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Two ancient human genomes reveal Polynesian ancestry among the indigenous Botocudos of Brazil.

Malaspinas AS, Lao O, Schroeder H, Rasmussen M, Raghavan M, Moltke I, Campos PF, Sagredo FS, Rasmussen S, Gonçalves VF, Albrechtsen A, Allentoft ME, Johnson PL, Li M, Reis S, Bernardo DV, DeGiorgio M, Duggan AT, Bastos M, Wang Y, Stenderup J, Moreno-Mayar JV, Brunak S, Sicheritz-Ponten T, Hodges E, Hannon GJ, Orlando L, Price TD, Jensen JD, Nielsen R, Heinemeier J, Olsen J, Rodrigues-Carvalho C, Lahr MM, Neves WA, Kayser M, Higham T, Stoneking M, Pena SD, Willerslev E
Curr Biol. 2014 24 (21): R1035-7

PMID: 25455029 · PMCID: PMC4370112 · DOI:10.1016/j.cub.2014.09.078

Understanding the peopling of the Americas remains an important and challenging question. Here, we present (14)C 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.

Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

MeSH Terms (7)

Brazil DNA, Mitochondrial Genome, Human Humans Indians, South American Oceanic Ancestry Group Radiometric Dating

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