• Migrants from south carrying maize were

    From ScienceDaily@1:317/3 to All on Wed Mar 23 22:30:44 2022
    Migrants from south carrying maize were early Maya ancestors

    Date:
    March 23, 2022
    Source:
    University of New Mexico
    Summary:
    Archaeologists show that a site in Belize was critical in studying
    the origins of the ancient Maya people and the spread of maize as
    a staple food.



    FULL STORY ==========================================================================
    New research published this week by University of New Mexico archaeologist Keith Prufer shows that a site in Belize was critical in studying the
    origins of the ancient Maya people and the spread of maize as a staple
    food.


    ========================================================================== According to the paper "South-to-north migration preceded the advent of intensive farming in the Maya region," published this week in Nature Communications and co-led by Prufer, excavations in Belize, along
    with ancient DNA analysis, indicate a previously unknown migration of people-carrying maize- from an area of South America northward to the
    Maya region.

    Prufer and his colleagues excavated 25 burials dating from 10,000 to 3,700 years ago from two cave or rock shelter sites located in the remote Maya Mountains of Belize, Central America. These sites were located below
    the overhang of tall limestone cliffs that sheltered the people living
    below and protected the deposits of the everyday debris and burials of
    the dead for over 7,000 years.

    The excavated skeletons revealed a range of ancient DNA information on
    the movements of early populations in the Americas: An early southward migration of people from the north by 9,600 to 7,300 years ago show
    only distant relatedness to present-day Mesoamericans, including
    Maya-speaking populations; Then, a previously unknown movement from the
    south starting about 5,600 years ago made a major demographic impact on
    the region, contributing more than 50 percent of the ancestry of all
    later individuals. This new ancestry derived from a source ancestral
    to present-day Chibchan speakers living from Costa Rica to Colombia,
    according to Prufer, whose lab led the archaeological and isotope
    research.

    The genetic prehistory of human populations in Central America was
    largely unexplored, leaving an important gap in our knowledge of the
    global expansion of humans, which is why this research is really exciting
    and ground-breaking, Prufer remarked.

    The excavations and DNA analysis "support a scenario in which
    Chibchan-related horticulturalists moved northward into the southeastern Yucatan carrying improved varieties of maize, and possibly also manioc
    and chili peppers, and mixed with local populations to create new
    horticultural traditions that ultimately led to more intensive forms
    of maize agriculture much later in time..." "We see the migration
    of these people as fundamentally important for development of farming
    and, eventually, large Maya speaking communities," Prufer said, noting
    that maize provided essential protein and sugar energy, and could be
    stored in a dry place. Once people had a reliable source of food in
    maize, they tended to farm and stay in one place, leading to larger, established communities.

    Maize wasn't always an important part of the diet of these people,
    Prufer said.

    The earliest migrants likely gathered and ate the tiny cobs of a grass
    known as teosinte, as well as the earliest maize domesticates, even
    though the cobs were very small, along with other plants, shellfish, and
    game. By selecting the biggest and best seeds, they began to domesticate
    the plant, growing larger cobs, and increasingly altering the landscape
    and biodiversity, a process that likely occurred largely in South America.

    Eventually the consumption of maize grew until it became a diet staple,
    much like the Europeans used wheat, Prufer said. The dispersal of
    maize grew, moving from the south, northward to the Maya population,
    and eventually across both continents so that when the Spanish arrived
    around 1500 AD, maize, or corn, was a staple of every Native American
    group's diet.


    ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_New_Mexico. Original
    written by Mary Beth King. Note: Content may be edited for style and
    length.


    ========================================================================== Journal Reference:
    1. Douglas J. Kennett, Mark Lipson, Keith M. Prufer, David Mora-Mari'n,
    Richard J. George, Nadin Rohland, Mark Robinson, Willa R. Trask,
    Heather H. J. Edgar, Ethan C. Hill, Erin E. Ray, Paige Lynch,
    Emily Moes, Lexi O'Donnell, Thomas K. Harper, Emily J. Kate, Josue
    Ramos, John Morris, Said M. Gutierrez, Timothy M. Ryan, Brendan
    J. Culleton, Jaime J. Awe, David Reich. South-to-north migration
    preceded the advent of intensive farming in the Maya region. Nature
    Communications, 2022; 13 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-29158-y ==========================================================================

    Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220323101209.htm

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