Ancient genomes reveal insights into ritual life at Chichen Itza

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Barquera, Rodrigo; Del Castillo-Chavez, Oana; Naegele, Kathrin; Perez-Ramallo, Patxi; Hernandez-Zaragoza, Diana Iraiz; Szolek, Andras; Rohrlach, Adam Benjamin; Librado, Pablo; Childebayeva, Ainash; Bianco, Raffaela Angelina; Penman, Bridget S.; Acuna-Alonzo, Victor; Lucas, Mary; Lara-Riegos, Julio Cesar; Moo-Mezeta, Maria Ermila; Torres-Romero, Julio Cesar; Roberts, Patrick; Kohlbacher, Oliver; Warinner, Christina; Krause, Johannes
• 署名单位: Max Planck Society; Max Planck Society; University of Basque Country; Max Planck Society; Eberhard Karls University of Tubingen; Eberhard Karls University of Tubingen; University of Adelaide; Pompeu Fabra University; Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC); CSIC-UPF - Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (IBE); University of Warwick; University of Warwick; Universidad Autonoma de Yucatan; Universidad Autonoma de Yucatan; Eberhard Karls University of Tubingen; Eberhard Karls University of Tubingen; Eberhard Karls University of Tubingen; Eberhard Karls University Hospital; Harvard University; Norwegian University of Science & Technology (NTNU); University of Texas System; University of Texas Austin
• 刊物名称: Nature
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0028-4146
• DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07509-7
• 发表日期: 2024-06-27
• 页码: 912-+
• 关键词: salmonella-enterica; pathogen selection; natural-selection; wide patterns; maya; population; Mexico; diet; gene; 16th-century

摘要

The ancient city of Chichen Itza in Yucatan, Mexico, was one of the largest and most influential Maya settlements during the Late and Terminal Classic periods (ad 600-1000) and it remains one of the most intensively studied archaeological sites in Mesoamerica(1-4). However, many questions about the social and cultural use of its ceremonial spaces, as well as its population's genetic ties to other Mesoamerican groups, remain unanswered(2). Here we present genome-wide data obtained from 64 subadult individuals dating to around ad 500-900 that were found in a subterranean mass burial near the Sacred Cenote (sinkhole) in the ceremonial centre of Chichen Itza. Genetic analyses showed that all analysed individuals were male and several individuals were closely related, including two pairs of monozygotic twins. Twins feature prominently in Mayan and broader Mesoamerican mythology, where they embody qualities of duality among deities and heroes(5), but until now they had not been identified in ancient Mayan mortuary contexts. Genetic comparison to present-day people in the region shows genetic continuity with the ancient inhabitants of Chichen Itza, except at certain genetic loci related to human immunity, including the human leukocyte antigen complex, suggesting signals of adaptation due to infectious diseases introduced to the region during the colonial period.