Ancient DNA reveals the lost domestication history of South American camelids in Northern Chile and across the Andes.

ABSTRACT: The study of South American camelids and their domestication is a highly debated topic in zooarchaeology. Identifying the domestic species (alpaca and llama) in archaeological sites based solely on morphological data is challenging due to their similarity with respect to their wild ancestors. Using genetic methods also presents challenges due to the hybridization history of the domestic species, which are thought to have extensively hybridized following the Spanish conquest of South America that resulted in camelids slaughtered en masse. In this study, we generated mitochondrial genomes for 61 ancient South American camelids dated between 3,500 and 2,400 years before the present (Early Formative period) from two archaeological sites in Northern Chile (Tulán-54 and Tulán-85), as well as 66

SUBMITTER: Diaz-Maroto P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8032396 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature