First Inhabitants of Brazil

People genetically linked to Clovis culture, one of North America's first continental cultures, arrived in South America 11,000 years ago. Then, they mysteriously disappeared about 9,000 years ago, according to new research.

Findings published in the journal Cell suggest that this population turnover occurred across the entire continent of South America. Previous research suggests that early Americans diverged genetically from their Siberian and East Asian ancestors nearly 25,000 years ago.

These people traveled across the Bering Strait land bridge and eventually split into distinct North and South American populations.

Around 13,000 years ago, people from the Clovis culture, known for their use of stone tools, swept across North America. Meanwhile, people lived as far south as Monte Verde, Chile, at least 14,500 years ago, according to archaeological finds there.

But little was known about how members of the Clovis culture were linked to other populations further south. To unlock the genetic mysteries of these ancient Americans, researchers reached out to indigenous peoples and government agencies across throughout Central and South America, asking permission to study the remains of ancient peoples that were discovered over the centuries. years.

In all, the international team of scientists was granted permission to carry out genomic analyzes on 49 ancient peoples. whose remains were discovered in the following countries of Central and South America: Belize, Brazil, Peru, Chile and Argentina.

The oldest of these people lived around 11,000 years ago, marking this as a study that gives a big step forward from previous research, which only included genetic data from people under 1,000 years.

Their findings showed that the DNA associated with the North American Clovis culture has been found in people from Chile, Brazil and Belize, but only between 11,000 and 9,000 years ago.

Interestingly, around 9,000 years ago, the Clovis lineage disappears. Even today, there is no associated DNA found in South Americans, according to the researchers. This suggests that a continent-wide population replacement took place at the time, the researcher said. co-senior David Reich, professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School and researcher at Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

After this mysterious disappearance, there is a surprising amount of genetic continuity between the people who lived 9,000 years ago and those who live today in various regions of South America, said the researchers.