Post by archaeologist on Sept 14, 2024 3:09:48 GMT -5
There has been many speculations about the Olmecs and other Mesoamerican civilisations. Some of the speculations have even wanted to place the origin of these civilisations in the so called Old World (Africa or Eurasia). But archaeological and genetic research places the Mesoamerican cultures into a fully Native American context both culturally and biologically.
Here are two studies of interest, one about the ancient Olmecs, and the other about the famous Mesoamerican metropol Teotihuacan.
In 2018 the DNA of two Olmec bodies were studied, one from San Lorenso and one from Loma del Zapote in Mexico. The DNA showed affinity with other Native American peoples and not with peoples from the "Old World":
(Translated from Spanish)
ESTUDIOS DE ADN Y EL ORIGEN DE LOS OLMECAS
Here are two studies of interest, one about the ancient Olmecs, and the other about the famous Mesoamerican metropol Teotihuacan.
In 2018 the DNA of two Olmec bodies were studied, one from San Lorenso and one from Loma del Zapote in Mexico. The DNA showed affinity with other Native American peoples and not with peoples from the "Old World":
"DNA STUDIES AND THE ORIGIN OF THE OLMECS
ENRIQUE VILLAMAR BECERRIL
Creators of a culture in which they left an original display of prodigious creativity and talent, the first interpretation regarding the Olmecs addressed their possible ethnic origin, based on their most distinctive stone manifestation: a colossal head, Monument A of Tres Zapotes, according to its subsequent classification. The proposal dates back to 1871 when, ironically, the Olmec was not included in the panorama of archaeological cultures in Mexico. During a tour of Veracruz, José Melgar, interested in antiquities, learned of the fortuitous discovery of an enormous stone sculpture by peasants in a Hueyapan hacienda, today Tres Zapotes. Without precedent for a similar piece in the then corpus of pre-Hispanic sculpture, José Melgar contemplated an unusual, surprising and enigmatic demonstration of the inexhaustible cultural wealth that awaited on Mexican soil. Skilled artisans detailed the racial physiognomy of the face sculpted in the stone, Melgar considered. In this he saw reliable evidence of transoceanic contacts, long before Columbus, which led to the presence of black individuals in America. Over the years, the idea of the African origin of the Olmecs lingers in the minds of many people, as the same facial features that caused Melgar's astonishment ended up being the constant in Olmec monuments. What information was missing could provide the skeletal remains.
In the investigations of the San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán Archaeological Project at the sites of San Lorenzo and Loma del Zapote, several human burials from the Olmec period were found. The bone consistency in two of them allowed the study of their mitochondrial DNA to be carried out successfully, as part of an investigation that proposes the comparative analysis of the genetic information of the Olmecs with that obtained from subjects from other Mesoamerican societies, under the advice of the specialists María de Lourdes Muñoz Moreno and Miguel Moreno Galeana, from Cinvestav.
In the cells of our body there are two types of DNA. The nuclear, represented by chromosomes, and the mitochondrial. Mitochondria are small organelles external to the nucleus, responsible for producing the energy required by cellular metabolism. Mitochondrial DNA (ADNMT), contrary to nuclear, is inherited only by the maternal route from sons and daughters, and they have been the only ones to transmit it throughout the history of humanity. Thus, mitochondrial lineages, called haplogroups given their uniparental (maternal) origin, are so ancient that they transcend geographic, cultural, and temporal boundaries. This property of ADNMT offers anthropology a means to trace the historical evolution of contemporary and past populations. Thanks to this, the repertoire of maternal lineages is known on a global scale, their geographical-temporal distribution, and in addition the lineages originating from each continent.
The pioneering study of ADNMT carried out on Olmec individuals, one from San Lorenzo and the other from Loma del Zapote, resulted, in both cases, in the unequivocal presence of the distinctive mutations of the “A” maternal lineage. That is, the origin of the Olmecs is not in Africa but in America, since they share the most abundant of the five mitochondrial haplogroups characteristic of the indigenous populations of our continent: A, B, C, D and X.
Beyond what happened in other latitudes, immersed in their particular environmental mosaic from which they took advantage, the Mesoamerican peoples resolved in a practical and innovative way multiple challenges of their day to day. This led them to forge such diverse societies, whose achievements in countless areas of human endeavor made Mesoamerica an extraordinary cultural area of the ancient world. The underlying talent and its bearers were of local descent, and an example of this is Olmec society, the first Mesoamerican civilization.
