@article{04e85c443b3941bb981b5113039b6b24,
title = "South-to-north migration preceded the advent of intensive farming in the Maya region",
abstract = "The genetic prehistory of human populations in Central America is largely unexplored leaving an important gap in our knowledge of the global expansion of humans. We report genome-wide ancient DNA data for a transect of twenty individuals from two Belize rock-shelters dating between 9,600-3,700 calibrated radiocarbon years before present (cal. BP). The oldest individuals (9,600-7,300 cal. BP) descend from an Early Holocene Native American lineage with only distant relatedness to present-day Mesoamericans, including Mayan-speaking populations. After ~5,600 cal. BP a previously unknown human dispersal from the south made a major demographic impact on the region, contributing more than 50% of the ancestry of all later individuals. This new ancestry derived from a source related to present-day Chibchan speakers living from Costa Rica to Colombia. Its arrival corresponds to the first clear evidence for forest clearing and maize horticulture in what later became the Maya region.",
author = "Kennett, {Douglas J.} and Mark Lipson and Prufer, {Keith M.} and David Mora-Mar{\'i}n and George, {Richard J.} and Nadin Rohland and Mark Robinson and Trask, {Willa R.} and Edgar, {Heather H.J.} and Hill, {Ethan C.} and Ray, {Erin E.} and Paige Lynch and Emily Moes and Lexi O{\textquoteright}Donnell and Harper, {Thomas K.} and Kate, {Emily J.} and Josue Ramos and John Morris and Gutierrez, {Said M.} and Ryan, {Timothy M.} and Culleton, {Brendan J.} and Awe, {Jaime J.} and David Reich",
note = "Funding Information: Research permits were issued (to K.M.P.) by the Belize Institute of Archaeology (IA) to conduct archeological excavations, to export ancient remains to the US, and to conduct molecular analysis (2014-2018). Further permits were issued by the Belize Forest Department, in collaboration with protected areas co-managers Ya{\textquoteright}axch{\'e} Conservation Trust (to K.M.P.) to enter into and conduct research in the Bladen Nature Reserve (2014–2018). We thank the Belize Institute of Archaeology and the Belize Forest Department for permits to work in Belize and Ya{\textquoteright}axch{\'e} Conservation Trust rangers and staff for logistical support. Many thanks to Keith Hunley, James Kennett, Heather Thakar, and Barbara Voorhies for commenting on a draft of the manuscript and to Raymundo Sho, Oligario Sho, Mateo Rash, Sylvestre Rash, Jose Mes, and Julie Saul for assisting with fieldwork. Laurie Eccles kindly assisted with the radiocarbon work. We thank Ann Marie Lawson, Fatma Zalzala, Jonas Oppenheimer, Kimberly Callan, Kristin Stewardson, Matthew Ferry, Megan Michel, Nasreen Broomankhoshbacht, Nicole Adamski, and Noah Workman for ancient DNA laboratory work; Swapan Mallick, Matthew Mah, and Adam Micco for bioinformatics support; I{\~n}igo Olalde for help with kinship analysis; Harald Ringbauer for help with ROH analysis; and Rebecca Bernardos and Zhao Zhang for other data processing assistance. The work was funded by the Alphawood Foundation (2014-2019; K.M.P.) and National Science Foundation (SBE1632061, K.M.P.; SBE-1632144, D.J.K., B.J.C.). D.R. was supported by National Institutes of Health grants (GM100233 and HG012287), the John Templeton Foundation (grant 61220), and by the Allen Discovery Center program, a Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group advised program of the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation; D.R. is also an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Funding Information: Research permits were issued (to K.M.P.) by the Belize Institute of Archaeology (IA) to conduct archeological excavations, to export ancient remains to the US, and to conduct molecular analysis (2014-2018). Further permits were issued by the Belize Forest Department, in collaboration with protected areas co-managers Ya{\textquoteright}axch{\'e} Conservation Trust (to K.M.P.) to enter into and conduct research in the Bladen Nature Reserve (2014–2018). We thank the Belize Institute of Archaeology and the Belize Forest Department for permits to work in Belize and Ya{\textquoteright}axch{\'e} Conservation Trust rangers and staff for logistical support. Many thanks to Keith Hunley, James Kennett, Heather Thakar, and Barbara Voorhies for commenting on a draft of the manuscript and to Raymundo Sho, Oligario Sho, Mateo Rash, Sylvestre Rash, Jose Mes, and Julie Saul for assisting with fieldwork. Laurie Eccles kindly assisted with the radiocarbon work. We thank Ann Marie Lawson, Fatma Zalzala, Jonas Oppenheimer, Kimberly Callan, Kristin Stewardson, Matthew Ferry, Megan Michel, Nasreen Broomankhoshbacht, Nicole Adamski, and Noah Workman for ancient DNA laboratory work; Swapan Mallick, Matthew Mah, and Adam Micco for bioinformatics support; I{\~n}igo Olalde for help with kinship analysis; Harald Ringbauer for help with ROH analysis; and Rebecca Bernardos and Zhao Zhang for other data processing assistance. The work was funded by the Alphawood Foundation (2014-2019; K.M.P.) and National Science Foundation (SBE1632061, K.M.P.; SBE-1632144, D.J.K., B.J.C.). D.R. was supported by National Institutes of Health grants (GM100233 and HG012287), the John Templeton Foundation (grant 61220), and by the Allen Discovery Center program, a Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group advised program of the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation; D.R. is also an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022, The Author(s).",
year = "2022",
month = dec,
doi = "10.1038/s41467-022-29158-y",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "13",
journal = "Nature Communications",
issn = "2041-1723",
publisher = "Nature Publishing Group",
number = "1",
}