Genomic history of coastal societies from eastern South America

Sambaqui (shellmound) societies are among the most intriguing archaeological phenomena in pre-colonial South America, extending from approximately 8,000 to 1,000 years before present (yr bp) across 3,000 km on the Atlantic coast. However, little is known about their connection to early Holocene hunter-gatherers, how this may have contributed to different historical pathways and the processes through which late Holocene ceramists came to rule the coast shortly before European contact. To contribute to our understanding of the population history of indigenous societies on the eastern coast of South America, we produced genome-wide data from 34 ancient individuals as early as 10,000 yr bp from four different regions in Brazil. Early Holocene hunter-gatherers were found to lack shared genetic drift among themselves and with later populations from eastern South America, suggesting that they derived from a common radiation and did not contribute substantially to later coastal groups. Our analyses show genetic heterogeneity among contemporaneous Sambaqui groups from the southeastern and southern Brazilian coast, contrary to the similarity expressed in the archaeological record. The complex history of intercultural contact between inland horticulturists and coastal populations becomes genetically evident during the final horizon of Sambaqui societies, from around 2,200 yr bp, corroborating evidence of cultural change

Reconstructing the Deep Population History of Central and South America

We report genome-wide ancient DNA from 49 individuals forming four parallel time transects in Belize, Brazil, the Central Andes, and the Southern Cone, each dating to at least 9,000 years ago. The common ancestral population radiated rapidly from just one of the two early branches that contributed to Native Americans today. We document two previously unappreciated streams of gene flow between North and South America. One affected the Central Andes by 4,200 years ago, while the other explains an affinity between the oldest North American genome associated with the Clovis culture and the oldest Central and South Americans from Chile, Brazil, and Belize. However, this was not the primary source for later South Americans, as the other ancient individuals derive from lineages without specific affinity to the Clovis-associated genome, suggesting a population replacement that began at least 9,000 years ago and was followed by substantial population continuity in multiple regions

Mobility pattern of human groups found in central Brazil during the early Holocene: an isotopic study of occupational dynamics in regional landscapes

Lagoa Santa - localizada no centro sul do Estado de Minas Gerais a cerca de 30 km ao norte de Belo Horizonte - é uma região com ricos depósitos paleontológicos e arqueológicos conhecida internacionalmente desde 1840, com os primeiros estudos sendo realizados pelo naturalista dinamarquês Peter Lund. Dentre os aspectos investigados nessas pesquisas, a mobilidade humana costuma ser explorada, majoritariamente, de forma coadjuvante e/ou sob um viés extremamente prático-funcional, limitando a ampliação das dimensões intelectuais que explorem evidências sobre a dinâmica ocupacional das paisagens. Este trabalho utilizou a mobilidade como um elemento central de pesquisa e teve como objetivo investigar o padrão de mobilidade de caçadores-coletores que ocuparam o planalto central brasileiro durante o Holoceno Inicial (11 mil a 8mil anos AP) através das assinaturas isotópicas de estrôncio (87Sr/86Sr). Em específico, os grupos analisados foram encontrados nos sítios da Lapa do Santo e do Grande abrigo de Santana do Riacho, ambos no contexto arqueológico da região de Lagoa Santa - Minas Gerais. Os resultados demonstraram uma grande especificidade nas faixas de valores isotópicos (87Sr/86Sr) nas duas populações, corroborando para grupos humanos que compartilhavam, em maioria, origem geográfica local, com sistemas de assentamento-subsistência focados, principalmente, em recursos locais. A integração dos resultados isotópicos com dados bioarqueológicos e arqueológicos locais disponíveis se mostraram fundamentais para ampliar e permitir análises integrativas sobre padrões comportamentais e de mobilidade intersítios, revelando singularidades e populações com padrões de mobilidade local diferenciadas, demonstrando complexidade social e alguma especificidade para os territórios ocupados.Lagoa Santa - located in the southern center of the State of Minas Gerais, about 30km north of Belo Horizonte - is a region with rich paleontological and archaeological deposits known internationally since 1840, when the first studies have been carried out by the Danish naturalist Peter Lund. Among the aspects investigated in these researches, human mobility is usually explored, mostly, in a supporting way and/or under an extremely practical-functional bias, limiting the expansion of intellectual dimensions that explore evidence about the occupational dynamics of landscapes. In this sense, this work used mobility as a central research element and aimed to directly investigate the mobility pattern of hunter-gatherers that occupied the Brazilian central plateau during the Initial Holocene (11.000 to 8.000 years BP) through strontium isotopic signatures (87Sr/86Sr). In particular, the groups analyzed were found at the sites of Lapa do Santo and Grande abrigo de Santana do Riacho, both in the archeological context of the Lagoa Santa region - Minas Gerais. The results showed a great specificity in the isotopic values ranges (87Sr/86Sr) in the two populations, corroborating for human groups that mostly shared local geographic origin, with settlement-subsistence systems focused mainly on local resources. The integration of isotopic results with available local bioarchaeological and archaeological data proved to be fundamental to expand and allow integrative analysis on behavioral and interstitial mobility patterns, revealing singularities and populations with differentiated local mobility patterns, demonstrating social complexity and some specificity for the occupied territories

Reconstructing the Deep Population History of Central and South America.

We report genome-wide ancient DNA from 49 individuals forming four parallel time transects in Belize, Brazil, the Central Andes, and the Southern Cone, each dating to at least ∼9,000 years ago. The common ancestral population radiated rapidly from just one of the two early branches that contributed to Native Americans today. We document two previously unappreciated streams of gene flow between North and South America. One affected the Central Andes by ∼4,200 years ago, while the other explains an affinity between the oldest North American genome associated with the Clovis culture and the oldest Central and South Americans from Chile, Brazil, and Belize. However, this was not the primary source for later South Americans, as the other ancient individuals derive from lineages without specific affinity to the Clovis-associated genome, suggesting a population replacement that began at least 9,000 years ago and was followed by substantial population continuity in multiple regions

Reconstructing the Deep Population History of Central and South America.

We report genome-wide ancient DNA from 49 individuals forming four parallel time transects in Belize, Brazil, the Central Andes, and the Southern Cone, each dating to at least ∼9,000 years ago. The common ancestral population radiated rapidly from just one of the two early branches that contributed to Native Americans today. We document two previously unappreciated streams of gene flow between North and South America. One affected the Central Andes by ∼4,200 years ago, while the other explains an affinity between the oldest North American genome associated with the Clovis culture and the oldest Central and South Americans from Chile, Brazil, and Belize. However, this was not the primary source for later South Americans, as the other ancient individuals derive from lineages without specific affinity to the Clovis-associated genome, suggesting a population replacement that began at least 9,000 years ago and was followed by substantial population continuity in multiple regions