Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents Summary for Volumes 1, 2 and 3
- Contents
- Volume 1 Maps
- Volume 2 Maps
- Volume 3 Maps
- About the Contributors
- Volume 1
- Volume 2
- V. East Asia
- VI. The Americas
- 2.13 The Americas: DNA
- 2.14 Initial Peopling of the Americas: Context, Findings, and Issues
- 2.15 Paleoindian and Archaic Periods in North America
- 2.16 The Paleoindian and Archaic of Central and South America
- 2.17 The Archaic and Formative Periods of Mesoamerica
- 2.18 Agricultural Origins and Social Implications in South America
- 2.19 The Basin of Mexico
- 2.20 The Olmec, 1800–400 bce
- 2.21 Oaxaca
- 2.22 The Origins and Development of Lowland Maya Civilisation
- 2.23 Early Coastal South America
- 2.24 The Development of Early Peruvian Civilisation (2600–300 bce)
- 2.25 Styles and Identities in the Central Andes: The Early Intermediate Period and Middle Horizon
- 2.26 The Late Intermediate Period and Late Horizon
- 2.27 Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela
- 2.28 Prehistory of Amazonia
- 2.29 Argentina and Chile
- 2.30 The Caribbean Islands
- 2.31 The Southwestern Region of North America
- 2.32 The Pacific Coast of North America
- 2.33 The Great Plains and Mississippi Valley
- 2.34 Eastern Atlantic Coast
- 2.35 Northern North America
- 2.36 The Americas: Languages
- Volume 3
- Index
- References
2.13 - The Americas: DNA
from VI. - The Americas
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2014
- Frontmatter
- Contents Summary for Volumes 1, 2 and 3
- Contents
- Volume 1 Maps
- Volume 2 Maps
- Volume 3 Maps
- About the Contributors
- Volume 1
- Volume 2
- V. East Asia
- VI. The Americas
- 2.13 The Americas: DNA
- 2.14 Initial Peopling of the Americas: Context, Findings, and Issues
- 2.15 Paleoindian and Archaic Periods in North America
- 2.16 The Paleoindian and Archaic of Central and South America
- 2.17 The Archaic and Formative Periods of Mesoamerica
- 2.18 Agricultural Origins and Social Implications in South America
- 2.19 The Basin of Mexico
- 2.20 The Olmec, 1800–400 bce
- 2.21 Oaxaca
- 2.22 The Origins and Development of Lowland Maya Civilisation
- 2.23 Early Coastal South America
- 2.24 The Development of Early Peruvian Civilisation (2600–300 bce)
- 2.25 Styles and Identities in the Central Andes: The Early Intermediate Period and Middle Horizon
- 2.26 The Late Intermediate Period and Late Horizon
- 2.27 Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela
- 2.28 Prehistory of Amazonia
- 2.29 Argentina and Chile
- 2.30 The Caribbean Islands
- 2.31 The Southwestern Region of North America
- 2.32 The Pacific Coast of North America
- 2.33 The Great Plains and Mississippi Valley
- 2.34 Eastern Atlantic Coast
- 2.35 Northern North America
- 2.36 The Americas: Languages
- Volume 3
- Index
- References
Summary
Modern Native American DNA
Between 1993 and 1996, mitochondrial DNA analyses of Native Americans established the presence of five major mtDNA types A, B, C, D (Torroni et al. 1993a, 1993b) and X (Bandelt et al. 1995; Forster et al. 1996) in the Americas. While types A–D are found across the Americas, X has a regional distribution, being restricted to North America, where it is found approximately along the latitude of the Great Lakes, that is, along the perimeter of the former Laurentide ice sheet. Asians also have these mtDNA types, with A, C and D being widespread and frequent, whereas B is absent in northern Asia, and X is rare or absent throughout Asia.
What is rarely pointed out in this early research, but striking in retrospect, is the very low rate of admixture from European or African females: indeed subjects who report Native American ancestry in their maternal line are almost certain (over 99%) to have one of these five Native American mtDNA types. On the paternal side, as measured by the Y chromosome typing, the story is very different. There are three Native American Y chromosome types, the major type Q, and the rarer types C and O. All of these are found in northern Asia. In addition, and in contrast to the mtDNA picture, there is extensive evidence of European admixture in the male lineages; even in Greenland Eskimos the European Y-chromosomal proportion is found to be as high as 50%. Conversely, in “white” Latin Americans, European Y chromosomes dominate, while Latin American mtDNA is largely or predominantly Native American, along with some African admixture.
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- Information
- The Cambridge World Prehistory , pp. 899 - 902Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014
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