title: Ancient DNA Analysis Suggests Negligible Impact of the Wari Empire Expansion in Peru's Central Coast during the Middle Horizon.
abstract: The analysis of ancient human DNA from South America allows the exploration of pre-Columbian population history through time and to directly test hypotheses about cultural and demographic evolution. The Middle Horizon (650-1100 AD) represents a major transitional period in the Central Andes, which is associated with the development and expansion of ancient Andean empires such as Wari and Tiwanaku. These empires facilitated a series of interregional interactions and socio-political changes, which likely played an important role in shaping the region's demographic and cultural profiles. We analyzed individuals from three successive pre-Columbian cultures present at the Huaca Pucllana archaeological site in Lima, Peru: Lima (Early Intermediate Period, 500-700 AD), Wari (Middle Horizon, 800-1000 AD) and Ychsma (Late Intermediate Period, 1000-1450 AD). We sequenced 34 complete mitochondrial genomes to investigate the potential genetic impact of the Wari Empire in the Central Coast of Peru. The results indicate that genetic diversity shifted only slightly through time, ruling out a complete population discontinuity or replacement driven by the Wari imperialist hegemony, at least in the region around present-day Lima. However, we caution that the very subtle genetic contribution of Wari imperialism at the particular Huaca Pucllana archaeological site might not be representative for the entire Wari territory in the Peruvian Central Coast.
authors.affiliation: Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Guido
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6201-6030
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Valverde
authors.affiliation: Proyecto Arqueológico Huaca Pucllana, Lima, Perú
authors.forename: María Inés
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Barreto Romero
authors.affiliation: Proyecto Arqueológico Huaca Pucllana, Lima, Perú
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Flores Espinoza
authors.affiliation: Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cooper
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fehren-Schmitz
authors.affiliation: Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Bastien
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Llamas
authors.affiliation: Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.|Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Haak
mesh_terms: D000072441:DNA, Ancient; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D006239:Haplotypes; D049690:History, Ancient; D010568:Peru
chemical_list: D000072441:DNA, Ancient; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial