From Uruguay to Panama is half a world away. More than 5,000 kilometers, to be exact. Genetically, however, the two countries have more in common than anyone imagined. The ancient Uruguayan peoples, those who lived in that territory before the arrival of the Europeans, have a surprising connection with the Panamanians.
Researchers at Emory University (USA) have carried out the first complete genome sequence of the prehistoric peoples of Uruguay and have detected that the ancient indigenous people show an ancestry that had never before been detected in South America.
The analyzes were based on a DNA sample from a man who lived about 800 years ago and from a woman who dates back 1,500 years, both collected by researchers from the Uruguayan University of the Republic at a site located in the east of the country and long before the arrival of Christopher Columbus on the continent in 1492.
"The results obtained contribute to the idea that South America is a place where multi-regional diversity existed, contrary to the previous monolithic idea that pointed to a single Native American race in North and South America," says John Lindo. , co-author of the article published in the journal PNAS Nexus.
Laboratory work showed a surprising connection to ancient individuals from Panama, the land bridge connecting North and South America, and to eastern Brazil. With whom there is no link, however, is with the modern Amazonians. These findings support the theory advanced by some archaeologists that there were separate migrations to South America, including one that led to the Amazon and a separate one that took humans along the eastern seaboard.
"The genetic evidence obtained goes against the hypothesis of a single migration that divided at the foot of the Andes", indicates Lindo. Archaeological evidence indicates that there were already human settlements on the Atlantic coast of Uruguay more than 10,000 years ago.
European settlers established the first contact with the peoples of the region at the beginning of the 16th century. During the 1800s, colonizers launched a series of military campaigns to exterminate the indigenous Charrúas, culminating in what is known as the Salsipuedes massacre in 1831. At the time, according to archaeologists, the term Charrúa was applied to various groups of hunter-gatherers in Uruguay.
The ancient DNA laboratory directed by John Lindo is specialized in mapping little explored human lineages of the Americas. Most of these types of genetic analysis centers are located in Europe, where the colder climate has made it possible to better preserve the evidence.
In South America, warmer and more humid weather across much of the continent have made it more difficult to collect usable ancient DNA samples, although advances in sequencing technology are helping to remove some of these limitations.
“If you are of European descent, you can sequence your genetic code and use that information to identify which specific peoples your ancestors are from,” explains Lindo. “If you descend from indigenous people of the Americas, instead, you may be able to know that a part of your genome is Native American, but it is unlikely that you will be able to trace a direct lineage because there are not enough references available,” he adds.
To further complicate the picture, adds the researcher, we must take into account the massive disturbances caused by the arrival of Europeans on the continent, given that many civilizations were destroyed and entire populations were killed by the colonizers.
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