Amerindians: testing the hypothesis about their homogeneity

One of the postulates of the most accepted models about the peopling of the Americas proposes that Amerindians constitute a homogeneous population. The aim of the present study is to assess the homogeneity of the craniofacial morphology of South American Amerindians in a worldwide context. Variance of each geographical region and FST values among local populations were obtained. Results indicate that the southern Amerindians present a high level of morphologic variation, even when geographically closer populations are compared. The origin of Amerindians as well as micro evolutionary processes, which would explain the high variability, is discussed. To cite this article: M.L. Sardi et al., C. R. Palevol 3 (2004).