Ancient Migrations in the Aztatlán Region: aDNA Analyses

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

While mounting evidence suggests that the Aztatlán tradition in west Mexico was a major cosmopolitan region during the Postclassic period (AD 900-1521), archaeologists have characterized items and beliefs as being culturally distinct from the rest of Mesoamerica. Recently, endogenous and exogenous material culture distribution has been interpreted as the movement and exchange of goods and ideas between Aztatlán subregions and surrounding areas through physical interaction and/or trade. Hypothesized socioeconomic interaction networks range as far north as the U.S. Southwest/Northwest Mexico and southeastward to southern Mesoamerica and beyond. While current macroregional population models for this geographic region focus on material exchanges, the question of geneflow along proposed interaction networks has not been addressed. Genetic information from skeletal remains disinterred during excavations in the 1950s to 1960s offers insight on population dynamics and regional connectivity. This poster discusses the first use of mtDNA analyses and genetic biological sex estimations of these skeletal remains to assess factors that shaped genetic variation at sites within the Aztatlán core zone (Amapa and Peñitas) and adjoining highlands (Tizapán El Alto). This research, which highlights the benefits of international collaboration, has obtained all permissions necessary from the Mexican government and museum housing the human remains.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36666.0