Latest news with #Chacoans
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
'Groundbreaking' ancient DNA research confirms Pueblo peoples' ties to famous Chaco Canyon site
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. A "groundbreaking" DNA analysis of a small Pueblo tribe in New Mexico supports what their oral tradition has long described — that they're related to ancestral people who lived on their land, as well as to Indigenous people who lived a few hundreds miles away at Chaco Canyon. The new research is the first DNA evidence that the federally recognized tribe, known as Picuris Pueblo, has ancestral ties to Chacoans buried at Chaco Culture National Historical Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a place many Southwest Indigenous peoples consider sacred. "We've always said we have this deep connection to Chaco Canyon," study co-author Craig Quanchello, the lieutenant governor of Picuris Pueblo, said at a news conference on April 29. "It not only runs through our veins, but now through science." Picuris Pueblo, where the tribe lives, is in the Sangre De Cristo Mountains of northern New Mexico, about 60 miles (100 kilometres) north of Santa Fe. It was historically one of the most populated pueblos, with over 3,000 tribal members around 1600. But in the decades following European contact in 1591, death, disease and religious persecution reduced the Picuris population significantly. Now, tribal membership is around 300 individuals. Related: Ancient Indigenous lineage of Blackfoot Confederacy goes back 18,000 years to last ice age, DNA reveals Oral histories from Picuris elders have long connected the tribe to Chaco Canyon, Picuris Pueblo Governor Wayne Yazza said at the news conference. But knowledge lost over centuries of violence has led to gaps in historical knowledge. To learn more about their genetic heritage, Picuris Pueblo leadership contacted researchers in 2020. In that study, whose results were published Wednesday (April 30) in the journal Nature, researchers analyzed ancient DNA from 16 individuals buried in Picuris Pueblo dated to between 500 and 700 years ago, as well as 13 genomes from currently enrolled members of Picuris Pueblo. They compared these genomes to 590 ancient and modern genomes from the Americas and Siberia, since the first Americans traveled across a land bridge connecting Siberia with Alaska during the last ice age at least 23,000 years ago. Their results revealed that the modern Picuris are related to those who lived in the pueblo centuries ago. The analysis also indicated that the Picuris are related to Anzick-1, a child who lived 13,000 years ago in what is now Montana and was part of an Indigenous American group called the Clovis. But "part of their [the Picuris] ancestry is actually older than the ancestry that we find in the Clovis individual," study lead author Thomaz Pinotti, a geogeneticist at the University of Copenhagen, said at the news conference. The study also found a genetic link between the Picuris and nine individuals buried centuries ago in Chaco Canyon's Pueblo Bonito between 800 and 1130. Those individuals were analyzed in a 2017 Nature Communications study that faced backlash from tribal nations and researchers for failing to consult with local tribes during the study's design. "We were pretty twisted up about using these data, because we knew how controversial they were," study co-author Mike Adler, an associate professor of anthropology at Southern Methodist University, said at the news conference. "When we brought this up to the tribal council, it was a very simple response: 'That's not your call. That's our call. You should use these data, because it's an avenue to better our understanding of our own past.'" RELATED STORIES —The 1st Americans were not who we thought they were —13 of the oldest archaeological sites in the Americas —Did humans cross the Bering Strait after the land bridge disappeared? Meradeth Snow, an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Montana who wasn't involved in the study, told Live Science the new study is "groundbreaking in a lot of ways." "The fact that this was really something that was initiated by the Picuris [people] — that is amazing and really interesting," she said. However, she emphasized that this type of partnership may not be of interest to other Indigenous peoples. Western scientists have a long history of taking Native American ancestral remains and conducting studies without permission from tribes. "I understand that there's definitely going to be different tribes in that region that are not going to be for this [type of DNA analysis]. And that's totally understandable. There's certainly been plenty of abuse of DNA data."
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Yahoo
Seeing the light: A Chaco Canyon adventure at the spring equinox 2025
Mar. 17—Despite the turmoil in the federal government, the sun will rise at Chaco Culture National Historical Park this year. And if this season is clouded by lack of funding and the park is shuttered or spring winds blow in cloud-cover, plan for the next major sunrise event during the summer solstice in June. Unique astronomical events occur each season. Any vehicle can safely drive the road at this time, just take it slow, said Nathan Hatfield, who is in charge of interpretive programs for Chaco and Aztec Ruins National Monument. A sunrise program is scheduled at Casa Rinconada on Thursday, March 20, dependent on weather and budget constraints, according to an email from Chaco Culture National Historical Park. The gates to the historic loop open at 6:30 a.m. Sunrise will be at 7:01 a.m., according to The Old Farmers' Almanac. The vernal equinox falls on either March 20 or March 21 each year, according to the Almanac. In 2025, it will happen on a Thursday across the Northern Hemisphere. Equinoxes and solstices happen simultaneously around the world. Even with different time zones, the astronomical events are based on the Earth's orbit around the sun and its axis tilt. An interpretive ranger plans to mark the event and teach about it during a ranger-led program at Casa Rinconada, the largest great kiva in Chaco Canyon. It is known for its solstice and equinox alignments. The park's annual sunrise programs have been going on there for more than two decades. Were the structures built at Chaco to mark lunar and solar events, or just happenstance? "I think it was intentional and most modern Indigenous people would agree," said Hatfield. "And we don't see the alignment of structures only at Chaco." Other sites in the southwest United States exhibit many of the same characteristics in regard to the sun, moon and stars including at Salmon Ruins in the Four Corners and Aztec Ruins nearby, he said. "The study of the astronomical practices, celestial lore, mythologies, religions and world-views of all ancient cultures we call archaeoastronomy," according to the Center for Archaeoastronomy at the University of Maryland. "We like to describe archaeoastronomy, in essence, as the anthropology of astronomy, to distinguish it from the history of astronomy." Why does it work? "The Chacoans aligned some of their structures due east and west since, on the vernal equinox, the sun will rise and set along this azimuth," according to an email from Kevin McKeown, who writes the daily Sky Watch column on the Albuquerque Journal weather page. You can find more information in Anna Sofer's work called the Solstice Project, McKeown said. The equinox is also the first day of spring. Manmade or "alien-on-earth" structures that are especially celebrated to view the change of seasons include Stonehenge in England and Machu Picchu in Peru. Macho Picchu, a tourist hot-spot and bucket-list archaeological site, sits at about 8,000 feet in elevation — about 700 feet higher than Los Alamos, atop a mountain. Other celebrated sunrise viewing spots include Chichén Itzá in Mexico, and the Great Sphinx and Pyramids in Giza, Egypt. Chaco, much closer, though down a bumpy but accessible gravel road through the Navajo Nation, provides a once-in-a-lifetime experience that any intrepid traveler can reach in less than five hours from Albuquerque. Be sure to stop at one of the Sinclair Dino Mart gas stations and convenience stores along U.S. 550 to stock up on provisions including fuel before making the turn from pavement. No restaurants, gas stations or hotels beckon after you leave the pavement. Reservations must be made on for the small Gallo campground, which is a great place to see the stars because Chaco is a Dark Sky Park location. "Keep your fingers crossed for clear skies," Hatfield said.
