High levels of consanguinity in a child from Paquimé, Chihuahua, Mexico.

This study reports results from the ancient DNA analysis of a unique child burial at Paquimé, northern Chihuahua, Mexico. Located between Mesoamerican and Ancestral Puebloan groups, Paquimé (also known as Casas Grandes) was a vibrant multicultural centre during the 13th-14th centuries AD. Archaeologists have long debated Paquimé's social organization. Our analysis of Burial 23-8 has revealed that this child, placed under the centre post of an important room, had parents who were close genetic relatives. We argue that this child's consanguinity and special depositional context resulted from an elite family's practice of aggrandizing social status.