Origin of pre-Columbian guinea pigs from Caribbean archeological sites revealed through genetic analysis

Kimura, Birgitta; LeFebvre, Michelle J.; deFrance, Susan D.; Knodel, Hilary I.; Turner, Michelle; Fitzsimmons, Natalie S.; Fitzpatrick, Scott M.; Mulligan, Connie J.

doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2015.12.012

Cited by 22 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…the origins of guinea pig translocation to the caribbean Antilles. Previous aDNA studies 30,32 suggested a possible Colombian origin for Caribbean guinea pigs. Our results, as shown in the haplotype network (Fig.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Ancient DNA of Guinea Pigs (Cavia spp.) Indicates a Probable New Center of Domestication and Pathways of Global Distribution

Lord

Collins

deFrance

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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Guinea pigs (Cavia spp.) have a long association with humans. From as early as 10,000 years ago they were a wild food source. Later, domesticated Cavia porcellus were dispersed well beyond their native range through pre-Columbian exchange networks and, more recently, widely across the globe. Here we present 46 complete mitogenomes of archaeological guinea pigs from sites in Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, the Caribbean, Belgium and the United States to elucidate their evolutionary history, origins and paths of dispersal. our results indicate an independent centre of domestication of Cavia in the eastern colombian Highlands. We identify a peruvian origin for the initial introduction of domesticated guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus) beyond South America into the caribbean. We also demonstrate that peru was the probable source of the earliest known guinea pigs transported, as part of the exotic pet trade, to both Europe and the southeastern United States. Finally, we identify a modern reintroduction of guinea pigs to Puerto Rico, where local inhabitants use them for food. This research demonstrates that the natural and cultural history of guinea pigs is more complex than previously known and has implications for other studies regarding regional to global-scale studies of mammal domestication, translocation, and distribution. The use of ancient DNA (aDNA) in studies of animal domestication and subsequent translocation has radically improved our ability to identify spatially, temporally, and culturally variable processes of domestication and the diversity of social networks behind domestic species distribution (e.g. 1,2). Increasingly, aDNA studies are revising previous assumptions of geographically conscripted animal domestication and dispersal events to reveal multiple centers, timings, and processes of domestication of the world's most prominent domestic animals (e.g. pigs, chickens, cattle, dogs 3-6). Because domestic animals are exemplar proxies for investigating past human migration and interaction, understanding long-term, diachronic patterns of when and where species domestication and

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Ancient DNA of Guinea Pigs (Cavia spp.) Indicates a Probable New Center of Domestication and Pathways of Global Distribution

Lord

Collins

deFrance

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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“…Haplogroup diversity among the three islands and successive waves of migrations are exactly what our data predict. Finally, guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus) first appeared in the Antilles "sometime after AD 500, " and their origins were genetically traced to northwestern South America 43 . Their translocation occurred at the same time and from the same place that we propose for the Carib expansion into the Caribbean islands.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Faces Divulge the Origins of Caribbean Prehistoric Inhabitants

