Cranial morphology of the first South Americans Implications for the settlement of the New World

1. Cranial morphology of the first South Americans Implications for the settlement of the New World Walter Neves Mark Hubbe Laboratório de Estudos Evolutivos Humanos Departamento de Genética e Biologia Evolutiva Instituto de Biociências – Universidade de São Paulo

2. Models for the Settlement of the Americas • Molecular Biology: • genetic variation of extant Native Americans indicates that a single human biological population entered the New World • Cranial Morphology: • late prehistoric, recent and present Native Americans tend to exhibit a cranial morphology similar to late and modern Northern Asians • earliest South Americans tend to be more similar to present Australians, Melanesians, and Sub-Saharan Africans

3. Aim • In this study morphological affinities of early South Americans are investigated using the largest sample of early American skulls ever studied. All recovered from the Lagoa Santa Karst. Geographic Location of the Lagoa Santa Karst

4. The Sample

5. Fieldwork at Lagoa Santa Archaeological excavation at Lapa do Santo (Rockshelter) during this month Paleoindian Burial exhumated last week at Lapa do Santo (Lagoa Santa) One of Sumidouro’s skulls, recovered by Lund at Sumidouro Cave, Lagoa Santa

6. Chronological Context of Lagoa Santa human skeletons • Peter Lund (1843) & Harold Walter (1935) • Coexistence between humans and megafauna • Wesley Hurt & Oldemar Blasi (1969) • Radiocarbon dates for the human occupation at Cerca Grande Rockshelter 6: 9720+/-128 and 9028+/-120 • French-Brazilian Mission (1970s) • Excavations at Lapa Vermelha IV: charcoals found above and below the skeleton of Luzia were dated to between 11 and 11,5 BP, respectively Peter W. Lund (1801-1880) Danish naturalist

7. Chronological Context of Lagoa Santa • Recent efforts (1994-present) • Direct dating of human skeletons by AMS • Generation of minimum ages through the dating of calcite layers • Excavation of new archaeological sites • Visit to key sites looking for remnants of the original stratigraphy • Poor collagen preservation in Lagoa Santa • 22 human skeletons directly dated by AMS to between 8,5 and 7,5 BP

8. Radiometric dates for human skeletons from Lagoa Santa area, Minas Gerais (all human bones by AMS).

9. Chronology of the human occupation at Lagoa Santa • 11,5 kyr – 10,0 kyr – Scarce human presence, without formal occupation of the rockshelters. • 10,0 kyr - 7,5 kyr – First signs of permanent occupation of the rockshelters. • 8,5 kyr – 7,5 kyr – Peak of burials in the rockshelters. • 7,0 kyr – 2,5 kyr – Scarce human presence in Lagoa Santa, with no burial found (Archaic Gap). • 2,5 kyr – Arrival of ceramists at the region.

10. Chronology assumed

11. Material and Methods • Comparative Samples • Howells’ samples representing 6 global regions • Asia • Recent America • Europe • Africa • Polynesia • Australia/Melanesia • Two late archaic Brazilian samples (shellmounds) • Base Aérea • Tapera

12. Material and Methods • Multivariate Analyses presented here • Principal Coordinates Analyses assuming heritability 0,55 (size and shape, and shape alone) – 55 best preserved skulls. • Principal Components Analyses with heritability 1,0 (size and shape, and shape alone) – centroids of the 81 skulls. • Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) applied to Mahalanobis Distance assuming heritability 0,55 (size and shape, and shape alone) - 55 best preserved skulls. • Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) applied to Mahalanobis Distance assuming heritability 1,0 (size and shape, and shape alone) - 55 best preserved skulls. • Principal Components Analyses taking into account the individual dispersion of the sample (size and shape, and shape alone) - 55 best preserved skulls.

13. Principal Coordinate Analysis (h2=0,55) Males size and Shape Males Shape alone Females Shape alone Females size and Shape

14. Material and Methods • Multivariate Analyses presented here • Principal Coordinates Analyses assuming heritability 0,55 (size and shape, and shape alone) – 55 best preserved skulls. • Principal Components Analyses with heritability 1,0 (size and shape, and shape alone) – centroids of the 81 skulls. • Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) applied to Mahalanobis Distance assuming heritability 0,55 (size and shape, and shape alone) - 55 best preserved skulls. • Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) applied to Mahalanobis Distance assuming heritability 1,0 (size and shape, and shape alone) - 55 best preserved skulls. • Principal Components Analyses taking into account the individual dispersion of the sample (size and shape, and shape alone) - 55 best preserved skulls.

15. Principal Components Analyses (h2=1,0) Males size and Shape Males Shape alone Females Shape alone Females size and Shape

16. Material and Methods • Multivariate Analyses presented here • Principal Coordinates Analyses assuming heritability 0,55 (size and shape, and shape alone) – 55 best preserved skulls. • Principal Components Analyses with heritability 1,0 (size and shape, and shape alone) – centroids of the 81 skulls. • Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) applied to Mahalanobis Distance assuming heritability 0,55 (size and shape, and shape alone) - 55 best preserved skulls. • Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) applied to Mahalanobis Distance assuming heritability 1,0 (size and shape, and shape alone) - 55 best preserved skulls. • Principal Components Analyses taking into account the individual dispersion of the sample (size and shape, and shape alone) - 55 best preserved skulls.

17. MDS based on Mahalanobis Distance (h2=0,55) Males size and Shape Males Shape alone Females Shape alone Females size and Shape

18. MDS based on Mahalanobis Distance (h2=1,0) Males size and Shape Males Shape alone Females Shape alone Females size and Shape

19. Material and Methods • Multivariate Analyses presented here • Principal Coordinates Analyses assuming heritability 0,55 (size and shape, and shape alone) – 55 best preserved skulls. • Principal Components Analyses with heritability 1,0 (size and shape, and shape alone) – centroids of the 81 skulls. • Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) applied to Mahalanobis Distance assuming heritability 0,55 (size and shape, and shape alone) - 55 best preserved skulls. • Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) applied to Mahalanobis Distance assuming heritability 1,0 (size and shape, and shape alone) - 55 best preserved skulls. • Principal Components Analyses taking into account the individual dispersion of the sample (size and shape, and shape alone) - 55 best preserved skulls.

20. Principal Components Analysis (h2=1,0) Males size and Shape Males Shape alone Females Shape alone Females size and Shape

21. the New World was successively occupied by two morphologically differentiated human stocks, with the Paleoamerican morphology entering first Discussion and Conclusions • the first South Americans exhibit a cranial morphology very different from late and modern Northeastern Asians and Amerindians • Two competing hypothesis • local microevolutionary process mediated by selection and/or drift transformed the Paleoamerican morphology into that prevailing today among Native Americans

22. the New World was successively occupied by two morphologically differentiated human stocks, with the Paleoamerican morphology entering first Discussion and Conclusions “The two main biological components model”

23. Cranial morphology of early Americans from Lagoa Santa Implications for the settlement of the New World Walter Neves Mark Hubbe Laboratório de Estudos Evolutivos Humanos Departamento de Genética e Biologia Evolutiva Instituto de Biociências – Universidade de São Paulo