South-to-north migration preceded the advent of intensive farming in the Maya region

Douglas J Kennett; Mark Lipson; Keith M Prufer; David Mora-Marín; Richard J George; Nadin Rohland; Mark Robinson; Willa R Trask; Heather H J Edgar; Ethan C Hill; Erin E Ray; Paige Lynch; Emily Moes; Lexi O'Donnell; Thomas K Harper; Emily J Kate; Josue Ramos; John Morris; Said M Gutierrez; Timothy M Ryan; Brendan J Culleton; Jaime J Awe; David Reich

doi:10.1038/s41467-022-29158-y

South-to-north migration preceded the advent of intensive farming in the Maya region

Nat Commun. 2022 Mar 22;13(1):1530. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-29158-y.

Authors

Douglas J Kennett¹, Mark Lipson^{2

3}, Keith M Prufer^{4

5}, David Mora-Marín⁶, Richard J George⁷, Nadin Rohland⁸, Mark Robinson⁹, Willa R Trask¹⁰, Heather H J Edgar¹¹, Ethan C Hill¹¹, Erin E Ray¹¹, Paige Lynch¹¹, Emily Moes¹¹, Lexi O'Donnell¹², Thomas K Harper¹³, Emily J Kate¹⁴, Josue Ramos¹⁵, John Morris¹⁵, Said M Gutierrez¹⁶, Timothy M Ryan¹³, Brendan J Culleton¹⁷, Jaime J Awe^{15

18}, David Reich^{19

20

21

22}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA. kennett@anth.ucsb.edu.
² Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA. mlipson@genetics.med.harvard.edu.
³ Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA. mlipson@genetics.med.harvard.edu.
⁴ Department Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131, USA. kmp@unm.edu.
⁵ Center for Stable Isotopes, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87106, USA. kmp@unm.edu.
⁶ Department of Linguistics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA.
⁷ Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA.
⁸ Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
⁹ Department of Archaeology, Exeter University, Exeter, UK.
¹⁰ Central Identification Laboratory, Defense POW/ MIA Accounting Agency, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Honolulu, HI, 96853, USA.
¹¹ Department Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131, USA.
¹² Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Mississippi, University, Oxford, MS, 38677, USA.
¹³ Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA.
¹⁴ Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
¹⁵ Belize Institute of Archaeology, Belmopan, Belize.
¹⁶ Ya'axché Conservation Trust, Punta Gorda Town, Belize.
¹⁷ Institutes of Energy and the Environment, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA.
¹⁸ Department of Anthropology, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, 86001, USA.
¹⁹ Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA. reich@genetics.med.harvard.edu.
²⁰ Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA. reich@genetics.med.harvard.edu.
²¹ Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA, 02142, USA. reich@genetics.med.harvard.edu.
²² Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA. reich@genetics.med.harvard.edu.

Abstract

The genetic prehistory of human populations in Central America is largely unexplored leaving an important gap in our knowledge of the global expansion of humans. We report genome-wide ancient DNA data for a transect of twenty individuals from two Belize rock-shelters dating between 9,600-3,700 calibrated radiocarbon years before present (cal. BP). The oldest individuals (9,600-7,300 cal. BP) descend from an Early Holocene Native American lineage with only distant relatedness to present-day Mesoamericans, including Mayan-speaking populations. After ~5,600 cal. BP a previously unknown human dispersal from the south made a major demographic impact on the region, contributing more than 50% of the ancestry of all later individuals. This new ancestry derived from a source related to present-day Chibchan speakers living from Costa Rica to Colombia. Its arrival corresponds to the first clear evidence for forest clearing and maize horticulture in what later became the Maya region.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Agriculture*
Central America
Colombia
DNA, Ancient*
Forests
Humans

Substances

DNA, Ancient

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

Grants and funding