Prehistoric mitochondrial DNA of domesticate animals supports a 13th century exodus from the northern US southwest.

Brian M Kemp,Timothy A Kohler,Kathleen Judd,Connor Cordray,Rebecca Schad,Scott G Ortman,Cara Monroe,Erin Reams,Lindsay Hilldorfer,Jelmer W Eerkens,David Caramelli

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0178882

Abstract

The 13th century Puebloan depopulation of the Four Corners region of the US Southwest is an iconic episode in world prehistory. Studies of its causes, as well as its consequences, have a bearing not only on archaeological method and theory, but also social responses to climate change, the sociology of social movements, and contemporary patterns of cultural diversity. Previous research has debated the demographic scale, destinations, and impacts of Four Corners migrants. Much of this uncertainty stems from the substantial differences in material culture between the Four Corners vs. hypothesized destination areas. Comparable biological evidence has been difficult to obtain due to the complete departure of farmers from the Four Corners in the 13th century CE and restrictions on sampling human remains. As an alternative, patterns of genetic variation among domesticated species were used to address the role of migration in this collapse. We collected mitochondrial haplotypic data from dog (Canis lupus familiaris) and turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) remains from archaeological sites in the most densely-populated portion of the Four Corners region, and the most commonly proposed destination area for that population under migration scenarios. Results are consistent with a large-scale migration of humans, accompanied by their domestic turkeys, during the 13th century CE. These results support scenarios that suggest contemporary Pueblo peoples of the Northern Rio Grande are biological and cultural descendants of Four Corners populations.

Highlights

Archaeologists have long recognized that maize farmers left the northern US Southwest by the late 1200s CE [1] the identities of the emigrating populations, their destinations, and the causes of the depopulation have been controversial
Recent work by the Village Ecodynamics Project (VEP) in the central Mesa Verde region (CMV) (Fig 1), the most populous portion of this vast area, has shown that population size peaked in the mid-1200s, was decreasing by no later than 1260 CE, and declined to zero by about 1280 CE [2]
Turkey mtDNA haplogroup frequencies are consistent with the hypothesis that enough of these domestic birds were moved from the CMV to the Northern Rio Grande (NRG) during the 13th century CE to change the mtDNA haplogroup profile of the NRG population

Summary

Introduction

Archaeologists have long recognized that maize farmers left the northern US Southwest by the late 1200s CE [1] the identities of the emigrating populations, their destinations, and the causes of the depopulation have been controversial. Recent work by the Village Ecodynamics Project (VEP) in the central Mesa Verde region (CMV) (Fig 1), the most populous portion of this vast area, has shown that population size peaked in the mid-1200s, was decreasing by no later than 1260 CE, and declined to zero by about 1280 CE [2]. Additional research [3, 4] has used evidence from biometry, linguistic prehistory, site architecture, etymology, and recorded social memory to argue that the ancestral Tewa population of the Northern Rio Grande (NRG) in New Mexico derives primarily (but not exclusively) from a migration of Pueblo III farmers from the CMV (Fig 1).

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion