en la recuperación de esta información, aunque una experiencia reciente basada en el análisis de haplotipos mtDNA y cromosoma Y (Y-STRs) en sitios de la Quebrada de Humahuaca proporciona una evidencia preliminar al detectar un patrón de residencia matrilocal (Mendisco et al 2018; Russo et al 2016).…”