[Aztlan] Chibchan-Mayan mitochondrial DNA

[ECOLING at aol.com]

After reading the article cited in an earlier message,
from Amer. J. of Physical Anthropology 133:753-770 (2007),
here are a few quotations and summaries.

[Please pardon the abnormal uses of a hyphen in
"Chibchan-speakers" and its absence in "Chibchan speaking groups",
which to me is ungrammatical, like scratching fingernails on a blackboard,
but I am simply attempting to quote the original as it stands.
Presumably it does not reflect any lack of care in the analysis.]

Concerning the area where North and South America join in general...

<<This research has rejected the traditional notion of the region
as a heavily trodden pathway for migrating populations
and instead suggested long term occupancy and biological continuity.
While archaeological and linguistic research has found a cultural association
between Central and South American Chibchan speaking populations,
the biological relationship remains largely unresolved.
This study demonstrated that northern South and lower Central American
Chibchan speakers share a unique genetic structure but if they share 
common ancestry it occurred in the distant past.   We also find an affinity
between Chibchan groups and a Maya population.>> [Quichéan]
<<In additiona, we propose an early expansion of Chibchan-speakers
from Central America into northern South America.   
We propose that this expansion was precipitated by climatic changes 
during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition and was accompanied by 
a subsistence shift from hunter-gathering to horticulture.>>

Lloyd adding:   Many of the mythologies of at least Northwestern
South America do emphasize the origins of seeds and usable plants
and the knowledge needed for horticulture.

<<there is low maternal gene flow between groups in the region. ...
Ethnographic information supports this assumption as most 
Chibchan-speakers practice uxorilocal marriage customs 
(husband moves to wife's home)>>

<<In the case of Chibchan-speaking groups and the majority of
eastern South American groups all values ...
indicating long term population continuity.   This pattern differs 
from Andean ... Siberian, and North American ... populations
that demonstrate recent geographic expansion.>>

<<The two largest Chibchan-speaking populations present at contact
were from Colombia and included the Tairona, whose maximum 
population size at contact has been estimated at 468,000 ...
and the Muisca whose estimated size at Spanish contact was 500,000.>>

<<Colombia contains the second largest number of indigenous populations
in South America representing 80 different linguistic families....   
The geographic distribution of these languages is more numerous and
fragmented on the southeastern side of the Andes,
whereas on the northwestern side there are fewer languages and
most populations have cultural and biological affinities to either Central
American (Chibchan and Chocoan) or Caribbean (Arawak and Carib)
populations.>>

[On one two-dimensional scaling, the Maya Quichéan group
are closest to Panamanian Chibchan]

<<early geographic expansion of Chibchan-speakers from
Central America into South America>>

Haplogroups present 
A and some C among Santa Marta Peninsula Chibchans (no D or B)
A and some B among Central American Chibchan (no D)
A and some B, little C among "Mayan"   (almost no D)

Hope this is of interest.
Again, for information on the Sept. 15 symposium
"Center of the Americas" focused on the Chibchan & Chocoan areas
please see the web site
www.pcswdc.org

Best wishes,
Lloyd Anderson
Ecological Linguistics


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