SÃO CARLOS (SP) - A DNA analysis of 34 people who lived in the current Brazilian territory thousands of years before the arrival of the Portuguese brings surprising conclusions regarding the main prehistoric monuments of the country's coast. According to new data, the famous sambaquis, artificial hills that served as ritual centers and burials, seem to have been built by different peoples depending on the region.
The paper, which has just been published in the specialized magazine Nature Ecology & Evolution, also elucidates the genetic origins of Luzio, the nickname of a 10,400-year-old skeleton that is considered the oldest human being in the state of São Paulo.
Although the shape of Luzio's skull is different from that of most indigenous people today, the DNA indicates that he belonged to the same large ancestral population that gave rise to the original peoples who were here in 1500. The study was authored by a team made up of researchers from different Brazilian and European institutions.
The first author is Tiago Ferraz, from the Department of Genetics at USP (University of São Paulo), and among the coordinators of the research are geneticist Tábita Hünemeier and archaeologist André Strauss, both also linked to the university of São Paulo.
Translated by Cassy Dias
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