scholarly journals Ancient DNA reveals the lost domestication history of South American camelids in Northern Chile and across the Andes

eLife ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paloma Diaz-Maroto ◽  
Alba Rey-Iglesia ◽  
Isabel Cartajena ◽  
Lautaro Núñez ◽  
Michael V Westbury ◽  
...  

The study of South American camelids and their domestication is a highly debated topic in zooarchaeology. Identifying the domestic species (alpaca and llama) in archaeological sites based solely on morphological data is challenging due to their similarity with respect to their wild ancestors. Using genetic methods also presents challenges due to the hybridization history of the domestic species, which are thought to have extensively hybridized following the Spanish conquest of South America that resulted in camelids slaughtered en masse. In this study, we generated mitochondrial genomes for 61 ancient South American camelids dated between 3,500 and 2,400 years before the present (Early Formative period) from two archaeological sites in Northern Chile (Tulán-54 and Tulán-85), as well as 66 modern camelid mitogenomes and 815 modern mitochondrial control region sequences from across South America. In addition, we performed osteometric analyses to differentiate big and small body size camelids. A comparative analysis of these data suggests that a substantial proportion of the ancient vicuña genetic variation has been lost since the Early Formative period, as it is not present in modern specimens. Moreover, we propose a domestication hypothesis that includes an ancient guanaco population that no longer exists. Finally, we find evidence that interbreeding practices were widespread during the domestication process by the early camelid herders in the Atacama during the Early Formative period and predating the Spanish conquest.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paloma Díaz-Maroto ◽  
Alba Rey-Iglesia ◽  
Isabel Cartajena ◽  
Lautaro Núñez ◽  
Michael V Westbury ◽  
...  

AbstractThe study of South American camelids and their domestication is a highly debated topic in zooarchaeology. Identifying the domestic species (alpaca and llama) in archaeological sites based solely on morphological data is challenging due to their similarity with respect to their wild ancestors. Using genetic methods also present challenges due to the hybridization history of the domestic species, which are thought to have extensively hybridized following the Spanish conquest of South America that resulted in camelids slaughtered en-masse. In this study we generated mitochondrial genomes for 61 ancient South American camelids dated between 3,500 - 2,400 years before the present (Early Formative period) from two archaeological sites in Northern Chile (Tulán 54 and 85), as well as 66 modern camelid mitogenomes and 815 extant mitochondrial control region sequences from across South America. In addition, we performed osteometric analyses to differentiate big and small body size camelids. A comparative analysis of these data suggests that a substantial proportion of the ancient vicuña genetic variation has been lost since the Early Formative period as it is not present in modern specimens. Moreover, we propose a model of domestication that includes an ancient guanaco population that no longer exists. Finally, we find evidence that interbreeding practices were widespread during the domestication process by the early camelid herders in the Atacama during the Early Formative period and predating the Spanish conquest.


2005 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco Gallardo ◽  
Hugo Yacobaccio

AbstractThe absence of suitable methodologies to distinguish between wild and domesticated camelids in rock art has limited the interpretation of visual preferences of Andean prehispanic cultures. Although rock art’s contextual information may provide some indications that help to differentiate between wild and domesticated animals, uncertainty prevails because the relation to camelid forms is indirect. Zoological and zooarchaeological knowledge of South American camelid morphology is used as a means of comparison and identification in Atacama Desert rock art attributed to the Initial Pastoral phase (1500–500 B.C., Early Formative period, northern Chile). Based on this analysis, there are strong arguments for a distinctive graphic representation of wild as opposed to domesticated camelids, as well as a correspondence of these representations to two different modes of subsistence—one of hunters and the other of husbandry-pastoralist societies—which would have coexisted during this transitional period.


1999 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jo Ann F. Pratt

AbstractOne of the earliest pottery assemblages in the New World (5900 B. P.) was manufactured by logistically mobile hunter-gatherers at San Jacinto I, in Colombia, South America. The vessels were constructed using fiber temper and were elaborately decorated. These characteristics along with the archaeological context of the pottery suggest that its use was unrelated to cooking or food processing. Visual and statistical analyses indicate the pottery had high economic and social value for this semisedentary group; it likely was utilized for feasting/serving activities and possibly for short-term storage. Comparative analyses indicate that the pottery from other early sites in northeast South American may have served similar functions during the early Formative period.


2013 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah L. Nichols ◽  
Hector Neff ◽  
George L. Cowgill

AbstractGeorge Brainerd directed excavations at Cerro Portezuelo in the mid-1950s to understand the Classic to Postclassic transition and the questions he asked are still salient. We have undertaken a reanalysis of the artifacts, survey, and excavation data from Brainerd's project to better understand the nature of relations between the Early Classic period city of Teotihuacan, its immediate hinterlands, and the change from the Teotihuacan state system to Postclassic period city-state organization. Because of Cerro Portezuelo's long occupation that began in the Late/Terminal Formative period and continued beyond the Spanish Conquest, it is a strategic site to investigate the dynamics of state formation and episodes of centralization and fragmentation over this long span. Here we review the history of research concerning Cerro Portezuelo, discuss the current research project reported in the articles that comprise this Special Section, and highlight some of the major findings.


