The Cayapas and their D4h3a mtDNA

The Cayapa people in Ecuador carry the very rare D4h3a mtDNA haplogroup in high rates in comparison to other Native Americans. See my previous post (D4h3a revisited).

When it was discovered in 1999, this variante was reported as the "Cayapa lineage", later it was found in other native groups, but at extremely low frequencies. This is the paper published back in 1999 that reported this unique Amerindian mtDNA founding lineage for the first time.

Cayapa territory. From O. Rickards, C. Martínez-Labarga, J.K. Lum, G.F. De Stefano, and R.L. Cann (1999)

A 2013 study reported that "The “Cayapa” lineage, D4h3a, was confirmed in the expected high proportion (22.5%)." Meaning that over 1 in 5 Cayapas carry this variant. It didn't find any European, Asian or African mtDNA among the natives.

A 2020 paper, citing Bravi, reported that "the highest frequencies of this lineage are found in Cayapa and Tehuelche populations, with a percentage of 25% of the total samples". Interesting link to the Patagonian people!

I found the extremely interesting thesis, by Bravi, 2005, (see it here - Spanish). In it, Bravi analyzed this new founding lineage. The frequency is high in certain groups, between 13% and 25% in the Fuegian Yamaná, the Patagonian Tehuelche, the Paraguayan Lengua, and the Cayapas. It is much Lower among the Araucanian people (Mapuche and Huilliche) of Chile and the Peruvian and Bolivian Quechuas (Image below is from the paper). This discontinuity in the distribution (Chile, Peru and Bolivia lie between the Ecuadorian Cayapas and the Amazonian Lenguas, and the Patagonian-Fuegian people) suggests that the original D4h3a migration was later overlaid by more recent arrivals with other mtDNA halpogroups diluting its presence.

Araucanization

The author of this thesis notes that the Patagonians probably had a higher ratio of this rare haplogroup before the Mapuche people crossed the Andes (pushed by Spanish conquest in the late 1500s), a process known as "Araucanization" (disliked by the Mapuche people, who feign they are original inhabitants of Argentina's Patagonia - they aren't, they are original people in Chile, not Argentina).

The paper states: "Since the beginning of the "Araucanization of the Pampas and Patagonia" in the 17th century, the cis-Andean Pampas-Patagonian populations interbred with "Araucanian" immigrants of trans-Andean origin. Given that some of the "Araucanian" fractions lack "Cayapa" lineages ... or possess them in low frequency... it is reasonable to interpret that their presence at such high frequency among the Tehuelches would not be a consequence of recent Araucanian female introgression (in the last 350 years) but rather a reflection of their ancestral condition. Although very high, the actual frequency of 26% for the “Cayapa” haplotypes among the Tehuelches, it must have been higher in the past, towards the end of the 16th century, before the massive influx of “Araucanians” from this side of the Andes."

The table above shows (left to right), the population, the sample size "N" the number of D4h3a found "Cayapa", the frequency "frecuencia" and the source.

The Cayapa people

Rickards et al, (1999), had noted that the Cayapas were "of distinct interest to geneticists, for at least three reasons. First, their oral traditions recount a migration from the western Amazon basin into the Andes (Barriga-Lopez 1987; Carrasco 1988) and then a flight from Ibarra into the lowland jungles to escape first Inca and finally Spanish enslavement (Barrett 1925). These movements suggest that historical events and forced acculturation have not significantly distorted their genetic identity. Second, although they have been exposed to disease epidemics brought by foreign contact, their population appears to have been stable during the past 250 years of colonial rule and has been slowly increasing to its current size of ∼3,600 individuals, without significant admixture from either European- or African-derived settlements adjacent to tribal communities."

The fact they migrated from the Amazon basin, suggests that this ancient lineage was present there, well inland, (not on the Pacific coast) and dispersed across the continent from that node.

The 1999 paper pointed out that even though the Cayapas spoke a Chibchan language, "the Cayapa appear closer to non-Chibchan speakers of South America than to representatives of the same language family in Central America, a classic case of discordance between genetic and linguistic data."

The Chibchans reached Colombia and NW South America around 2000 years BP, and are, relatively speaking, "newcomers". This is mentioned in a recent paper: "original “Chibchan homeland” in Central America is supported not only by mtDNA studies on present-day populations who speak Chibchan languages but also from linguistic observations, indicating that the isthmus region exhibits the highest diversity within this language family."

The Amazonian Cayapas probably adopted a Chibcha family language the same way that the Northern Tehuelche, Puelche and Pampa groups in Argentina adopted the Mapuche Araucanian language: trade and war, simplicity of the language helped spread the Mapdungun Mapuche language replacing the Chon of the Tehuelche groups. I agree, language and genes don't necessarily go together or imply a common origin and heritage.

According to a book published in 1919, the Cayapas lived an isolated lifestyle (it may have helped preserve their unique genetic marker), in 1641 the Spanish "Visitador", an official recorded that the tribe at Piñán consisted of 334 people. They were "antisocial like all savage tribes, and didn't live in villages. Instead the families built separate huts along the river banks, and seldom did so further inland. They moved frequently, and when cocoa cultivation replaces the jungle in which they live, they move away. They bury their dead in the middle of the dead person's former home, and move away.

Another book from 1876, states that "about 2,000 Cayapas, who still keep to the forests on the banks of the Rio Cayapas, holding carefully aloof both from the whites and the negroes... their language, which has also remained unaffected by Quichua and Spanish influences."

They built dugout canoes, from balsa wood tree trunks (pictured below - source).

An account published in 1894 says that the Cayapas river was 100 to 120 m wide (roughly 300 to 360 ft) and that "we met Cayapa boats all the time. They are light canoes, of elegant construction. On the sides they had whimsical mosaic-like designs painted with tars. They are maneouvered by an Indian using an oar 3 m long (10 ft), and by an Indian woman, who navigates from the stern with an other oar, very wide and short"

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