The complete mitogenome of a 500-year-old Inca child mummyAlberto Gómez-Carballa, Laura Catelli, Jacobo Pardo-Seco, Federico Martinón-Torres, Lutz Roewer, Carlos Vullo & Antonio Salas
Received:17 June 2015
Accepted:16 October 2015
Published online:12 November 2015
AbstractIn 1985, a frozen mummy was found in Cerro Aconcagua (Argentina). Archaeological studies identified the mummy as a seven-year-old Inca sacrifice victim who lived >500 years ago, at the time of the expansion of the Inca Empire towards the southern cone. The sequence of its entire mitogenome was obtained. After querying a large worldwide database of mitogenomes (>28,000) we found that the Inca haplotype belonged to a branch of haplogroup C1b (C1bi) that has not yet been identified in modern Native Americans. The expansion of C1b into the Americas, as estimated using 203 C1b mitogenomes, dates to the initial Paleoindian settlements (~18.3 thousand years ago [kya]); however, its internal variation differs between Mesoamerica and South America. By querying large databases of control region haplotypes (>150,000), we found only a few C1bi members in Peru and Bolivia (e.g. Aymaras), including one haplotype retrieved from ancient DNA of an individual belonging to the Wari Empire (Peruvian Andes). Overall, the results suggest that the profile of the mummy represents a very rare sub-clade that arose 14.3 (5–23.6) kya and could have been more frequent in the past. A Peruvian Inca origin for present-day C1bi haplotypes would satisfy both the genetic and paleo-anthropological findings.
http://www.nature.com/articles/srep16462Inca child mummy reveals lost genetic history of South Americahttp://news.sciencemag.org/archaeology/2015/11/inca-child-mummy-reveals-lost-genetic-history-south-america