Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T03:18:14.323Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Life and death in early colonial Campeche: new insights from ancient DNA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 July 2022

Vera Tiesler ,
Jakob Sedig ,
Nathan Nakatsuka ,
Swapan Mallick ,
Iosif Lazaridis ,
Rebecca Bernardos ,
Nasreen Broomandkhoshbacht ,
Jonas Oppenheimer ,
Ann Marie Lawson  and
Kristin Stewardson
...Show all authors
Vera Tiesler*
Affiliation:
Facultad de Ciencias Antropológicas, Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, Mérida, Mexico
Jakob Sedig
Affiliation:
Harvard Medical School, Department of Genetics, USA
Nathan Nakatsuka
Affiliation:
Harvard Medical School, Department of Genetics, USA
Swapan Mallick
Affiliation:
Harvard Medical School, Department of Genetics, USA Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, USA Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, USA
Iosif Lazaridis
Affiliation:
Harvard Medical School, Department of Genetics, USA
Rebecca Bernardos
Affiliation:
Harvard Medical School, Department of Genetics, USA
Nasreen Broomandkhoshbacht
Affiliation:
Harvard Medical School, Department of Genetics, USA Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, USA
Jonas Oppenheimer
Affiliation:
Harvard Medical School, Department of Genetics, USA Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, USA
Ann Marie Lawson
Affiliation:
Harvard Medical School, Department of Genetics, USA Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, USA
Kristin Stewardson
Affiliation:
Harvard Medical School, Department of Genetics, USA Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, USA
Nadin Rohland
Affiliation:
Harvard Medical School, Department of Genetics, USA
Douglas J. Kennett
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA
T. Douglas Price
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin, USA
David Reich
Affiliation:
Harvard Medical School, Department of Genetics, USA Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, USA Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, USA
*
*Author for correspondence ✉ vtiesler@yahoo.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Campeche, one of the Spanish Empire's main Mexican ports, was a place where previously distinct cultures and populations intermingled during the colonial era (AD 1540–1680). Investigation of the town's central plaza revealed a Hispanic cemetery of multi-ethnic burials. The authors combine previous analyses with newly generated genome-wide data from 10 individuals to trace detailed life histories of the mostly young, local Indigenous Americans and first-generation European and African immigrants, none of whom show evidence of genetic admixture. These results provide insights into the individual lives and social divides of the town's founder communities and demonstrate how ancient DNA analyses can contribute to understanding early colonial encounters.

Keywords

MexicoCampecheNovohispanic societyancient DNAisotope analysisgenomics
Type
Research Article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 96 , Issue 388 , August 2022 , pp. 937 - 954
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Antiquity Publications Ltd.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

