Nakatsuka, Nathan / Luisi, Pierre / Motti, Josefina M B / Salemme, Mónica / Santiago, Fernando / D'Angelo Del Campo, Manuel D / Vecchi, Rodrigo J / Espinosa-Parrilla, Yolanda / Prieto, Alfredo / Adamski, Nicole / Lawson, Ann Marie / Harper, Thomas K / Culleton, Brendan J / Kennett, Douglas J / Lalueza-Fox, Carles / Mallick, Swapan / Rohland, Nadin / Guichón, Ricardo A / Cabana, Graciela S / Nores, Rodrigo / Reich, David. ·Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA. nathan_nakatsuka@hms.harvard.edu. · Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Boston, MA, 02115, USA. nathan_nakatsuka@hms.harvard.edu. · Departamento de Antropología, Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, 5000, Córdoba, Argentina. pierre.luisi@unc.edu.ar. · NEIPHPA-CONICET, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, 7631, Quequén, Argentina. · Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas (CADIC-CONICET), 9410, Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. · Instituto de Cultura, Sociedad y Estado (ICSE), Universidad Nacional de Tierra del Fuego, 9410, Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. · Laboratorio de Poblaciones del Pasado (LAPP), Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), E-28049, Madrid, Spain. · CONICET-Departamento de Humanidades, Universidad Nacional del Sur, 8000, Bahía Blanca, Argentina. · Institute of Evolutionary Biology (CSIC-Universitat Pompeu Fabra), 08003, Barcelona, Spain. · School of Medicine and Laboratory of Molecular Medicine-LMM, Center for Education, Healthcare and Investigation-CADI, Universidad de Magallanes, Punta Arenas, Chile. · Universidad de Magallanes, Avenida Bulnes 01855, Punta Arenas, Chile. · Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA. · Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02446, USA. · Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA. · Institutes for Energy and the Environment, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA. · Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA. · Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA, 02142, USA. · Molecular Anthropology Laboratories, Department of Anthropology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, 37996, USA. · Departamento de Antropología, Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, 5000, Córdoba, Argentina. rodrigonores@ffyh.unc.edu.ar. · Instituto de Antropología de Córdoba (IDACOR), CONICET, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, 5000, Córdoba, Argentina. rodrigonores@ffyh.unc.edu.ar. · Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA. reich@genetics.med.harvard.edu. · Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02446, USA. reich@genetics.med.harvard.edu. · Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA, 02142, USA. reich@genetics.med.harvard.edu. · Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA. reich@genetics.med.harvard.edu. ·Nat Commun · Pubmed #32747648.

ABSTRACT: Archaeological research documents major technological shifts among people who have lived in the southern tip of South America (South Patagonia) during the last thirteen millennia, including the development of marine-based economies and changes in tools and raw materials. It has been proposed that movements of people spreading culture and technology propelled some of these shifts, but these hypotheses have not been tested with ancient DNA. Here we report genome-wide data from 20 ancient individuals, and co-analyze it with previously reported data. We reveal that immigration does not explain the appearance of marine adaptations in South Patagonia. We describe partial genetic continuity since ~6600 BP and two later gene flows correlated with technological changes: one between 4700-2000 BP that affected primarily marine-based groups, and a later one impacting all <2000 BP groups. From ~2200-1200 BP, mixture among neighbors resulted in a cline correlated to geographic ordering along the coast.

