Fernando Villanea Co-Authored Article Published in Science
Professor Fernando Villanea's co-authored article: 鈥淒emographic history and genetic structure in pre-Hispanic Central Mexico鈥澨齪ublished in听厂肠颈别苍肠别.听 The article is a听study of the demographic history of pre-Hispanic central Mexico through ancient genomes.
Abstract
Aridoamerica and Mesoamerica are two distinct cultural areas in northern and central Mexico, respectively, that hosted numerous pre-Hispanic civilizations between 2500 BCE and 1521 CE. The division between these regions shifted southward because of severe droughts ~1100 years ago, which allegedly drove a population replacement in central Mexico by Aridoamerican peoples. In this study, we present shotgun genome-wide data from 12 individuals and 27 mitochondrial genomes from eight pre-Hispanic archaeological sites across Mexico, including two at the shifting border of Aridoamerica and Mesoamerica. We find population continuity that spans the climate change episode and a broad preservation of the genetic structure across present-day Mexico for the past 2300 years. Lastly, we identify a contribution to pre-Hispanic populations of northern and central Mexico from two ancient unsampled 鈥済host鈥 populations.
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