Archaeologists have discovered a previously unknown human race in Argentina, shedding light on the first settlements in one of the world’s last regions inhabited by humans, according to a new study.
Before this study, genetic reconstructions of the continent suggested the existence of three large population branches, which diverged about 9,000 years ago: one in the Andes, one in the Amazon, and a third further south, in the Pampas, Chile and Patagonia. But this panorama relied on a very limited number of samples, especially from the Southern Cone.
The new study, published in the scientific journal Nature, identifies a previously undocumented lineage that arose about 8,500 years ago in central Argentina and was the dominant lineage for thousands of years.
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A new chapter in the peoples of America
During this period, communities in the region developed great cultural diversity, although showing very little evidence of genetic exchange with neighboring groups.
This discovery, based on the analysis of the remains of 238 indigenous people over the past 10,000 years, reveals a completely new chapter in the history of settlement in America.
The central region of the southern cone of South America was one of the last regions on the planet inhabited by humans and remains underrepresented in studies of ancient DNA.
“We discovered this new lineage, a new group of people that we knew nothing about, and which has persisted as the main ancestral element for at least the past 8,000 years until the present day,” explained researcher Javier Maraval Lopez, from Harvard University and lead author of the study.
He added: “It is an important episode in the continent’s history that we were not aware of.”
Cultural diversity, genetic homogeneity
The researchers analyzed two million positions in the genome known as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), which vary between humans.
Instead of a patchwork of the three main populations already identified, what emerged was a completely new and local lineage, which developed a variety of languages and cultures and became the central component of central Argentina’s ancestry, according to the study.
What is striking is that this group, although it underwent major cultural, climatic and technological shifts, shows very little evidence of genetic mixing over thousands of years.
Researchers faced a paradox: a region that was culturally diverse but genetically homogeneous.
“The population is equal,” Rodrigo Norris, a geneticist at the National Council for Scientific and Technological Research (CONSIT) and co-author of the study, told the scientific journal Science, stressing that the diversity of languages and archaeological artifacts was not accompanied by clear signs of migration.
Even when, around 1,300 years ago, ceramic styles and languages spread from the Amazon to central Argentina, no associated genetic imprint emerged, challenging previous hypotheses based solely on material culture.
Not even a prolonged drought between 6,000 and 4,000 years ago left a noticeable impact on this population, with which many current Argentines share part of their ancestry, according to Science magazine.
This discovery not only adds a new layer to the history of settlement in South America, but also forces a revision of some assumptions about migration, cultural change, and genetic plasticity.
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