| The Macushi are a Carib-speaking indigenous population residing in the northern Brazilian state of Roraima. The Macushi have been in frequent contact with neighboring indigenous groups and, since they occupy savannah lands used for cattle ranching, with non-indigenous ranchers. The kinship system of the Macushi is of the bifurcate-merging type with preferential cross-cousin marriage. Despite their close proximity to neighboring indigenous groups, the Macushi have remained relatively genetically isolated. Previous haplogroup frequencies of the Macushi determined through RFLP analysis by Merriwether et al. (1995) have shown that all four founding New World haplogroups A, B, C, and D exist in the Macushi population. To further analyze the genetic relationships of the Macushi population, 94 individuals have been sequenced for the D-loop hypervariable regions of the mitochondrial DNA and compared with other South American indigenous groups. This study examines how geography, language, and kinship practices have affected Macushi genetic history. |
