Africans in Pre-Columbian America revisited (Clyde Winters)

Ihad a brief exchange in X (Twitter) with a person who vows that Africans reached America before Europeans, and can be counted as First People, in the New World. I hold an opposite point of view. Africans didn't reach America until the European slave trade brought them, starting in the early 1500s.

Even if they had arrived say, 3,000 years ago it would be very hard to identify the presence of their genetic imprint in modern Amerindians because of the later admixture with African slaves: how can we identify a different signal of an earlier migration from the same population?

Nevertheless, I came across a comment to an article by Neves, Hubbe and Harvati, which I quote below, it has some spelling issues, and was written by Clyde Winters, online here. Winters is a scholar who supports the idea of an early migration of African people to America, where they admixed with the Native Americans.
My comments are bold font, between brackets:

"Genetic Evidence of Early African Migration into America
Posted by ClydeWinters on 19 May 2011 at 16:27 GMT
by Clyde Winters
Although, Hubbe et al support a two migration theory for the settlement of the Americas, the researchers maintain that currently available genetic evidence suggests a “single migration model for the peopling of the Americas. This suggests that we need to look further into the molecular history of the Americans to determine if there is evidence of non-Amerindian molecular among Amerind populations.
The early presents of Negroes in South America [Where do Hubbe et al. mention Negroes in South America?] suggest a migration of Sub-Saharan Africans into the Americas 40-15 kya. We can assume that if Africans early colonized the Americas there must be genetic evidence supporting their ancient presence. Evidence should exist today in Amerindian populations pointing to Sub-Saharan haplogroups among the varied populations if Africans made an early migration.
A review of the literature suggests such a phenomena. Lisker et al, noted that “The variation of Indian ancestry among the studied Indians shows in general a higher proportion in the more isolated groups, except for the Cora, who are as isolated as the Huichol and have not only a lower frequency but also a certain degree of black admixture. The black admixture is difficult to explain because the Cora resides in a mountainous region away from the west coast” (1).
Green et al also found Indians with African genes in North Central Mexico, including the L1 and L2 clusters (2). Green et al observed that the discovery of a proportion of African haplotypes roughly equivalent to the proportion of European haplotypes [among North Central Mexican Indians] cannot be explained by recent admixture of African Americans for the United States [correct, they are not an admixture with recent African Americans from the USA, further down, Green et al. state: "Today, the number of Mexicans with African heritage is not known; however, some suggest that as much as 75% of the modern Mexican population has some African ancestry" Suggesting that they are the outcome of admixture with recent African slaves from Mexico. This is indeed selective quoting!]. This is especially the case for the Ojinaga area, which presently is, and historically has been largely isolated from U.S. African Americans. In the Ojinaga sample set, the frequency of African haplotypes was higher than that of European haplotypes” (2).
The genetic evidence for Africans among the Mexicans is quite interesting. This evidence supports the skeletal evidence that Africans have lived in Mexico for thousands of years. [note there is no citation to back this outlandish claim]
The foundational mtDNA lineages for Mexican Indians are lineages A, B, C and D.The frequencies of these lineages vary among population groups. For example, whereas lineages A,B and C were present among Maya at Quintana Roo, Maya at Copan lacked lineages A and B (3). This supports Carolina Bonilla et al view that heterogeneity is a major characteristic of Mexican population (4). The mtDA A haplogroup common to Mexicans is also found among the Mande speaking people and some East Africans (4-6). Haplogroup A found among Mixe and Mixtecs (4).The Mande speakers carry mtDNA haplogroup A, which is common among Mexicans (6). In addition to the Mande speaking people of West Africa, Southeast Africa Africans also carry mtDNA haplogroup A (5).
