The old age of mitochondrial linage D1g from the southern cone of South America supports the early entry of the first migrants

Summary

The southern cone of South America has been an important source of information regarding the early peopling of America. The discovery of Monte Verde archeological site meant a revolution, leading to the idea and eventual acceptance of the Coastal route, also named Pre-Clovis hypothesis. Notwithstanding the fact that many pre-Clovis sites has been discover throughout America and this hypothesis is already accepted, the debate of the real age of the first migration still continues. Probably because the absence of very early archeological sites in North America, the genetic evidence has become the principal support for the early ages of American settlement, however not without controversy.

The mitochondrial subhaplogroup D1g described in 2012 and found in Amerindian populations of southern Chile and Argentina, represents today as Monte Verde then, an interesting paradox that has not been discussed properly. The ages obtained for D1g, between 25,000 to 19,000 years BP, are extreme old for a South American mitochondrial subhaplogroup. The phylogeny of D1g gives an old frame that does not fit into the ages for the rest of Amerindian mitochondrial haplogroups; and invite me to ask, is this linage the evidence to finally support the old age of the pre-Clovis migration?

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• After Anzick: Reconciling New Genomic Data and Models with the Archaeological Evidence for Peopling of the Americas

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