Andes: Archaeologists locate unidentified lineage in mummy

theguardian.com reported archaeologists and geneticists have sequenced the genome of a boy sacrificed 500 years ago during an Incan ritual in the Andes, finding a previously unidentified lineage that hints at genetic diversity before the Spanish landed in the Americas.

Spanish geneticists extracted the DNA of a mummy found in the icy heights of Aconcagua, the world’s tallest mountain outside Asia, near the border of Argentina and Chile. The mummy, of a seven-year-old boy who was sacrificed by the Inca, showed a DNA signature that has virtually disappeared in modern South Americans. Read Article