A Call for Contextualized Ancient DNA Research in Mexico: The Importance of Developing Ancient DNA Collaborations that Further Education and Technology Transfer and Infrastructure in Developing Countries: Perspectives from Mexico's Experiences

Author(s): Miguel Contreras-Sieck; Paola Everardo-Martínez; Paloma Constanza Huerta-Chavez; Alejandro Alvarado-Gonzalez; Víctor Acuña-Alonzo

Year: 2021

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Increasing the Accessibility of Ancient DNA within Archaeology" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Ancient DNA approaches have a long-standing history in bioanthropological and archaeological contexts in Mexico. However, we are starting to see a gap between these novel data and anthropologists; this could be the result of the mixture of the rapid advance of paleogenomics together with the lack of technological and infrastructure capabilities in Mexico's anthropological institutions. As research continues to moves toward sampling hundreds of human remains from archaeological sites, this will require more than ever interdisciplinary perspectives built together by anthropologists and paleogeneticists. With this context in mind, two projects at the National School of Anthropology and History were developed to (1) create education and training opportunities to students and anthropologists interested in ancient DNA initiatives, (2) develop a database of ancient DNA research in Mexico, and (3) develop an ethical framework proposal for ancient DNA studies done with humans remains that is sensible toward research done and also the worldwide discussions around aDNA. These goals represent an effort toward developing ethical collaborations that are sensible to the complexity and dimensions of the challenges that aDNA faces today, and also an opportunity to establish working relationships between international institutions that benefit academic students and produce high-quality collaborator research.

Cite this Record

A Call for Contextualized Ancient DNA Research in Mexico: The Importance of Developing Ancient DNA Collaborations that Further Education and Technology Transfer and Infrastructure in Developing Countries: Perspectives from Mexico's Experiences. Miguel Contreras-Sieck, Paola Everardo-Martínez, Paloma Constanza Huerta-Chavez, Alejandro Alvarado-Gonzalez, Víctor Acuña-Alonzo. Presented at The 86th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. 2021 ( tDAR id: 466481)

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Keywords

General
ancient DNA • Ethical collaboration • Ethics

Geographic Keywords
North America

Spatial Coverage

min long: -168.574; min lat: 7.014 ; max long: -54.844; max lat: 74.683 ;

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 33509