Zurich researchers reconstruct the history of Chilean indigenous peoples
Published: Tuesday, May 7th 2024, 12:34
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Using saliva samples and fossils, researchers at the University of Zurich have reconstructed the genetic history of Chile's largest indigenous ethnic group. They were able to show that the Mapuche lived in relative isolation for a long time and defied the Incas and Spaniards, as the University of Zurich announced on Tuesday.
According to the researchers, the study was intended to highlight the importance of the indigenous group, which, like many indigenous people, was displaced by European immigrants. "Our work is also an appreciation and should strengthen the identity of this marginalized group," lead author Epifania Arango was quoted as saying in the university's press release.
The study, which was published in the journal "Current Biology", shows that the direct genetic ancestors of the so-called Mapuche already colonized South America 5000 years ago, as the university announced on Tuesday. According to the analysis, the Mapuche separated themselves from the peoples living further north in the Andes for 4000 years. It was not until around 500 to 1000 years ago that there was an exchange with the Andean peoples.
Genes only slightly different
According to the researchers, this can also be seen in the Mapuche language. Only after this contact was there a transfer of special words from the Ketchua spoken in the Andes into the Mapudungun of the Mapuche.
Contact with the Andean highlands took place before the Inca conquests in the 15th century. The Incas, in turn, tried in vain to subjugate the Mapuche from the north. They had to turn back, as did the Spaniards, who were bitterly opposed by the Mapuche.
The saliva samples used by the researchers for the analyses were provided by 64 members of the Mapuche.
Afterwards, they were most interested in the question: "How indigenous am I, am I one hundred percent Mapuche?", said the university. However, the researchers emphasized that genetics does not provide an answer to identity. Genetically speaking, people are different in less than one ten-thousandth of the entire genome.
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