Enrique Villamar Becerril. Physical anthropologist from ENAH. Candidate for a doctorate in Mesoamerican studies (UNAM), with an analysis of ADNMT in bone remains from various sites of the Preclassic period.
Villamar Becerril Enrique, "DNA Studies and the Origin of the Olmecs", Mexican Archeology, no. 150, pp. 40-41."
ENRIQUE VILLAMAR BECERRIL
Creators of a culture in which they left an original display of prodigious creativity and talent, the first interpretation regarding the Olmecs addressed their possible ethnic origin, based on their most distinctive stone manifestation: a colossal head, Monument A of Tres Zapotes, according to its subsequent classification. The proposal dates back to 1871 when, ironically, the Olmec was not included in the panorama of archaeological cultures in Mexico. During a tour of Veracruz, José Melgar, interested in antiquities, learned of the fortuitous discovery of an enormous stone sculpture by peasants in a Hueyapan hacienda, today Tres Zapotes. Without precedent for a similar piece in the then corpus of pre-Hispanic sculpture, José Melgar contemplated an unusual, surprising and enigmatic demonstration of the inexhaustible cultural wealth that awaited on Mexican soil. Skilled artisans detailed the racial physiognomy of the face sculpted in the stone, Melgar considered. In this he saw reliable evidence of transoceanic contacts, long before Columbus, which led to the presence of black individuals in America. Over the years, the idea of the African origin of the Olmecs lingers in the minds of many people, as the same facial features that caused Melgar's astonishment ended up being the constant in Olmec monuments. What information was missing could provide the skeletal remains.
In the investigations of the San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán Archaeological Project at the sites of San Lorenzo and Loma del Zapote, several human burials from the Olmec period were found. The bone consistency in two of them allowed the study of their mitochondrial DNA to be carried out successfully, as part of an investigation that proposes the comparative analysis of the genetic information of the Olmecs with that obtained from subjects from other Mesoamerican societies, under the advice of the specialists María de Lourdes Muñoz Moreno and Miguel Moreno Galeana, from Cinvestav.
In the cells of our body there are two types of DNA. The nuclear, represented by chromosomes, and the mitochondrial. Mitochondria are small organelles external to the nucleus, responsible for producing the energy required by cellular metabolism. Mitochondrial DNA (ADNMT), contrary to nuclear, is inherited only by the maternal route from sons and daughters, and they have been the only ones to transmit it throughout the history of humanity. Thus, mitochondrial lineages, called haplogroups given their uniparental (maternal) origin, are so ancient that they transcend geographic, cultural, and temporal boundaries. This property of ADNMT offers anthropology a means to trace the historical evolution of contemporary and past populations. Thanks to this, the repertoire of maternal lineages is known on a global scale, their geographical-temporal distribution, and in addition the lineages originating from each continent.
The pioneering study of ADNMT carried out on Olmec individuals, one from San Lorenzo and the other from Loma del Zapote, resulted, in both cases, in the unequivocal presence of the distinctive mutations of the “A” maternal lineage. That is, the origin of the Olmecs is not in Africa but in America, since they share the most abundant of the five mitochondrial haplogroups characteristic of the indigenous populations of our continent: A, B, C, D and X.
Beyond what happened in other latitudes, immersed in their particular environmental mosaic from which they took advantage, the Mesoamerican peoples resolved in a practical and innovative way multiple challenges of their day to day. This led them to forge such diverse societies, whose achievements in countless areas of human endeavor made Mesoamerica an extraordinary cultural area of the ancient world. The underlying talent and its bearers were of local descent, and an example of this is Olmec society, the first Mesoamerican civilization.
Enrique Villamar Becerril. Physical anthropologist from ENAH. Candidate for a doctorate in Mesoamerican studies (UNAM), with an analysis of ADNMT in bone remains from various sites of the Preclassic period.
Villamar Becerril Enrique, "DNA Studies and the Origin of the Olmecs", Mexican Archeology, no. 150, pp. 40-41."
ESTUDIOS DE ADN Y EL ORIGEN DE LOS OLMECAS