by New research led by Nathan Nakatsuka from Harvard Medical School’s Department of Genetics has uncovered evidence suggesting migrations from Mexico to California and the presence of Mexican-related ancestry in Central and Southern California around 5,200 years ago. In a recently published paper titled “Genetic continuity and change among the Indigenous peoples of California” in the journal Nature, the researchers present new genetic data that connects ancient individuals and languages to the cultural history of ancient California.
The study focuses on the Chumash region of California, which stretches along the coast from Malibu to north of Paso Robles, inland into Central California, and includes the Channel Islands. The researchers sequenced the earliest DNA from the Chumash region, discovering that it dates back to at least 7,400 years ago and shows the closest genetic relation to modern individuals from South America and an ancient individual called Anzick-1 from Montana, associated with the Clovis culture and dated to around 12,800 years before present.
The Anzick-1 remains, specifically those of a young boy named Anzick-1, were found alongside Clovis artifacts and are among the oldest human remains discovered in North America. Genetic analysis of Anzick-1 revealed connections and shared ancestry with various Indigenous populations across the Americas. The study also found that ancient individuals from Brazil (9,600 years BP), Chile (12,000 years BP), and a cave site in Nevada (10,000 years BP) are more closely related to Anzick-1 than to later populations in the same regions or early individuals from the Central Andes or Peru.
Interestingly, the affinity to the Clovis culture persisted for a longer period in the Chumash region of California compared to other sampled regions in the Americas. The study also analyzed ancient individuals from Northwest Mexico, which showed ancestry related to the earliest people from Peru. This suggests that the Indigenous people from Mexico had a distinct ancestry that split from those in the Chumash region of California, Brazil, and Chile around 12,800 years ago, before the Montana Clovis culture.
Before the arrival of Catholic Mission forts in California, the Chumash people lived in 150 independent towns and villages, with a population of over 25,000 people. They spoke six different but closely-related Uto-Aztecan languages across the region. The Uto-Aztecan language family has proven to be a mystery for researchers, as it stretches from Idaho to Costa Rica, covering the American Southwest and Mexico. While the language family is diverse, with numerous distinct versions, its precise origin has remained unknown.
There have been several proposed homelands for Uto-Aztecan, including the Great Basin, California’s central valley, the Sonora desert, Southern Arizona, and Central and Northern Mexico, each supported by different linguistic and archaeological evidence. To shed light on this mystery, the researchers used genetic clustering of individuals by geography and language, considering groups likely to have spoken Chumashan, Uto-Aztecan, and Utian. They discovered evidence of large-scale genetic lineage movement from Northwest Mexico into Southern and Central California around 5,200 years ago.
This finding suggests that this migration period may have contributed to the spread of Uto-Aztecan languages and also indicates a significant influx of people from the south before the advent of maize agriculture. The researchers found a strong genetic relationship between an ancient individual from Central California, dating back around 5,200 years ago, and ancient individuals from Baja California. This supports the theory that people speaking languages from an earlier linguistic substrate were once dispersed across large parts of California, and that the genetic and linguistic landscape of the region was transformed by new migrants.
Importantly, there was no evidence of Polynesian or Australasian genetic contributions in ancient Californian and Northwest Mexican individuals, dispelling previous attempts to connect the Chumash people with those in Hawaii based on shared similarities in certain aspects of Chumash tomolo canoe construction. The Chumash inhabited the archipelago islands off the coast of California for over 7,500 years, long before Hawaiians arrived in Hawaii or any Polynesians lived on an island. The similarities in canoe technology even predate the Hawaiian population by several hundred years, making a connection between the two unlikely.
It is essential to note that when discussing ancient Native Americans, the use of location names such as Paso Robles and California in this context refers to time frames that occurred long before these names were assigned by Europeans. The study covers a period that predates the arrival of Europeans in Europe or the development of European languages used to later name locations in what is referred to as the New World. The Americas have a rich cultural history that predates many ancient civilizations around the world.
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1. Source: Coherent Market Insights, Public sources, Desk research
2. We have leveraged AI tools to mine information and compile it
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