Genomes of Ancient Uruguayans Mapped

ATLANTA, GEORGIA—According to a statement released by Emory University, John Lindo of Emory University and Gonzalo Figueiro of The University of the Republic in Montevideo, Uruguay, sequenced the genomes of two people who lived in what is now eastern Uruguay before the Indigenous people of the region came into contact with Europeans in the early sixteenth century. The first sample came from a man who lived about 800 years ago, and the second from a woman who lived about 1,500 years ago. Lindo explained that the study revealed a connection between the ancient Uruguayans and individuals who lived in Panama, the land bridge connecting North and South America, and to people in eastern Brazil, but not to modern Amazonians. Separate migrations to South America could account for these differences, Lindo explained. For more on migrations to the Americas, go to "America, in the Beginning."