Demographic history and genetic structure in pre-Hispanic Central Mexico

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

  • Viridiana Villa-Islas
  • Alan Izarraras-Gomez
  • Maximilian Larena
  • Elizabeth Mejía Perez Campos
  • Juan Esteban Rodríguez-Rodríguez
  • Miriam Bravo-Lopez
  • Barbara Moguel
  • Rosa Fregel
  • Ernesto Garfias-Morales
  • Jazeps Medina Tretmanis
  • David Alberto Velázquez-Ramírez
  • Alberto Herrera-Muñóz
  • Karla Sandoval
  • Maria A. Nieves-Colón
  • Gabriela Zepeda García Moreno
  • Fernando A. Villanea
  • Eugenia Fernández Villanueva Medina
  • Ramiro Aguayo-Haro
  • Cristina Valdiosera
  • Alexander G. Ioannidis
  • Andrés Moreno-Estrada
  • Flora Jay
  • Emilia Huerta-Sanchez
  • Federico Sánchez-Quinto
  • María C. Ávila-Arcos

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 "ghost" populations.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbereadd6142
JournalScience
Volume380
Issue number6645
Number of pages14
ISSN0036-8075
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023

ID: 347881758