After 5 years of waiting, the DNA test results from the Paracas elongated skulls are in! Brien Foerster gives us a quick update about the recently-released DNA results from the Paracas mummies, notable for their very elongated heads that lack the saggital suture of typical human skulls. Also very atypical about the Paracas skulls is that the foramen magnum, where the spine connects is located at the very back of the occipital plate, whereas, in human skulls, the foramen magnum is located toward the center of the base of the skull.
The Paracas skeletal remains feature fine red hair, with male adults generally having a stature of 6 feet or more. Needless to say, these traits are not typical of the indigenous peoples of Peru. Hundreds of skeletal remains like these and their distinctive associated artifacts have been found in the Pisco region, where this mysterious people lived for a few centuries more than two millennia ago.
Foerster helped LA Marzulli’s group obtain permission from the Peruvian government to do this genetic testing, working together with archaeologist, Ruben Soto. A total of 18 skulls, approximately 2,000 to 3,000 years old were sent. The DNA of four was too degraded but results from 12 came back from two separate labs each, at Canada’s Lakehead University and at UCLA.
Another University of California lab reported that, “No results were forthcoming.” Foerster says he’s not sure if this is true or if this is because, “The results were so bizarre that they decided to hide them.”
Foerster says the mitochondial DNA of all Native Americans of 100% native ancestry is of the A, B, C and D haplogroups. The DNA from four of the elongated skulls is from Haplogroup B or Native American ancestry but the other eight were mostly from Haplogroups U2e, H, H1a and H2.
U2e is considered a European-specific subclade of U2, which is an old lineage that emerged in the Caucasus Mountains region over 50,000 years ago. Mitochondrial Haplogroup H is also predominantly found in Europe, and is believed to have evolved before the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). It first expanded in the northern Near East and Southern Caucasus between 33,000 and 26,000 years ago. Today, around 40% of all maternal lineages in Europe belong to Haplogroup H. The highest frequencies of subclade H1 are found in the Iberian Peninsula and among the Tuareg Berbers of Libya.
Foerster believes that the ancestors of the Paracas people migrated from the Caucasus to the Persian Gulf, from where they sailed eastwards, eventually finding their way to the Peruvian coast.
He says this is only an initial release of information and that LA Marzulli will be making a book and DVD available around the end of February 2018.