Harney, Éadaoin / Nayak, Ayushi / Patterson, Nick / Joglekar, Pramod / Mushrif-Tripathy, Veena / Mallick, Swapan / Rohland, Nadin / Sedig, Jakob / Adamski, Nicole / Bernardos, Rebecca / Broomandkhoshbacht, Nasreen / Culleton, Brendan J / Ferry, Matthew / Harper, Thomas K / Michel, Megan / Oppenheimer, Jonas / Stewardson, Kristin / Zhang, Zhao / Harashawaradhana, ? / Bartwal, Maanwendra Singh / Kumar, Sachin / Diyundi, Subhash Chandra / Roberts, Patrick / Boivin, Nicole / Kennett, Douglas J / Thangaraj, Kumarasamy / Reich, David / Rai, Niraj. ·Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA. · The Max Planck-Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA. · Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA. · Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, D-07745, Jena, Germany. · Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA, 02142 USA, USA. · Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA. · Deccan College, Pune, 411006, India. · Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA. · Institutes of Energy and the Environment, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA. · Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA. · The Max Planck-Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean, D-07745, Jena, Germany. · Anthropological Survey of India, North West Regional Centre, Dehradun, 248195, India. · CSIR Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, Telangana, 500007, India. · Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, 226007, India. · Gautam Budh Health Care Foundation, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, 201301, India. · Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA. · The Max Planck-Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA. reich@genetics.med.harvard.edu. · Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA. reich@genetics.med.harvard.edu. · Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA, 02142 USA, USA. reich@genetics.med.harvard.edu. · Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA. reich@genetics.med.harvard.edu. ·Nat Commun · Pubmed #31431628.

ABSTRACT: Situated at over 5,000 meters above sea level in the Himalayan Mountains, Roopkund Lake is home to the scattered skeletal remains of several hundred individuals of unknown origin. We report genome-wide ancient DNA for 38 skeletons from Roopkund Lake, and find that they cluster into three distinct groups. A group of 23 individuals have ancestry that falls within the range of variation of present-day South Asians. A further 14 have ancestry typical of the eastern Mediterranean. We also identify one individual with Southeast Asian-related ancestry. Radiocarbon dating indicates that these remains were not deposited simultaneously. Instead, all of the individuals with South Asian-related ancestry date to ~800 CE (but with evidence of being deposited in more than one event), while all other individuals date to ~1800 CE. These differences are also reflected in stable isotope measurements, which reveal a distinct dietary profile for the two main groups.

Capriles, José M / Lombardo, Umberto / Maley, Blaine / Zuna, Carlos / Veit, Heinz / Kennett, Douglas J. ·Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA. · Instituto de Alta Investigación, Universidad de Tarapacá, Arica, Chile. · Institute of Geography, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland. · Department of Anatomy, Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine, Meridian, ID 83642, USA. · Carrera de Arqueología, Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, La Paz, Bolivia. · Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA. ·Sci Adv · Pubmed #31032413.

ABSTRACT: The Amazon witnessed the emergence of complex societies after 2500 years ago that altered tropical landscapes through intensive agriculture and managed aquatic systems. However, very little is known about the context and conditions that preceded these social and environmental transformations. Here, we demonstrate that forest islands in the Llanos de Moxos of southwestern Amazonia contain human burials and represent the earliest settlements in the region between 10,600 and 4000 years ago. These archaeological sites and their contents represent the earliest evidence of communities that experienced conditions conducive to engaging with food production such as environmental stability, resource disturbance, and increased territoriality in the Amazonian tropical lowlands.

Prieto, Gabriel / Verano, John W / Goepfert, Nicolas / Kennett, Douglas / Quilter, Jeffrey / LeBlanc, Steven / Fehren-Schmitz, Lars / Forst, Jannine / Lund, Mellisa / Dement, Brittany / Dufour, Elise / Tombret, Olivier / Calmon, Melina / Gadison, Davette / Tschinkel, Khrystyne. ·Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Nacional de Trujillo, Trujillo, Peru. · Department of Anthropology, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, United Sates of America. · CNRS, UMR 8096 Archéologie des Amériques (CNRS-Paris1), Nanterre, France. · Department of Anthropology, Penn State College of the Liberal Arts, University Park, PA, United States of America. · Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States of America. · UCSC Paleogenomics Laboratories, Department of Anthropology, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, United States of America. · Comité Internacional de la Cruz Roja (CICR), Miraflores, Lima-Peru. · Sorbonne Universités, Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, CNRS, Paris, France. ·PLoS One · Pubmed #30840642.

