Keywords
Casas Grandes, mitochondrial, DNA, archaeology
Abstract
The Casas Grades region in northwest Chihuahua, Mexico, is ideally situated to explore the notion of contact between the Southwest/Northwest and Mesoamerica, as it lies geographically in the borderlands where traditions of both culture areas were practiced. In order to explain these ties, past researchers have suggested the flourishing Casas Grandes population in the thirteenth century AD was caused by migrants from Mesoamerica, as first suggested by Di Peso in his pochteca hypothesis. Others, such as Lekson and his Chaco Meridian hypothesis, suggest migration from the north. Mitochondrial genetic data from earlier and later time periods provides the ability to reanalyze which, if any, direction these connections can be made. Comparing the full mitogenomes from 140 individuals, we show that low levels of migration occurred diachronically, although they still may have contributed to hybridized cultural practices. While the likelihood for wide-scale population replacement is soundly rejected, the genetic data suggest the possibility of smaller-scale migration.
Original Publication Citation
Snow, Meradeth, and Michael T. Searcy 2022 A Reanalysis of Population Dynamics in the Casas Grandes Region of Northern Mexico Using Mitochondrial DNA. Paper presented at the 87th Annual Meeting of the of the Society for American Archaeology, Chicago.
BYU ScholarsArchive Citation
Snow, Meradeth and Searcy, Michael T., "A Reanalysis of Population Dynamics in the Casas Grandes Region of Northern Mexico Using Mitochondrial DNA" (2022). Faculty Publications. 6710.
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/facpub/6710
Document Type
Conference Paper
Publication Date
2022
Publisher
Society for American Archaeology
Language
English
College
Family, Home, and Social Sciences
Department
Anthropology
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