The Founding Population of Mexico

Archaeologists have recovered DNA from 10 colonial-era inhabitants of Campeche, Mexico, revealing the diversity of the founding populations of European settlements in the Americas.

Campeche was an early colonial settlement in Yucatán. It was founded in 1540, less than 20 years after the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs, once conquistadors secured their rule.

The important port was initially served by a parish church until it was replaced by a cathedral in 1680. The church was rediscovered in 2000 during rescue excavations when archaeologists found 129 early colonial burials at the site.

Early attempts to extract DNA from these burials failed. Now advances in aDNA research have allowed Professor Vera Tiesler and a team of researchers from Harvard University to gather genetic data from this important site. Their work is published in the journal Antiquity.

“Ancient DNA methods have improved to the point where we can generate robust data from warm, humid environments,” said Dr Jakob Sedig, from the Reich Laboratory at Harvard University and co-lead author of the research, “Using the petrous bone, we were able to generate excellent data from all 10 individuals we tested, which is encouraging for future ancient DNA analysis in this region.”

The aDNA revealed the 10 individuals interred in the colonial cemetery were made up of six females and four males, and none were close relatives. Most were local Indigenous Americans, but people of European and sub-Saharan African ancestry were also identified. READ MORE...

Mayan City Discovered

The style of architecture of the buildings at Xiol is more typical of the style 

found in regions further south

Archaeologists working in the Yucatan region of Mexico have revealed the remains of a centuries-old Mayan city, local media reported on Friday.

The city of Xiol — which means "the spirit of man" in Mayan — is believed to have been the home of some 4,000 people between 600 and 900 CE, during the late classic period.

The area was first uncovered in 2018 on a construction site for a future industrial park close to the town of Merida on Yucatan's northern coast. Archaeologists from the National Institute for Anthropology and History (INAH) then took over the site.

The Mayan civilization was destroyed by Spanish colonizers in the 17th century

"The discovery of this Mayan city is important for its monumental architecture and because it has been restored despite being located on private land," delegate for the INAH center in Yucatan, Arturo Chab Cardenas, told news agency EFE.

Palaces, priests, pyramids

The site is of particular interest due to its Puuc style architecture — famously used for the Chichen Itza pyramid — which is more typically found in the southern part of the Yucatan region.

The archaeologists also highlighted the array of palaces, pyramids and plazas found at the site as well as evidence of various social classes residing there.

"There were people from different social classes ... priests, scribes, who lived in these great palaces, and there were also the common people who lived in small buildings," Carlos Peraza, one of the archaeologists leading the excavations, said.  READ MORE...