ABSTRACT: Here we report the results of excavation and interdisciplinary study of the largest child and camelid sacrifice known from the New World. Stratigraphy, associated artifacts, and radiocarbon dating indicate that it was a single mass killing of more than 140 children and over 200 camelids directed by the Chimú state, c. AD 1450. Preliminary DNA analysis indicates that both boys and girls were chosen for sacrifice. Variability in forms of cranial modification (head shaping) and stable isotope analysis of carbon and nitrogen suggest that the children were a heterogeneous sample drawn from multiple regions and ethnic groups throughout the Chimú state. The Huanchaquito-Las Llamas mass sacrifice opens a new window on a previously unknown sacrificial ritual from fifteenth century northern coastal Peru. While the motivation for such a massive sacrifice is a subject for further research, there is archaeological evidence that it was associated with a climatic event (heavy rainfall and flooding) that could have impacted the economic, political and ideological stability of one of the most powerful states in the New World during the fifteenth century A.D.

Kennett, Douglas J / Thakar, Heather B / VanDerwarker, Amber M / Webster, David L / Culleton, Brendan J / Harper, Thomas K / Kistler, Logan / Scheffler, Timothy E / Hirth, Kenneth. ·Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802; djk23@psu.edu kgh2@psu.edu. · Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843. · Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106. · Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802. · Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560. · Department of Anthropology, University of Hawaii at Hilo, Hilo, HI 96720. ·Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A · Pubmed #28784803.

ABSTRACT: The first steps toward maize (

Kennett, Douglas J / Plog, Stephen / George, Richard J / Culleton, Brendan J / Watson, Adam S / Skoglund, Pontus / Rohland, Nadin / Mallick, Swapan / Stewardson, Kristin / Kistler, Logan / LeBlanc, Steven A / Whiteley, Peter M / Reich, David / Perry, George H. ·Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA. · Department of Anthropology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22904, USA. · Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, New York 10024, USA. · Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. · Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA. · Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. · Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA. · Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA. ·Nat Commun · Pubmed #28221340.

ABSTRACT: For societies with writing systems, hereditary leadership is documented as one of the hallmarks of early political complexity and governance. In contrast, it is unknown whether hereditary succession played a role in the early formation of prehistoric complex societies that lacked writing. Here we use an archaeogenomic approach to identify an elite matriline that persisted between 800 and 1130 CE in Chaco Canyon, the centre of an expansive prehistoric complex society in the Southwestern United States. We show that nine individuals buried in an elite crypt at Pueblo Bonito, the largest structure in the canyon, have identical mitochondrial genomes. Analyses of nuclear genome data from six samples with the highest DNA preservation demonstrate mother-daughter and grandmother-grandson relationships, evidence for a multigenerational matrilineal descent group. Together, these results demonstrate the persistence of an elite matriline in Chaco for ∼330 years.

Watson, Adam S / Plog, Stephen / Culleton, Brendan J / Gilman, Patricia A / LeBlanc, Steven A / Whiteley, Peter M / Claramunt, Santiago / Kennett, Douglas J. ·Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024; awatson@amnh.org plog@virginia.edu djk23@psu.edu. · Department of Anthropology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904; awatson@amnh.org plog@virginia.edu djk23@psu.edu. · Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802; · Department of Anthropology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019; · Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138; · Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024; · Department of Ornithology, Division of Vertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024. · Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802; awatson@amnh.org plog@virginia.edu djk23@psu.edu. ·Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A · Pubmed #26100874.

