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Ancient DNA Study Sheds Light on Deep

Population History of Andes | Genetics,
Paleoanthropology | Sci-News.com
5-7 minutes

A large international team of researchers has conducted the first in-

depth, wide-scale study of the genomic history of pre-Columbian
Andean civilizations such as the Moche, Wari, Tiwanaku, Nazca, and Inca.
Published in the journal Cell, the findings reveal early genetic
distinctions between groups in nearby regions, population mixing
within and beyond the Andes, surprising genetic continuity amid
cultural upheaval, and ancestral cosmopolitanism.

The Gateway of the Sun, Tiwanaku, Bolivia. Image credit: Mhwater.

“There are many unanswered questions about the population history of the central
Andes and in particular the large-scale societies that lived there,” said co-author
Dr. Bastien Llamas, a researcher in the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA at the
University of Adelaide.

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“We know from archeological research that the central Andes region is extremely
rich in cultural heritage, however up until now the genomic makeup of the region
before arrival of Europeans has never been studied.”

“While archaeological records play a role in connecting cultures, studying ancient

DNA can provide a finer grain picture.”

“For example, archaeological information may tell us about two or three cultures
in the region, and eventually who was there first, but ancient DNA can inform
about actual biological connections underlying expansion of cultural practices,
languages or technologies.”

In the study, Dr. Llamas and colleagues sequenced and analyzed the genomes of
89 individuals who lived between 500 and 9,000 years ago and compared the data
with the genetic diversity of present day occupants.

Of these, 64 genomes, ranging from 500 to 4,500 years old, were newly sequenced
— more than doubling the number of ancient individuals with genome-wide data
from South America.

The scientists found that by 9,000 years ago, groups living in the Andean
highlands became genetically distinct from those that eventually came to live along
the Pacific coast. The effects of this early differentiation are still seen today.

“The genetic fingerprints distinguishing people living in the highlands from those
in nearby regions are remarkably ancient,” said first author Nathan Nakatsuka, an
MD/PhD student in the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and
the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology.

“It is extraordinary, given the small geographic distance,” added senior author
Professor David Reich, a researcher in the Department of Genetics and Howard
Hughes Medical Institute at Harvard Medical School, the Broad Institute of
Harvard and MIT, and the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard
University.

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Nakatsuka et al assembled genome-wide data on 89 individuals dating from

9,000-500 years ago, with a particular focus on the period of the rise and fall of
Andean state societies. Today’s genetic structure began to develop by 5,800 years
ago, followed by bi-directional gene flow between the North and South Highlands,
and between the Highlands and Coast; the researchers detected minimal
admixture among neighboring groups between 2,000-500 years ago, although
they didn’t detect cosmopolitanism (people of diverse ancestries living side-by-
side) in the heartlands of the Tiwanaku and Inca polities. Image credit: Nakatsuka
et al, doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2020.04.015.

By 5,800 years ago, the population of the north also developed distinct genetic
signatures from populations that became prevalent in the south. Again, these
differences can be observed today.

After that time, gene flow occurred among all regions in the Andes, although it
dramatically slowed after 2,000 years ago.

“This was quite surprising given this period saw the rise and fall of many large-
scale Andean cultures such as Moche, Wari and Nazca, and suggests that these
empires implemented a cultural domination without moving armies,” Dr. Llamas
said.

There were two exceptions to the slowing of migration, and these were within the
Tiwanaku and Inca populations, whose administrative centers were largely
cosmopolitan — people of diverse ancestries living side-by-side.

“It was interesting to uncover signs of long-range mobility during the Inca period,”
Dr. Llamas said.

“Archaeology shows the Inca occupied thousands of miles from Ecuador through
to northern Chile — which is why when Europeans arrived they discovered a
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massive Inka empire, but we found close genetic relationships between individuals
at the extreme edges of the empire.”

“It is exciting that we were actually able to determine relatively fine-grained

population structure in the Andes, allowing us to differentiate between coastal,
northern, southern and highland groups as well as individuals living in the Titicaca
Basin,” said senior author Dr. Lars Fehren-Schmitz, a scientist in the Genomics
Institute at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

“This is significant for the archaeology of the Andes and will now allow us to ask
more specific questions with regards to local demographies and cultural
networks,” said co-author Dr. Jose Capriles, a researcher in the Department of
Anthropology at the Pennsylvania State University.

_____

Nathan Nakatsuka et al. A Paleogenomic Reconstruction of the Deep Population

History of the Andes. Cell, published online May 7, 2020; doi:
10.1016/j.cell.2020.04.015

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