2014
Two ancient human genomes reveal Polynesian ancestry among the indigenous Botocudos of Brazil
Publication
Publication
Current Biology , Volume 24 - Issue 21 p. R1035- R1037
Summary Understanding the peopling of the Americas remains an important and challenging question. Here, we present 14C dates, and morphological, isotopic and genomic sequence data from two human skulls from the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, part of one of the indigenous groups known as 'Botocudos'. We find that their genomic ancestry is Polynesian, with no detectable Native American component. Radiocarbon analysis of the skulls shows that the individuals had died prior to the beginning of the 19th century. Our findings could either represent genomic evidence of Polynesians reaching South America during their Pacific expansion, or European-mediated transport.
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| doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2014.09.078, hdl.handle.net/1765/91955 | |
| Current Biology | |
| Organisation | Centre for Rotterdam Cultural Sociology (CROCUS) |
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Malaspinas, A.-S., Lao Grueso, O., Schroeder, H., Rasmussen, M., Raghavan, M., Moltke, I., … Willerslev, E. (2014). Two ancient human genomes reveal Polynesian ancestry among the indigenous Botocudos of Brazil. Current Biology, 24(21), R1035–R1037. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2014.09.078 |
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