†

Jakob Sedig and Vera Tiesler contributed equally to this article

References

Anonymous. 1877. Cartas de Indias. Madrid: Ministerio de Fomento.Google Scholar
Antochiw, M. 2010. Mapping colonial life in the main plaza of Campeche, in Tiesler, V., Zabala, P. & Cucina, A. (ed.) Natives, Europeans and Africans in colonial Campeche: history and archaeology: 8–35. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. https://doi.org/10.5744/florida/9780813034928.003.0002CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 2017. Methods for summarizing radiocarbon datasets. Radiocarbon 59: 1809–33. https://doi.org/10.1017/RDC.2017.108CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cucina, A. 2010. Social inequality in the early Spanish colony: oral pathologies and dental enamel hypoplasia in the skeletal sample from Campeche, in Tiesler, V., Zabala, P. & Cucina, A. (ed.) Natives, Europeans and Africans in colonial Campeche: history and archaeology: 111–29. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. https://doi.org/10.5744/florida/9780813034928.003.0006CrossRefGoogle Scholar
González-Martín, A. et al. 2015. Demographic history of Indigenous populations in Mesoamerica based on mtDNA sequence data. PLoS ONE 10: e0131791. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0131791CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Haak, W. et al. 2008. Ancient DNA, strontium isotopes, and osteological analyses shed light on social and kinship organization of the later Stone Age. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 105: 18226–31. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0807592105CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hansen, H.B. et al. 2017. Comparing ancient DNA preservation in petrous bone and tooth cementum. PLoS ONE 12: e0170940. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0170940CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jaén, M.T., Romano, A. & Bautista, J.. 2017. Catálogo de los esqueletos de San Jerónimo, Ciudad de México. Mexico City: Claustro de Sor Juana, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.Google Scholar
Knipper, C. et al. 2017. Female exogamy and gene pool diversification at the transition from the Final Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age in Central Europe. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 114: 10083–88. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1706355114CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lazaridis, I. et al. 2016. Genomic insights into the origin of farming in the ancient Near East. Nature 536: 419–24. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature19310CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
López de Cogolludo, D. 1954. Historia de Yucatán. Campeche: Gobierno del Estado de Campeche.Google Scholar
Martínez, S. 2006. La patria del criollo: ensayo de la historia colonial guatemalteca. Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica.Google Scholar
Mendoza-Revilla, J. et al. 2022. Disentangling signatures of selection before and after European colonization in Latin Americans. Molecular Biology and Evolution 39: msac076. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msac076CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mittnik, A. et al. 2019. Kinship-based social inequality in Bronze Age Europe. Science 366: 731–34. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aax6219CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pérez-Castro, G. 2019. Arqueología monacal: el monasterio femenino de San Jerónimo, Ciudad de México (siglos XVI al XIX). Mexico City: Secretaría de Cultura, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Universidad del Claustro de Sor Juana.Google Scholar
Pinhasi, R. et al. 2015. Optimal ancient DNA yields from the inner ear part of the human petrous bone. PLoS ONE 10: e0129102. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0129102CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pinhasi, R. et al. 2019. Isolating the human cochlea to generate bone powder for ancient DNA analysis. Nature Protocols 14: 1194–205. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41596-019-0137-7CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Price, T.D., Tiesler, V. & Burton, J.H.. 2006. Early African diaspora in colonial Campeche, Mexico: strontium isotopic evidence. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 130: 485–90. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.20390CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Price, T.D. et al. 2012. Isotopic studies of human skeletal remains from a sixteenth to seventeenth century AD churchyard in Campeche, Mexico: diet, place of origin, and age. Current Anthropology 53: 396–433. https://doi.org/10.1086/666492CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raghavan, M. et al. 2014. Upper Palaeolithic Siberian genome reveals dual ancestry of Native Americans. Nature 505: 87–91. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12736CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reidla, M. et al. 2003. Origin and diffusion of mtDNA haplogroup X. American Journal of Human Genetics 73: 1178–90. https://doi.org/10.1086/379380CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reimer, P.J. et al. 2013. IntCal13 and Marine13 radiocarbon age calibration curves 0–50 000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 55: 1869–87. https://doi.org/10.2458/azu_js_rc.55.16947CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rodríguez Pérez, M. 2010. Living conditions, mortality, and social organization in Campeche during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in Tiesler, V., Zabala, P. & Cucina, A. (ed.) Natives, Europeans and Africans in colonial Campeche: history and archaeology: 95–110. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. https://doi.org/10.5744/florida/9780813034928.003.0005CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scholes, F.V. & Roys, R.L.. 1996. Los chontales de Acalan-Tixchel. CIESAS: Mexico City.Google Scholar
Schultz, M. 2003. Light microscopic analysis in skeletal paleopathology, in Ortner, D.J. (ed.) Identification of pathological conditions in human skeletal remains: 73–108. Amsterdam: Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-012528628-2/50043-0CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, G.R. & Turner, C.G.. 1997. The anthropology of modern teeth: dental morphology and its variation in recent human populations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316529843CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soares, P. et al. 2012. The expansion of mtDNA haplogroup L3 within and out of Africa. Molecular Biology and Evolution 29: 915–27. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msr245CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Söchtig, J. et al. 2015. Genomic insights on the ethno-history of the Maya and the ‘Ladinos’ from Guatemala. BMC Genomics 16: 131. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-015-1339-1CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stojanowsky, C.M. 2005. Biocultural histories in La Florida: a bioarchaeological perspective. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama.Google Scholar
Tiesler, V. & Zabala, P.. 2010. Dying in the colonies: death, burial, and mortuary patterning in Campeche's main plaza, in Tiesler, V., Zabala, P. & Cucina, A. (ed.) Natives, Europeans and Africans in colonial Campeche: history and archaeology: 70–94. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. https://doi.org/10.5744/florida/9780813034928.003.0004CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tiesler, V., Zabala, P. & Cucina, A.. 2010. Natives, Europeans and Africans in colonial Campeche: history and archaeology. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. https://doi.org/10.5744/florida/9780813034928.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tiesler, V. et al. 2015. Qué aprendemos del pasado: Salud, estilo de vida y urbanismo en poblaciones prehispánicas, coloniales y contemporáneas en la península de Yucatán. Estudios de Antropología Biológica 17: 11–30.Google Scholar
Valencia, F.C. 1939. Relación histórica eclesiástica de la provincial de Yucatán de la Nueva España. Mexico City: Porrúa.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Tiesler et al. supplementary material

Tiesler et al. supplementary material 1

Download Tiesler et al. supplementary material(File)
File 63.3 KB
Supplementary material: PDF

Tiesler et al. supplementary material

Tiesler et al. supplementary material 2

Download Tiesler et al. supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 447.9 KB
Supplementary material: File

Tiesler et al. supplementary material

Tiesler et al. supplementary material 3

Download Tiesler et al. supplementary material(File)
File 13.8 KB
Supplementary material: File

Tiesler et al. supplementary material

Tiesler et al. supplementary material 4

Download Tiesler et al. supplementary material(File)
File 11.6 KB