A recent study analyzing ancient DNA from hunter-gatherers who roamed what is now Colombia has uncovered previously unknown genetic lineages.
This population, located near present-day Bogota around 6,000 years ago, vanished approximately 4,000 years later, as reported in a survey published in the Journal of Advances in Science on May 28th. These findings could illuminate significant cultural shifts that occurred during this era.
It is believed that The First Americans crossed the Bering Land Bridge to reach North America at least 23,000 years ago during the last Ice Age, with trackways found in White Sands National Park in New Mexico serving as evidence. While the exact timing of the first human arrival in South America is still debated, there is evidence of early populations at the Monteverde II site in Chile, dating back 14,550 years ago.
Several of the early indigenous peoples in South America established communities in Altiplano, a plateau near modern-day Bogota. This region experienced multiple cultural transformations during the early to mid-Holocene period (11,700-4,000 years ago). Researchers had already identified the emergence of pottery associated with the Herrera period, around 2,800 years ago, but debates remain regarding the origins of this technology.
To trace the migration patterns of ancient inhabitants, researchers analyzed genomes from 21 skeletal remains and teeth samples across five archaeological sites in the Altiplano over a span of 5,500 years. This included seven genomes from a site known as CheCua, from 6,000 years ago, nine from the Herrera period, and three from the Muisca period, approximately 2,000 years ago, along with two more from north Bogota about 530 years ago.
“These represent the first ancient human genomes from Colombia published to date,” stated research co-author Cosimo Post, a paleontologist at the University of Tübingen in Germany.
The analysis revealed that the genomes from the Checua site stemmed from a relatively small group of hunter-gatherers. Their DNA was found to be distinctly different from that of Indigenous North American groups and both ancient and modern populations of Central and South America. “Our findings indicate that individuals from Checua represent an early population that rapidly spread and diversified throughout South America,” co-author Kim Louise Kretek, a doctoral student in human evolution and paleoenvironment at the Senckenberg Centre, stated.
However, approximately 4,000 years later, this population completely vanished, with no remaining evidence of their DNA found in subsequent groups. “We could not identify any descendants of these early hunter-gatherers on the Altiplano of Colombia. Their genes were not passed on,” Kretek noted. “This implies that a complete population turnover occurred around Bogota.”
The findings suggest that cultural advances, such as the broader adoption of ceramics at the onset of the Herrera period, were likely introduced through migration from Central to South America between 6,000 and 2,000 years ago.
In addition to technological innovations like ceramics, these successive migrants may have also brought the Chibuchan language to present-day Colombia,” stated co-authors Andrea Casas Vargas, a geneticist at Columbia National University. “This branch of the language family continues to be spoken in Central America today.” The Chibuchan language was widely used in the Altiplano during European contact, and genetic markers related to Chibuchan speakers first emerged around two thousand years ago.
Chibuchan-speaking ancestors may have spread and mixed with various groups multiple times. The genetic profile of later Altiplano residents resembles that of pre-Hispanic individuals from Panama more than that of contemporary indigenous Colombians, suggesting a history of admixture in Colombian populations. Furthermore, ancient sites in Venezuela also feature Chibuchan-related ancestry, though they do not have a close connection to ancient Colombians, hinting at various waves of Chibuchan migration into South America.
The researchers proposed that future studies could examine older genomic sequences in the Altiplano and surrounding areas, which may help clarify the timing and extent of the migration from Central America.
Source: www.livescience.com