[I looked hard but was not able to find one single paper mentioning the presence of mtDNA haplogroup A among the Mandenka people of Africa. This is false and not backed by any of the papers mentioned by Winters]
Underhill, et al noted that:" One Mayan male, previously [has been] shown to have an African Y chromosome" (7). This is very interesting because the Maya language illustrates a Mande substratum, in addition to African genetic markers. The Mixe Mixe carry African Y-chromosome DYS287(YAP+) in Mixe individuals who harbored DYS199 C allele (8).
James l. Gutherie (2000) in a study of the HLAs in indigenous American populations, found that the Vantigen of the Rhesus system, considered to be an indication of African ancestry, among Indians in Belize and Mexico centers of Mayan civilization(9). Dr. Gutherie also noted that A*28 common among Africans has high frequencies among Eastern Maya. It is interesting to note that the Otomi, a Mexican group identified as being of African origin and six Mayan groups show the B Allele of the ABO system that is considered to be of African origin (9-10). [The Otomi are Amerindian, see Zillges, 2013 and his genetic study. Regarding HLA A*28 it is found in Europeans, Pacific Islanders, Africans and Amerindians! Hsu et al., 1999.]
We conclude that the genetic evidence points to distinct origins for the Paleoamerican populations. This molecular evidence supports a possible early colonization of the Americas, not only by Melanesians as suggested by Hubbe et al, but also Africans. The molecular evidence is consistent with Hubbe et al two wave human expansion across America, while supporting an introduction of some Americans directly from Africa.
Some researchers claim that as many as seventy-five percent of the Mexicans have an African heritage (2). Although this may be the case Cuevas says these Africans have been erased from history (11).[No, they were not, they were slaves brought from -Africa after 1492]
References:
1. R. Lisker et al.(1996). Genetic structure of autochthonous populations of Meso-america: Mexico. Am. J. Hum Biol 68:395-404.
2. Green, L.D., (2000), "Mitochondrial DNA affinities of the people of North-Central Mexico", Am J of Hum Genet, 66:989-998.
3. Angelica Gonzalez-Oliver et al. (2001). Founding Amerindian mitochondrial DNA lineages in ancient Maya from Xcaret, Quintana Roo. Am. Jour of Physical Anthropology, 116 (3):230-235. Retreived 2/9/2006 at: http://www3.interscience....
4. Bonilla C, Gutierrez G, Parra E J, Kline C, Shriver M D. (2005). Admixture of a rural population of the State of Guerrero,Mexico, Am J Phys Anthropol. Dec;128(4):861-9.
5. Salas A, Richards M, De la Fe T, Lareu M V, Sobrino B, Sanchez-Diz P, Macaulay V, Carracedo A. (2002). The making of the West African mtDNA Landscape, Am J. Hum. Genet, 71:1082-1111.
6. Jackson B A, Wilson J L, Kirbah S, Sidney S S, Bassie L, Alle J A D, McLean D C Garvey W T.(2005). Am J Phys Anthropol. 128:156-163.
7. Underhill,P.A.,Jin,L., Zemans,R., Oefner,J and Cavalli-Sforza,L.L.(1996, January). A pre-Columbian Y chromosome-specific transition and its implications for human evolutionary history, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA,93, 196-200.
8. Lell J T, Brown M D, Schurr T G, Sukernik R I, Starikovskaya Y B, Torroni A, Moore L G, Troup G M Wallace D C.1997. Y chromosome polymorphisms in Native American and Siberian populations: identification of Native American Y chromosome haplotypes, Hum Genet. , 100(5-6):536-43.
9. James L. Guthrie, Human lymphocyte antigens:Apparent Afro-Asiatic, southern Asian and European HLAs in indigenous American populations. Retrieved 3/3/2006 at: http://www.neara.org/Guth...
10. M.H. Crawford et al (1974).Human biology in Mexico II. A comparison of blood group, serum, and red cell enzyme frequencies and genetic distances of the Indian population of Mexico. Am. Phys. Anthropol, 41: 251-268.
11. Marco P. Hernadez Cuevas.(2004). African Mexicans and the discourse on Modern Mexico.Oxford: University Press. "

