Indigenous Caribbean Historical Matches

 

One of the more interesting aspects of 23andMe is seeing the historical matches. Since we have ancestry from Puerto Rico that includes indigenous Caribbean admixture, we found a very large number of matches with the Indigenous Caribbean Ceramic Age samples on 23andMe. While most were undoubtedly very small matches, we found it fascinating to see matches from Haiti, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and the Bahamas. Indeed, some of the matches were with individuals buried in the same area, like the two from northern Haiti's Fort-Liberté Bay. To make the feature even more interesting, 23andMe should provide more precise information on the chromosome segment's location. It might be worthwhile to explore these matches to various indigenous Caribbean peoples who were related to others from different parts of Hispaniola or even different islands altogether. 

Despite the lack of these features, it was still interesting to note that most of our matches are with samples from Hispaniola (mainly the Dominican Republic). This is presumably due to the far greater number of indigenous Caribbean samples from the DR as well as the migration/intermarriage of indigenous peoples between Hispaniola and Puerto Rico (and the Lucayan Islands). Nonetheless, we found it intriguing that the highest matches were with samples from Hispaniola. The largest amount of shared ancestry was with an ancient woman from the site of Andrés, east of Santo Domingo. Although we only share 16.45 cM across 3 segments with this woman, this supposedly means we share more ancestry with her than 99.90% of all 23andMe customers who share DNA with her. The next largest matches were of 10.8 and 10.2 cM with two individuals from Diale 1, a site in northeastern Haiti. Although only 2 segments, the amount of shared DNA with the two individuals is similar and possibly the same segment. If 23andMe provided the segment information, I could potentially explore my relation to the 2 people from the Diale site in Haiti and the woman from Andrés. Even more intriguing is the fact that the two individuals from Diale had 16-20% Archaic ancestry from peoples who lived in the Antilles before the Arawakan-speakers migrated to the Greater Antilles. Moreover, the two people from Diale, who lived sometime between 800 CE to 1200 CE, may have fallen under the sphere of influence of Marien, a cacicazgo that was perceived by the Spanish sources as the most powerful chiefdom or polity in northern Haiti. Of course, there is no evidence for Marien in this earlier time period, but the site which was the probable capital of Marien was inhabited by the 1200s.

In addition, we shared 2 segments of DNA with two other individuals from the modern Dominican Republic. In the case of Ceramic Age Caribbean Individual I15112, from El Atajadizo, DR, we have more common DNA with her than 91.90% of all 23andMe customers. For Ceramic Age Caribbean Individual I12350, we share more DNA with her than 87.90% of all 23andMe customers who match her. The general picture then is one of closer matches with women from sites in the DR and Haiti and a plethora of smaller matches in Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and the Bahamas. Since the site where these individuals were found is no sure guarantee of their origin, it is difficult to say with any certainty where they may have originated from. Therefore, it is possible some of these matches were with indigenous people who may have hailed from Puerto Rico or the eastern Dominican Republic before migrating. Nonetheless, we believe that the two related individuals from Diale, Haiti may have come from the area and one was male while the other female. Overall, the closest indigenous matches were from Atajadizo, a site near San Pedro de Macorix, and the two relatives from Haiti. The results could be explained by a number of factors but are certainly consistent with a shared ancestry between indigenous peoples in Puerto Rico and Hispaniola. They could also be due to the forced relocation of indigenous peoples from Hispaniola and the Bahamas to Puerto Rico in the 16th century. But historians and archaeologists have provided more than enough evidence of long-standing contacts between eastern Hispaniola and Puerto Rico.