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Archaeologists have discovered something previously unknown ancient dynasty of humans living in argentinaThe oldest settlements in one of the last places in the world occupied by our species have been shed light, according to a new study.
Since modern humans first emerged in Africa and migrated to different parts of the world, the southern tip South America was one of the last places to be The species has been captured by,
Until now, the oldest evidence of human presence in the area was an archaeological site 14,000 years old In Arroyo Seco in the Argentine Pampas.
However, much is unknown about the first populations to establish settlements in this part of the world.
The reason for this is the study of ancient times dna Researchers say South America has lagged behind the efforts of Europe and Asia.
Previous DNA studies suggest that by 9,000 years ago, Native Americans had begun to differentiate into three identifiable lineages – one in the central Andes, another in the tropical lowlands of Amazonia, and a third further south in the Pampas, Chile, and Patagonia.
Newly discovered human lineages in Argentina persisted on the continent for more than eight millennia, producing an astonishingly diverse mix of indigenous cultures.
“We found this new lineage, a new group of people that we didn’t know about before, that has persisted as the main lineage component for at least the last 8,000 years to the present day,” said Harvard University’s Javier Marável López.
“This is a major episode in the history of the continent that we were not aware of,” said Dr. Lopez, author of the new study published in the journal Nature. Nature,
In the study, researchers assessed DNA from the bones and teeth of 238 indigenous individuals up to 10,000 years old, increasing the number of samples by more than 10-fold from the central Southern Cone region, which includes modern-day Argentina, Chile and Uruguay.
They also compared the data with existing ancient DNA from 588 other Native peoples across the Americas who lived from 12,000 years ago to the time of European contact.
Scientists have limited the comparison to a select small section of the human genome known as a single-nucleotide polymorphism, or SNP, that varies between humans.
This comparison can help make inferences about genetic relationships between individuals, and identify which people had similar ancestry and which were more distantly related.
Researchers found an entirely new lineage of humans that appeared in the region 8,500 years ago.
The study found that this lineage of people developed a diverse range of languages and cultures and became the main component of the ancestry of Central Argentina.
“People of the same ancestry, like the Archipelago, were developing distinct cultures and languages while remaining biologically isolated,” Dr. Lopez said.
The scientists found that the newly identified Central Argentine lineage then expanded south and mixed with the Pampas population around 3,300 years ago or so, eventually becoming the dominant lineage there.
Although the newly found group appears to be mixing with others, researchers say they mostly keep to themselves.
They hope that future studies can explain the lack of migration and mixing between ancient groups in the region.