Context of maternal lineages in the greater Southwest

We present mitochondrial haplogroup characterizations of the prehistoric An asazi of the United States (US) Southwest. These data are part of a long-te rm project to characterize ancient Great Basin and US Southwest samples for mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) diversity. Three restriction site polymorphisms (RSPs) and one length polymorphism ide ntify four common Native American matrilines (A, B, C, and D). The Anasazi (n = 27) are shown to have a moderate frequency of haplogroup A (22%), a hi gh frequency of haplogroup B (56%), and a low frequency of C (15%). Haplogr oup D has not yet been detected among the Anasazi, In comparison to modern Native American groups from the US Southwest, the A nasazi are shown to have a distribution of haplogroups similar to the frequ ency pattern exhibited by modern Pueblo groups, A principal component analy sis also clusters the Anasazi with some modern (Pueblo) Southwestern popula tions, and away from other modern (Athapaskan speaking) Southwestern popula tions. The Anasazi are also shown to have a significantly different distrib ution of the four haplogroups as compared to the eastern Great Basin Great Salt Lake Fremont (n = 32), although both groups cluster together in a prin cipal component analysis. The context of our data suggests substantial stability within the US Southw est, even in the face of the serious cultural and biological disruption cau sed by colonization of the region by European settlers. We conclude that al though sample numbers are fairly low, ancient DNA (aDNA) data are useful fo r assessing long-term populational affinities and for discerning regional p opulation structure. (C) 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.