Integrative archaeogenetics reveal how Southern Andean communities adopted farming and endured crises

Integrative archaeogenetics reveal how Southern Andean communities adopted farming and endured crises

An interdisciplinary study published in Nature reconstructs over 2,000 years of population history in Argentina's Uspallata Valley (UV), a southern frontier of Andean farming spread in ancient times, with broader lessons on how agriculture shaped societies and how communities endured crises.

Local agricultural transition, crisis and migration in the Southern Andes

The transition to agriculture was a transformative process in human history with wide-ranging demographic and social consequences1. Across South America, agriculture was adopted at different times and through diverse pathways, resulting in a mosaic of regionally distinct farming histories2,3. The Uspallata Valley, at the southern frontier of Andean farming, offers a unique opportunity to examine a case of late adoption of agriculture. Here we sh…

Agricultural Shifts, Crises, and Migration in Andes

In a groundbreaking study published in Nature, researchers have shed new light on the complex transition from foraging to farming in the Uspallata Valley, a region located at the southern fringe of Andean agriculture. This research, through the analysis of 46 newly sequenced ancient human genomes combined with stable isotope and strontium isotope data, reveals […]