Eight millennia of continuity of a previously unknown lineage in Argentina.

ABSTRACT: The central Southern Cone of South America was one of the last regions of the globe to become inhabited by people¹, and remains under-represented in studies of ancient DNA. Here we report genome-wide data from 238 ancient individuals spanning ten millennia. The oldest, from the Pampas region and dating to 10,000 years before present (BP), had distinct genetic affinity to Middle Holocene Southern Cone individuals, showing that differentiation from the central Andes and central east Brazil had begun by this time. Individuals dating to 4,600-150 BP primarily descended from a previously unsampled deep lineage of which the earliest representative is an individual dating to around 8,500 BP. This central Argentina lineage co-existed with two other lineages during the Mid-Holocene and,

SUBMITTER: Maravall-Lopez J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12747222 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature