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 and David Reich ()
Additional contact information
Douglas J. Kennett: University of California
Mark Lipson: Harvard Medical School
Keith M. Prufer: University of New Mexico
David Mora-Marín: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Richard J. George: University of California
Nadin Rohland: Harvard Medical School
Mark Robinson: Exeter University
Willa R. Trask: Central Identification Laboratory, Defense POW/ MIA Accounting Agency, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam
Heather H. J. Edgar: University of New Mexico
Ethan C. Hill: University of New Mexico
Erin E. Ray: University of New Mexico
Paige Lynch: University of New Mexico
Emily Moes: University of New Mexico
Lexi O’Donnell: University of Mississippi, University
Thomas K. Harper: The Pennsylvania State University
Emily J. Kate: Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science, University of Vienna
Josue Ramos: Belize Institute of Archaeology
John Morris: Belize Institute of Archaeology
Said M. Gutierrez: Ya’axché Conservation Trust
Timothy M. Ryan: The Pennsylvania State University
Brendan J. Culleton: Institutes of Energy and the Environment, The Pennsylvania State University
Jaime J. Awe: Belize Institute of Archaeology
David Reich: Harvard Medical School

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: 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.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-29158-y

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