Department of Archaeogenetics, Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (MPI-EVA), Leipzig, Germany.
Molecular Genetics Laboratory, Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia (ENAH), Mexico City, Mexico.
Nature. 2024 Jun;630(8018):912-919. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07509-7. Epub 2024 Jun 12.
The ancient city of Chichén Itzá in Yucatán, Mexico, was one of the largest and most influential Maya settlements during the Late and Terminal Classic periods (AD 600-1000) and it remains one of the most intensively studied archaeological sites in Mesoamerica. However, many questions about the social and cultural use of its ceremonial spaces, as well as its population's genetic ties to other Mesoamerican groups, remain unanswered. Here we present genome-wide data obtained from 64 subadult individuals dating to around AD 500-900 that were found in a subterranean mass burial near the Sacred Cenote (sinkhole) in the ceremonial centre of Chichén Itzá. Genetic analyses showed that all analysed individuals were male and several individuals were closely related, including two pairs of monozygotic twins. Twins feature prominently in Mayan and broader Mesoamerican mythology, where they embody qualities of duality among deities and heroes, but until now they had not been identified in ancient Mayan mortuary contexts. Genetic comparison to present-day people in the region shows genetic continuity with the ancient inhabitants of Chichén Itzá, except at certain genetic loci related to human immunity, including the human leukocyte antigen complex, suggesting signals of adaptation due to infectious diseases introduced to the region during the colonial period.
墨西哥尤卡坦州的奇琴伊察古城,是后古典期和终期古典期(公元 600 年至 1000 年)最大和最有影响力的玛雅人聚居地之一,它仍然是中美洲研究最深入的考古遗址之一。然而,关于其宗教仪式空间的社会和文化用途,以及其居民与其他中美洲群体的遗传联系等许多问题仍未得到解答。在这里,我们展示了从公元 500 年至 900 年左右的 64 名未成年个体中获得的全基因组数据,这些个体是在奇琴伊察宗教中心附近的地下大规模埋葬处的神圣 Cenote(天坑)中发现的。遗传分析表明,所有被分析的个体都是男性,其中一些个体之间有密切的亲缘关系,包括两对同卵双胞胎。双胞胎在玛雅和更广泛的中美洲神话中占据重要地位,它们体现了神灵和英雄之间的二元性,但直到现在,它们还没有在古代玛雅丧葬环境中被发现。与该地区的现代人类进行遗传比较表明,与奇琴伊察的古代居民存在遗传连续性,除了与人类免疫相关的某些遗传位点,包括人类白细胞抗原复合体,这表明由于殖民时期引入该地区的传染病而产生了适应信号。
Am J Phys Anthropol. 2019-7-11
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2024-7-2
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2001-1-2
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2020-11-23
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2022-2-22
Am J Phys Anthropol. 2014-2-12
Genes (Basel). 2021-9-21
J Physiol Anthropol. 2021-8-28