Genes of a Lost South American People Point to an Unexpected History

[Judi Lynn]

MIKE MCRAE 16 MAY 2022

In spite of its location midway down the eastern seaboard of the continent of South America, Uruguay's brief history is a blur of European conflict, shaped by the colonial interests of Spanish, British, and Portuguese powers.

What is starkly missing are voices from prehistory, of indigenous cultures that called the land's rolling hills and temperate plains home for thousands of years.

Echoes of that lost past are finally being heard thanks to the efforts of researchers from the University of the Republic, Montevideo, in Uruguay, and Emory University and Florida Atlantic University in the US.

Their investigation of the remains of two individuals who lived long before Christopher Columbus's famous trans-Atlantic voyage has revealed surprising connections between populations across the Americas. What's more, the findings challenge theories that suggest South America's indigenous people all trace from a single migration.

"This contributes to the idea of South America being a place where multi-regional diversity existed, instead of the monolithic idea of a single Native American race across North and South America," says Emory University anthropologist, John Lindo.

More:
https://www.sciencealert.com/study-a-lost-south-american-people-suggests-it-was-populated-more-than-once

Also posted in Anthropology:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/12298052

[Tetrachloride]

1. In 2015, this link was published

https://www.nature.com/news/ghost-population-hints-at-long-lost-migration-to-the-americas-1.18029

[Judi Lynn]

2. So glad to see it! I scanned it quickly to grasp a little, will return to read it more slowly.

It's excellent seeing the information concerning the more southern route for Amazonian people in Brazil. Wonderful! Looking forward to finding out much more.

(Have read multiple times about the fact that under the jungle, it was discovered a completely recognizable civilization lived in ancient times, and created towns, roads between towns, agriculture, burning crops to improve the soil, etc., etc. Clearly those people lived in a far different way from the ones living there now, whose own ancestors go back to ancient times, as well.

The modern world has everything important to learn about what has passed before, long before the Europeans came and destroyed life for the millions and millions who were trying to live in the lands of their own ancestors.)

Thanks for sharing the article!