Blacks in America

It could be possible that Africans strayed across the Atlantic ocean in rafts or boats and reached South America or Central America, but, as I mentioned in some posts about Phoenicians in America, the genetic imprint of a few hundred men or women in a population of millions of Amerindians would be extremely small. Add to that the "Great Dying" event that wiped out 90% of Amerindians starting in 1492, and the chances of detecting any pre-Hispanic African genes would be minute. I have posted in the past about Blacks in pre-Columbian America, and although the idea is interesting and intriguing, there is no scientific proof to back it. There are reports by explorers, even Columbus about dark-skinned people, but that does not prove anything. There are the Olmecs, said to resemble Africans as depicted by their stone statues, but, as mentioned in another post, they also have statues of Asian-looking people and were-jaguars!

Finally we have the fringe notion that the Black Native Americans in the US are original people, and not the outcome of later admixture from freed or escaped slaves that went to live among the Indians. I will look into this quack idea in a future post.

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2026 by Austin Whittall © 

Some Mormon insights on the peopling of America

I read many articles, papers and books, some of them are rigorous science, others are more informal, like blogs or news sites, and others are clearly religious, like the one I will mention today.

I am an atheist. A former Anglican, I turned agnostic and later became a full atheist, but I understand the deep religious need that human beings have, so, as long as religions don't try to impose their beliefs on me (or impose religion as facts -like creationists are trying to do in the U.S.), each and everyone can believe in whatever makes them feel better. Religon plays an important role in people's lives, it brings calm, peace, and soothes in the face of death and tragic events. I have visited many holy sites of different religions, past, and present, around the globe, from China, Taiwan, India, Sri Lanka, Israel, Turkey, Greece, Rome, Vatican, Western Europe, the Americas, and I have to admit that holy sites have a mystical aura about them. Having said this, It is clear that I don't support Mormon beliefs, but those who follow that faith, try to find scientific backing to prove some of its basic premises. In this context, the book Is Decrypting the Genetic Legacy of America’s Indigenous Populations Key to the Historicity of the Book of Mormon? by Ugo A. Perego and Jayne E. Ekinsipsum puts forward some interesting thoughts and hypothesis that are backed by science and stand outside of the "orthodox" viepoint on Amerindian genetics. Below is a short quote from this work (p. 276 and 278).

What would have happened to their DNA after their arrival? A well considered argument comes from Henry C. Harpending, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the University of Utah. When asked, “If a group of, say, fifty Phoenicians (men and women) arrived in the Americas some 2,600 years ago and intermarried with indigenous people, and assuming their descendants fared as well as the larger population through the vicissitudes of disease, famine, and war, would you expect to find genetic evidence of their Phoenician ancestors in the current Native American population? In addition, would their descendants be presumed to have an equal or unequal number of Middle Eastern as Native American haplotypes?
Professor Harpending’s reply was, “I doubt that we would pick up [evidence of the Phoenicians] today at all, but it does depend on how they intermixed once they were here. If they intermixed freely and widely, and if there were several millions of people here in the New World, then the only trace would be an occasional strange stray haplotype. Even if we found such a haplotype we would probably assume it was the result of post-Columbian admixture.”⁴⁰
... From a numerical point of view, the arrival of Lehi and his group would be comparable to a drop of ink in a swimming pool. However, in the swimming pool, although nearly impossible to detect, the actual drop of ink is present. The difficulty in recognizing the drop of ink is determined by the availability of instruments sufficiently sensitive to detect its minuscule presence within the much larger body of water. This analogy does not extend perfectly to DNA and inheritance at the population level. Although the group of Old World migrants was small (a drop of ink), the DNA may have survived (or not) to the present time — due to the forces of genetic drift. If it disappeared, it would be as if someone removed the drop of ink from the swimming pool such that it seemed never to have been there in the first place. Of course, this would be heavily dependent on the level of isolation the Book of Mormon party experienced — something not clearly stated in the narrative."
⁴⁰ Signature Books, http://signaturebooks.com/2010/06/dna-and-thebook-of-mormon (accessed 5 January 2013).

So, small parties if they admixed, would be so diluted that nothing would remain to show they arrived. Perego and Ekinsipsum also mention the "Great Dying" and clearly describe how it contributed to wiping out lineages and leaving no trace of them. This is something I have mentioned many times in this blog (see p. 281, quoted below).

"The arrival of Europeans to the Americas in the fifteenth century was orders of magnitude worse than the combined effect of the Black Plague and the Spanish Influenza on Europeans. The consequences of rapidly reduced population and displacement has forever altered the demographic landscape of pre-Columbian America such that scientists from many disciplines are considerably limited in their ability to draw conclusions about the history, including the genetic history, of the New World. To model such an event, suppose that after an epidemic of smallpox, a hypothetical village of a thousand individuals experienced a ninety percent reduction; the one hundred surviving subjects may or may not include at least one representative of all the original group genetic lineages. Although survival of many diseases also involves a genetic component, Y chromosome and mitochondrial DNA variance have little known or no influence at all on the immunity of an individual affected by one of the several diseases Europeans brought to the New World.
With selection playing little or no recognizable role on specific ancestral lines, the drastic population reduction in the hypothetical village inevitably would have affected the number of surviving genetic lineages. Of course, the initial impact with Europeans was so severe that entire tribal groups, particularly on the Atlantic side of the Americas, were completely decimated, leaving no genetic trace of their existence. Native Y chromosomes were quickly replaced by those from the Old World, and mitochondrial DNA variation was greatly reduced."

