Health

The Native American tribe is working with genomicists to confirm their link to the ancient site

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Collaboration between UU of Copenhagen and Picuris Pueblo for the study of health histories and cultural heritages of the Northern Triadura de Taos

professional archaeologists have worked with the tribe since the 1960’s. The research focuses on human occupation of the region near Taos since around ad 900. The tribe got the human remains back in the 1990s after the passage of a US repatriation law.

Picuris oral histories and artefacts show a link with the archaeological site, a once-thriving centre famous for its ‘great houses’ that was mysteriously abandoned starting around 900 years ago.

Recognizing the potential of ancient DNA to help secure links to their past, the Governor and leadership of Picuris Pueblo requested some of their archaeological collaborators help them initiate conversations with the Centre for GeoGenetics (University of Copenhagen). A mutually agreed-on research design was developed to investigate the Picuris population and health history in many consultations over a two-year period. A Memorandum of agreement was signed between the United Nations University and the state of Colorado’s Picuris Pueblo. Following that, Picuris approved the transfer of ancient individuals excavated from the pueblo in the 1960s34, that were on long-term loan to Southern Methodist University. Even though some of the members of the tribe are co-authors of this study, we decided to address both of them in the third person.

A researcher who is not involved with the study says that it is an important step in the right direction.

A Tribe of Picuris that Steered the Ship: The US Oil and Gas Drilling Case against the Navajo Tribe

The US government is trying to keep oil and gas drilling away from the Chaco Canyon area. The restriction has been reviewed by the administration of US President Donald Trump. This month, a federal judge gave two other New Mexico tribes permission to oppose the Navajo lawsuit.

“We steered this ship,” Quanchello said at the briefing, in the hopes that by “using technology in the Western way, that they would now listen”. He added: “We’ve been telling our stories since time immemorial, but this is something on their terms that they can understand.”

Hoping to use the remains as evidence of the connection between Picuris and Chaco Canyon, the tribe’s leadership pursued a collaboration with Eske Willerslev, a palaeogenomicist at the University of Copenhagen. This was the first time a tribe had sought out his assistance, but his team had previously worked with Native American groups.

“It wasn’t an easy decision,” Picuris governor Wayne Yazza said at the press briefing. Establishing a genetic connection to Chaco Canyon is something that we thought would benefit our community.

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