A genetic history of the pre-contact Caribbean

Daniel M. Fernandes, Kendra A. Sirak, Harald Ringbauer, Jakob Sedig, Nadin Rohland, Olivia Cheronet, Matthew Mah, Swapan Mallick, Iñigo Olalde, Brendan J. Culleton, Nicole Adamski, Rebecca Bernardos, Guillermo Bravo, Nasreen Broomandkhoshbacht, Kimberly Callan, Francesca Candilio, Lea Demetz, Kellie Sara Duffett Carlson, Laurie Eccles, Suzanne Freilich, Richard J. George, Ann Marie Lawson, Kirsten Mandl, Fabio Marzaioli, Weston C. McCool, Jonas Oppenheimer, Kadir T. Özdogan, Constanze Schattke, Ryan Schmidt, Kristin Stewardson, Filippo Terrasi, Fatma Zalzala, Carlos Arredondo Antúnez, Ercilio Vento Canosa, Roger Colten, Andrea Cucina, Francesco Genchi, Claudia Kraan, Francesco Pastina, Michaela Lucci, Marcio Veloz Maggiolo, Beatriz Marcheco-Teruel, Clenis Tavarez Maria, Christian Martínez, Ingeborg París, Michael Pateman, Tanya M. Simms, Carlos Garcia Sivoli, Miguel Vilar, Douglas J. Kennett, William F. Keegan, Alfredo Coppa (), Mark Lipson, Ron Pinhasi () and David Reich ()
Additional contact information
Daniel M. Fernandes: University of Vienna
Kendra A. Sirak: Harvard Medical School
Harald Ringbauer: Harvard Medical School
Jakob Sedig: Harvard Medical School
Nadin Rohland: Harvard Medical School
Olivia Cheronet: University of Vienna
Matthew Mah: Harvard Medical School
Swapan Mallick: Harvard Medical School
Iñigo Olalde: Harvard Medical School
Brendan J. Culleton: The Pennsylvania State University
Nicole Adamski: Harvard Medical School
Rebecca Bernardos: Harvard Medical School
Guillermo Bravo: University of Vienna
Nasreen Broomandkhoshbacht: Harvard Medical School
Kimberly Callan: Harvard Medical School
Francesca Candilio: Superintendency of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for the city of Cagliari and the provinces of Oristano and South Sardinia
Lea Demetz: University of Vienna
Kellie Sara Duffett Carlson: University of Vienna
Laurie Eccles: The Pennsylvania State University
Suzanne Freilich: University of Vienna
Richard J. George: University of California
Ann Marie Lawson: Harvard Medical School
Kirsten Mandl: University of Vienna
Fabio Marzaioli: Campania University ‘Luigi Vanvitelli’
Weston C. McCool: University of California
Jonas Oppenheimer: Harvard Medical School
Kadir T. Özdogan: University of Vienna
Constanze Schattke: University of Vienna
Ryan Schmidt: CIBIO–InBIO, University of Porto
Kristin Stewardson: Harvard Medical School
Filippo Terrasi: Campania University ‘Luigi Vanvitelli’
Fatma Zalzala: Harvard Medical School
Carlos Arredondo Antúnez: University of Havana
Ercilio Vento Canosa: Matanzas University of Medical Sciences
Roger Colten: Yale University
Andrea Cucina: Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán
Francesco Genchi: Sapienza University of Rome
Claudia Kraan: National Archaeological–Anthropological Memory Management (NAAM)
Francesco Pastina: Sapienza University of Rome
Michaela Lucci: Sapienza University of Rome
Marcio Veloz Maggiolo: Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo
Beatriz Marcheco-Teruel: Medical University of Havana
Clenis Tavarez Maria: Museo del Hombre Dominicano
Christian Martínez: Museo del Hombre Dominicano
Ingeborg París: Universidad de Los Andes
Michael Pateman: Turks and Caicos National Museum Foundation
Tanya M. Simms: University of The Bahamas
Carlos Garcia Sivoli: Universidad de Los Andes
Miguel Vilar: National Geographic Society
Douglas J. Kennett: University of California
William F. Keegan: University of Florida
Alfredo Coppa: University of Vienna
Mark Lipson: Harvard Medical School
Ron Pinhasi: University of Vienna
David Reich: Harvard Medical School

Nature, 2021, vol. 590, issue 7844, 103-110

Abstract: Abstract Humans settled the Caribbean about 6,000 years ago, and ceramic use and intensified agriculture mark a shift from the Archaic to the Ceramic Age at around 2,500 years ago1–3. Here we report genome-wide data from 174 ancient individuals from The Bahamas, Haiti and the Dominican Republic (collectively, Hispaniola), Puerto Rico, Curaçao and Venezuela, which we co-analysed with 89 previously published ancient individuals. Stone-tool-using Caribbean people, who first entered the Caribbean during the Archaic Age, derive from a deeply divergent population that is closest to Central and northern South American individuals; contrary to previous work4, we find no support for ancestry contributed by a population related to North American individuals. Archaic-related lineages were >98% replaced by a genetically homogeneous ceramic-using population related to speakers of languages in the Arawak family from northeast South America; these people moved through the Lesser Antilles and into the Greater Antilles at least 1,700 years ago, introducing ancestry that is still present. Ancient Caribbean people avoided close kin unions despite limited mate pools that reflect small effective population sizes, which we estimate to be a minimum of 500–1,500 and a maximum of 1,530–8,150 individuals on the combined islands of Puerto Rico and Hispaniola in the dozens of generations before the individuals who we analysed lived. Census sizes are unlikely to be more than tenfold larger than effective population sizes, so previous pan-Caribbean estimates of hundreds of thousands of people are too large5,6. Confirming a small and interconnected Ceramic Age population7, we detect 19 pairs of cross-island cousins, close relatives buried around 75 km apart in Hispaniola and low genetic differentiation across islands. Genetic continuity across transitions in pottery styles reveals that cultural changes during the Ceramic Age were not driven by migration of genetically differentiated groups from the mainland, but instead reflected interactions within an interconnected Caribbean world1,8.

Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-03053-2

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