Interestingly it also addresses the issue of European-like or African-like genes in America, they are always attributed to Post-Columbian events: "If mtDNA lineages are observed in the Americas, even in tribal groups considered deeply indigenous who belong to mtDNA groups known to be African, European, or even Asian, the argument most readily given is that they have been introduced more recently, after the rediscovery of the New World by Europeans" (p.269) and "Perhaps the greatest challenge faced by scientists is to be able to assign clearly and unequivocally any European or African lineage found in the Americas to the pre-Columbian era. The generalized view among population geneticists is that after the initial arrival of Paleo-Indians toward the end of the Last Ice Age, no other migrations took place until the discovery of the double-continent by Europeans in 1492... the common consensus, whenever any DNA is found that does not fit with the classic Native America genetic types, is an automatic assignment of such DNA to the post-Columbian migration wave of European or African migrants." (p. 271-272)

About Lehi and America

Lehi and his people arrive in the promised land (America), painting by Arnold Friberg (See 1 Nephi 18, pages 41–43). Source

For the non-Mormons, the group mentioned in this work as accompanying Lehi were Jews, who were inspired and led by Lehi's father, Nephi, a Hebrew prophet who guided his family and friends from Jerusalem to the land that the Lord promised them in the west (America). This took place c.600 BC when the Babylonians struck Jerusalem. Lehi and his sons built a ship and sailed across the ocean to America, and settled there.

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2026 by Austin Whittall © 

Early European and African Presence in South America? (Chachapoyas)

Today I will follow up on the "third component" of the Cachapoyas mentioned in a recent post-

I read a paper cited in by Guevara et al. (2020) in their references, which discussed this component (Barbieri C, Barquera R, Arias L, Sandoval JR, Acosta O, Zurita C, Aguilar-Campos A, Tito-Alvarez AM, Serrano-Osuna R, Gray RD, Mafessoni F, Heggarty P, Shimizu KK, Fujita R, Stoneking M, Pugach I, Fehren-Schmitz L. The Current Genomic Landscape of Western South America: Andes, Amazonia, and Pacific Coast. Mol Biol Evol. 2019 Dec 1;36(12):2698-2713. doi: 10.1093/molbev/msz174. PMID: 31350885; PMCID: PMC6878948.)

I came across some interesting facts which I share below.

The paper also looked into post-Columbian (after 1492) introgression of European (conquest) and African (slave trade) genes into the native Amerindians. The chart below is from this paper, it gives the admixture dates based on different analytical tools.

Admixture dates between European and African sources. Estimates of admixture are calculated with the MALDER and WAVELETS methods. Dates are expressed in generations ago and converted to calendar years using a generation time of 29 years.. Source

As expected most dates are located between the late 1500s and mid 1700s, but a few fall way earlier, even before the discovery of America! around 1380 AD.

The authors explain this oddity as follows:

"Finally, studies of ancient DNA have shown that as much as one third of the ancestry in modern Native Americans could be traced to western Eurasia (Raghavan et al. 2014). Similarly, modern-day Europeans were found to be a mixture of three ancestral populations, one of which was a population deeply related to Native Americans (Lazaridis et al. 2014). These findings imply that European (or more accurately, Eurasian) ancestry found in modern-day Native Americans may not have been acquired exclusively through admixture during the post-Columbian period, but instead may reflect a much deeper origin. It is therefore possible that the WT method is picking up this signal of shared ancestry, which predates European colonization, and hence infers dates for some populations that are too early to be consistent with the first appearance of the conquistadors in the Americas, only after 1492."

I am skeptical, a signal of ancient pre-Beringian Eurasian genetic material shared by Western Europeans and Native Americans? Far fetched. Perhaps the method is wrong, the generation times are shorter, or there was some type of pre-Columbian contact with Europeans (Genoese, Venetian, Viking, or evern older like Romans, Carthaginians, Greek, Minoans, and why not, Phoenicians).

The Tumbes signal indicates Yoruba (African) input around 1380! Could these have been slaves of European mariners? But, why would these genes appear among people living along the Pacific coast of South America, and not along the Atlantic coast? Wouldn't an early contact with Europeans or Africans have brought the same catastrophic Old World diseases to America and wiped out the native population?

Further studies could answere these questions.

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2025 by Austin Whittall © 

Africans reached America ca. 1310 C.E.?

I have read several blogs posting about the Olmec "heads" as an example of an early presence of Africans in America (this is a typical example). I usually consider those theories a bit outlandish and shrug them off with little effort. But today I found something a bit more scientific; A paper by Dr. Clyde Winter who looks into the HLA variants to pinpoint an African expedition to Mesoamerica around 1310 AD.

Read his article here: Winters C. Inference of Ancient Black Mexican Tribes and DNA. WebmedCentral GENETICS 2015;6(3):WMC004856 doi: 10.9754/journal.wmc.2015.004856.

Apparently Abubakari II, ruler of Mali in Africa sent an expedition to America in 1310 and that is the source of admixture in Mesoamerica (not the later slave trade that brought millions of unfortunate Africans to work and die in the New World; read more about this African king.

For a good explanation on African - Native American admixture, see this website. The first Africans to reach America did so in what is now Santo Domingo Island in 1502. Some escaped, met the local natives and that led to the first admixture.

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2014 by Austin Whittall ©