New research sheds light on the decline and resilience of the Classic Maya population, revealing genetic evidence of outsiders, population growth, and persistence through time.
A recent study published in the journal *Current Biology* has shed new light on the decline of the Classic Maya civilization, revealing a surprising influx of outsiders and a dramatic population shift around 1,200 years ago. Researchers from Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, analyzed the genomes of seven individuals buried at the Maya site of Copán in western Honduras, dating back to the Classic Maya period (A.D. 250 to 900).
Their findings suggest that the population experienced significant growth around A.D. 730, possibly due to the advent of maize agriculture, but then began to decline around A.D. 750, coinciding with the collapse of the Classic Maya political system. Contrary to previous assumptions, the genetic evidence indicates that the population was not replaced by another group after the collapse, but rather persisted through time. The researchers uncovered interesting genetic diversity among the Copán individuals, with different maternal lineages and one Y-chromosome lineage shared by two males buried together. One of these males, found in a wealthy burial, is believed to have been a dynastic ruler, while the other, potentially a sacrifice, was not closely related to him. This shared lineage, common among present-day Indigenous American populations, supports the idea of migration and gene flow in the Maya region.Comparative analyzes of ancient genomes from Copán with previously sequenced genomes from Siberia and the Americas revealed a fascinating pattern of genetic continuity from the Late Archaic period (roughly 3700 B.C. to 1000 B.C.) to the present day. The study suggests that while the Maya experienced significant population growth and integration of highland Mexican ancestry during the Classic period, the region's original inhabitants remained a dominant force throughout time. This discovery reshapes our understanding of the Maya population dynamics, highlighting the resilience of indigenous ancestry and dispelling assumptions about a complete population replacement following the collapse of the Classic Maya civilization
Maya Civilization Ancient DNA Population Dynamics Genomics Copán
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