Genetics of the modern heirs of the Inca shed new light on their origins and lineages

A multinational South American team from Peru, Brasil and Bolivia led by the Universidad de San Martin de Porres at Lima, Peru, published the first genetic study on the modern descendants of the imperial Inca lineages in the journal Molecular Genetics and Genomics.

The Inca people arrived in the Cusco valley, and in a few centuries, had established the Tawantinsuyu, the largest empire in the Americas. The Tawantinsuyu was the cultural climax of 6,000 years of Central Andes civilizations overlapping modern countries of Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, the South of Colombia and the North of Argentina and Chile. In contrast with the richness of archaeological and cultural evidence, pre-Columbian history vanishes in time as it intermingles with myths due to the lack of writing systems before the arrival of the European chroniclers.

Very little is known about Inca origins, and genetic information could help reconstruct part of their history. Unfortunately, the mummies and bodily remains of the Inca emperors, worshiped as gods, were burnt and buried in unknown locations due to religious and political persecution by the Christian conquistadors and inquisitors, so there exists no direct material for DNA analysis. Read more.