Ross

Keegan

Pateman³

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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The origins of the first peoples to colonize the Caribbean Islands have been the subject of intense debate for over 30 years. Competing hypotheses have identified five separate migrations from the mainland with a separate debate concerning the colonization of The Bahamas. Significant differences in the facial morphology of the pre-Columbian inhabitants of Hispaniola and Cuba led to the present study of Lucayan skulls from The Bahamas. The goal was to determine which group the native Lucayans more closely resembled to resolve this long-standing dispute. The results indicate that they are related to groups from Hispaniola and Jamaica and not to Cuban inhabitants. This study clarified the larger picture of Caribbean migrations and supports evidence for a Carib invasion of the Greater Antilles around AD 800. The defining image of the Columbian encounter is ravenous cannibals descending upon unsuspecting peaceful Arawak villages, whence they ate the men and took the women as wives (Fig. 1). From the moment he landed on the first Bahamian island-Guanahaní-Columbus wrote, "I saw some who had marks of wounds on their bodies and I made signs to them asking what they were, and they showed me how people from other islands nearby came there and tried to take them, and how they defended themselves; and I believed and believe that they come from Tierra Firme to take them captive" 1. This is the first of ten allusions to Carib raids during the first voyage 2. Archaeologists have questioned this assertion based on the possible confusion of Caribe and Caniba (the Asiatic subjects of the Grand Khan), content with the knowledge that the true Caribs never advanced further than Guadeloupe in the Lesser Antilles 3,4. The Caribbean archipelago extends almost 3,000 km from the mouth of the Orinoco River in northern South America to Florida and the Yucatán enclosing the Caribbean Sea with three major island groupings consisting of the Lesser Antilles, the Greater Antilles, and The Bahamas 5. The Caribbean's stepping stone arrangement facilitated human and animal dispersals into the islands throughout prehistory. The first and still popular framework for the peopling of the Caribbean by small groups of hunters, fishers, and foragers most likely infiltrated the archipelago by canoe was based on technological differences 4,6,7 that identified a "Lithic Age" (flaked-stone technology) migration as crossing the Yucatán passage from Central America to Hispaniola and Cuba between 4000-5000 BC, an "Archaic Age" (ground-stone technology) migration from Trinidad to the Greater Antilles through the Lesser Antilles around 2500 BC, and a "Ceramic Age" (Saladoid series pottery) migration from the mouth of the Orinoco River (Venezuela/Guiana) through the Lesser Antilles to Puerto Rico around 500 BC. After reaching Puerto Rico there was a 1,000-year hiatus before Ceramic Age expansion resumed with the colonization of Hispaniola, Jamaica, Cuba, and The Bahamas. To date, the different proposed migration routes have been largely based on archaeological evid...

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“…More recently, a broader range of biomolecular methods and approaches have been applied to the Caribbean faunal record to investigate various topics pertaining to patterns of animal paleomobility. These latter include genetic (Kimura et al 2016) and isotopic studies of the anthropogenic introduction of wild or commensal species ; see also Giovas, 2017) and domesticated species (Laffoon et al 2015), and the transport/exchange of animal skeletal resources and artefacts (Laffoon et al 2014, Laffoon, Sonnemann et al 2016. However, to our knowledge, no studies to date have explicitly explored correspondences and contrasts between humans and animals in this region by combining strontium and carbon isotopes analyses.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Multi-Isotope Investigation of Human and Dog Mobility and Diet in the Pre-Colonial Antilles

Laffoon

Hoogland

Davies

et al. 2017

Environmental Archaeology

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The complex relationships between humans and dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) have a very deep and unique history. Dogs have accompanied humans as they colonised much of the world, and were introduced via human agency into the insular Caribbean where they became widespread throughout the Ceramic Age. It is likely that the dynamic interactions between humans, dogs, and their environments in the Caribbean were spatially, chronologically, and socially variable. However, almost no research has specifically addressed the nature, or potential variability, of human/dog interactions in this region. This study presents isotopic (strontium and carbon) evidence bearing on human and dog paleomobility and paleodietary patterns in the precolonial Caribbean. The isotope results illustrate a generally high degree of correspondence between human and dog dietary practices at all analysed sites but also slight differences in the relative importance of different dietary inputs. Striking parallels are also observed between the human and dog mobility patterns and shed light on broader networks of social interaction and exchange. Lastly, the paper addresses the possible utility and relevance of canine isotope data as proxies for inferring past human behaviours. ARTICLE HISTORY

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Origin of pre-Columbian guinea pigs from Caribbean archeological sites revealed through genetic analysis

Cited by 22 publications

References 32 publications

Ancient DNA of Guinea Pigs (Cavia spp.) Indicates a Probable New Center of Domestication and Pathways of Global Distribution

Ancient DNA of Guinea Pigs (Cavia spp.) Indicates a Probable New Center of Domestication and Pathways of Global Distribution

Faces Divulge the Origins of Caribbean Prehistoric Inhabitants

A Multi-Isotope Investigation of Human and Dog Mobility and Diet in the Pre-Colonial Antilles

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