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The researchers analyzed the genome of the skeleton of a Dynastic ruler buried in Copan. | Credit: Seiichi Nakamura
The skeletons buried near the ancient city of Maya have revealed new clues collapsebut not a total decimation of Mayan civilizationS
A study of the genomes of seven people from the classic Mayan period (250 to 900 AD) of Copan in the current Western Honduras showed that the population was shrinking about 1200 years ago.
“Our discoveries show a population size drop” among the Mayans, co -author of the study Shigiki KamaginTRINITY COLLEGE Genomic Medicine Assistant Dublin, Live Science told an email that “is” aligned with a scenario proposed by archaeologists, in which the population is decreasing but has not disappeared completely. “
Nakagome and colleagues published their discoveries on Wednesday (May 28) in the magazine Current biologyS In their study, researchers examined the hypothesis that outsiders took power in Copan in the late 420s and examined how interactions between locals and non-lokales created social and cultural changes in this important center of Maya.
Trap It was the main capital, located in the ultimate southeast of the classic Mayan civilization, operating as a kind of crossroads between Central and South America. The royal dynasty, which has ruled for four centuries, was created in Copan in 426 by a man by a man known as K’inich Yax K’uk ‘Mo’, who is an outsider according to the inscriptions. Previous genomic and isotope analyzes of skeletons from other Maya sites suggest that migration and flow of gene are common, but the nature of this mixing of a gene in Copan has never been studied before.
Based on the sequencing of the genomes of seven people buried in Copan, researchers have found that all people have different maternal families. However, two men belong to the same family line Y-chromosome and are buried together: one man in a rich funeral is a possible dynastic ruler and the other is a potential victim.
But the men were not closely connected. “Although the dynastic ruler and the sacrificial individual share the same haplogroup Y-chromosome,” said Nakagome, “We did not find kinship.” The genealogy that men share is common among the modern American population of the indigenous population, he said.
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Comparing the seven ancient genomes with the earlier sequented genomes in Siberia and America, researchers have found serious evidence of genetic continuity in the Maya region of the late archaic period, approximately 3700 BC, to the present day. These genetic data suggest “the lasting persistence of local origin in the Maya region,” the researchers wrote in the study.
They also discovered that during the classic Mayan period, there was an influx of people with Mexican descent, probably from other Maya sites, such as Highland Chichén itzáS These “outsider” – perhaps part of Kopan’s ruling dynasty – mixed with locals, creating a population with two main ancestors.
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Raising the genomic data of the seven individuals, the researchers were able to evaluate the amount of the Mayan population at specific points of the time. According to their model, “the population in the Maya area seems to have had a significant growth of effective size, reaching approximately 19,000 [people]”Around 730 AD, they wrote. The increase may be related to the emergence of agriculture of maize, which could support a larger population. Then the size of the population began to decrease around 750 years,” coinciding with the beginning of the collapse of classical Mayan civilization, “they wrote.
Although the population drastically decreases with the collapse of the Mayan political system, the researchers eventually found support in their analysis of the perseverance of the population over time.
“The genetic continuity observed in our study supports the idea that the population has not been replaced by another group after the collapse.” The genomes of over 7 million modern yeast are closely linked to the genomes of ancient yeast.