Research Reveals New Link In Australasian and South American Ancestry

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A new DNA study has confirmed that indigenous people living in multiple locations in South America are distantly related to the people of Australasia, an umbrella term that includes indigenous Australians and Melanesians (inhabitants of the islands of Oceania, which are located south of Southeast Asia).

This new genetic survey, which was led by geneticist Tábita Hünemeier and evolutionary biologist Marcos Araújo Castro e Silva from the University of São Paulo in Brazil, analyzed genetic data obtained from 383 indigenous people living in various areas of South America. After completing a comparative analysis, they discovered distinctive genetic traces that were shared by indigenous people in Australasia and three indigenous South American groups: the Chotuna (from the Pacific coast region of Peru), the Guaraní Kaiowá (from west central Brazil), and the Xavánte (from central Brazil).

"Our results showed that the Australasian genetic signal, previously described as exclusive to Amazonian groups, was also identified in the Pacific coastal population, pointing to a more widespread signal distribution within South America, and possibly implicating an ancient contact between Pacific and Amazonian dwellers," the researchers wrote in an article appearing in the most recent edition of PNAS.

https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-evolution-human-origins/south-american-ancestry-0015141