ABSTRACT: High-precision accelerator mass spectrometer (AMS) (14)C dates of scarlet macaw (Ara macao) skeletal remains provide the first direct evidence from Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico that these Neotropical birds were procured from Mesoamerica by Pueblo people as early as ∼ A.D. 900-975. Chaco was a prominent prehistoric Pueblo center with a dense concentration of multistoried great houses constructed from the 9th through early 12th centuries. At the best known great house of Pueblo Bonito, unusual burial crypts and significant quantities of exotic and symbolically important materials, including scarlet macaws, turquoise, marine shell, and cacao, suggest societal complexity unprecedented elsewhere in the Puebloan world. Scarlet macaws are known markers of social and political status among the Pueblos. New AMS (14)C-dated scarlet macaw remains from Pueblo Bonito demonstrate that these birds were acquired persistently from Mesoamerica between A.D. 900 and 1150. Most of the macaws date before the hypothesized apogeal Chacoan period (A.D. 1040-1110) to which they are commonly attributed. The 10th century acquisition of these birds is consistent with the hypothesis that more formalized status hierarchies developed with significant connections to Mesoamerica before the post-A.D. 1040 architectural florescence in Chaco Canyon.

Chatters, James C / Kennett, Douglas J / Asmerom, Yemane / Kemp, Brian M / Polyak, Victor / Blank, Alberto Nava / Beddows, Patricia A / Reinhardt, Eduard / Arroyo-Cabrales, Joaquin / Bolnick, Deborah A / Malhi, Ripan S / Culleton, Brendan J / Erreguerena, Pilar Luna / Rissolo, Dominique / Morell-Hart, Shanti / Stafford, Thomas W. ·Applied Paleoscience and DirectAMS, 10322 NE 190th Street, Bothell, WA 98011, USA. paleosci@gmail.com. · Department of Anthropology and Institutes of Energy and the Environment, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA. · Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001, USA. · Department of Anthropology and School of Biological Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164, USA. · Bay Area Underwater Explorers, Berkeley, CA, USA. · Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA. · School of Geography and Earth Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada. · Instituto Nacional Antropología e Historia, Colonia Centro Histórico, 06060, Mexico City, DF, Mexico. · Department of Anthropology and Population Research Center, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA. · Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL 61801, USA. · Subdirección de Arqueología Subacuática, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, 06070 Mexico City, Mexico. · Waitt Institute, La Jolla, CA 92038-1948, USA. · Department of Anthropology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. · Centre for AMS C, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark, and Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, Geological Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark. ·Science · Pubmed #24833392.

ABSTRACT: Because of differences in craniofacial morphology and dentition between the earliest American skeletons and modern Native Americans, separate origins have been postulated for them, despite genetic evidence to the contrary. We describe a near-complete human skeleton with an intact cranium and preserved DNA found with extinct fauna in a submerged cave on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. This skeleton dates to between 13,000 and 12,000 calendar years ago and has Paleoamerican craniofacial characteristics and a Beringian-derived mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroup (D1). Thus, the differences between Paleoamericans and Native Americans probably resulted from in situ evolution rather than separate ancestry.

Kennett, Douglas J / Hajdas, Irka / Culleton, Brendan J / Belmecheri, Soumaya / Martin, Simon / Neff, Hector / Awe, Jaime / Graham, Heather V / Freeman, Katherine H / Newsom, Lee / Lentz, David L / Anselmetti, Flavio S / Robinson, Mark / Marwan, Norbert / Southon, John / Hodell, David A / Haug, Gerald H. ·Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA. djk23@psu.edu ·Sci Rep · Pubmed #23579869.

ABSTRACT: The reasons for the development and collapse of Maya civilization remain controversial and historical events carved on stone monuments throughout this region provide a remarkable source of data about the rise and fall of these complex polities. Use of these records depends on correlating the Maya and European calendars so that they can be compared with climate and environmental datasets. Correlation constants can vary up to 1000 years and remain controversial. We report a series of high-resolution AMS (14)C dates on a wooden lintel collected from the Classic Period city of Tikal bearing Maya calendar dates. The radiocarbon dates were calibrated using a Bayesian statistical model and indicate that the dates were carved on the lintel between AD 658-696. This strongly supports the Goodman-Martínez-Thompson (GMT) correlation and the hypothesis that climate change played an important role in the development and demise of this complex civilization.