2008 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 133-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia T. Ting ◽  
Benjamin Barankin

Background: Myiasis is a cutaneous infestation with larvae of Diptera, the two-winged arthropod order. Eggs and/or larvae are transmitted directly from the environment or via arthropod vectors. Larvae are able to burrow into the dermis of intact skin or external body orifices. Three clinical variants of myiasis are furuncular, migratory (creeping), and infestation of wounds. Methods: A 35-year-old male presented with a 1-month history of worsening furuncles on the left knee and posterior thigh following his return from Panama, South America. Clinical examination revealed tender 6 cm and 2 cm erythematous to violaceous furuncles with surrounding desquamation and central puncta draining serosanguinous fluid. Five-millimeter punch biopsies and tissue swabs were performed. Results: All larvae were of the Dermatobia hominis species. The patient was empirically treated with cephalexin and ciprofloxacin for secondary bacterial cellulitis. Tissue swabs later cultured group B streptococcus. A tetanus booster was recommended. Conclusion: This case report describes a relatively rare cutaneous infestation with D. hominis, a Central and South American endemic larva of the human botfly. Increasing trends toward immigration and global travel to tropical and subtropic areas will likely increase the frequency of encounters with such parasitic cutaneous infestations in North American outpatient dermatology clinics.


Lankesteriana ◽  
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Ossenbach ◽  
Rudolf Jenny

This study represents the first part of a series dedicated to the work of Rudolf Schlechter on the orchid flora of South America. The historical background of Schlechter’s botanical activity is outlined, and salient aspects of his biography, as well as his main scientific relationships, in particular with Oakes Ames, and the origins of his interest in tropical America are discussed. We also present a complete bibliography relative to Schlechter’s production on the orchid floras of South American countries, with his network of orchid collectors, growers and other purveyors, and checklists of all the new taxa that he described from each individual country.   Key words: bibliography, biography, history of botany, Orchidaceae, South America


2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 287-325
Author(s):  
Matthew Brown

Historians have tended to ignore the South American experience of cycling. The continent’s diverse history of sports has been effaced by a popular and academic focus on soccer. The global history of cycling has therefore omitted South America from its analysis, perpetuating mistaken assumptions about the continent’s absence from technological and social innovation. This article analyses the sources located across the continent to demonstrate that cyclists raced, toured, and did acrobatics, often watched by thousands of spectators, attracting the attention of chroniclers and the media. The physical sensations of travelling through the environment on a pedal-powered machine were new and unexpected. With its focus on cycling as sport, recreation and mode of transport, this article inserts South America into the early global history of cycling.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Jiménez-Lara ◽  
Jhon González

AbstractThe evolutionary history of the South American anteaters, Vermilingua, is incompletely known as consequence of the fragmentary and geographically biased nature of the fossil record of this group. Neotamandua borealis is the only recorded extinct species from northern South America, specifically from the Middle Miocene of La Venta area, southwestern Colombia. A new genus and species of myrmecophagid for La Venta, Gen. et sp. nov., is here described based on a new partial skull. Additionally, given that the co-occurrent species of Gen. et sp. nov., N. borealis, was originally referred to as Neotamandua, the taxonomic status of this genus is revised. The morphological and taxonomic analyses of these taxa indicate that Gen. et sp. nov. may be related to Tamandua and that the justification of the generic assignments of the species referred to as Neotamandua is weak or insufficient. Two species previously referred to as Neotamandua (N. magna and N.? australis) were designated as species inquirendae and new diagnostic information for the redefined genus and its type species, N. conspicua, is provided. Together, these results suggest that the diversification of Myrmecophagidae was taxonomically and biogeographically more complex than what has been proposed so far. Considering the new evidence, it is proposed a synthetic model on the diversification of these xenartrans during the late Cenozoic based on the probable relationships between their intrinsic ecological constraints and some major abiotic changes in the Americas.


2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 82 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Duque-Trujillo ◽  
Camilo Bustamante ◽  
Luigi Solari ◽  
Álvaro Gómez-Mafla ◽  
Gloria Toro-Villegas ◽  
...  

The Antioquia batholith represents the magmatic record of the interaction between the Farallón and Caribbean plates with the NW part of the South American Plate during the Meso-Cenozoic. Several authors have reported zircon U-Pb ages and whole rock geochemistry in order to constrain the crystallization history of this batholith and its formation conditions. The present work aims to gather the existing data with new data obtained from the Ovejas batholith and La Unión stock, both genetically related to the main intrusion. Gathering our new data with information obtained in previous works, we conclude that the Antioquia batholith was constructed by successive pulses from ca. 97 to 58 Ma in an arc-related setting. The initial pulses are related to syn-collisional tectonics, during the early interaction between the Farallón plate and NW South America. The final pulses, that record Eocene ages, are related to a post-collisional setting, similar to that recorded in other plutons of the Paleogene magmatic arc of the Central Cordillera.


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