Researchers report the ancient genome sequence of an approximately 1,000-year-old Taino individual from the Bahamas, finding that the individual is genetically most closely related to present-day Arawakan speakers from northern South America and suggesting an ancestral origin for the Taino, who inhabited much of the Caribbean in pre-Columbian times; the findings could help illuminate the early peopling of the Caribbean and effects of European colonization.
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Article #17-16839: "Origins and genetic legacies of the Caribbean Taino," by Hannes Schroeder et al.
MEDIA CONTACT: Hannes Schroeder, University Copenhagen, DENMARK; tel: +45 42 52 36 14; e-mail: hschroeder@snm.ku.dk
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences