Abstract
The Central Andes and Pacific coast of Peru were an important center of cultural development in prehistoric South America. In particular, the North Coast of Peru had a significant demographic weight and witnessed a succession of societies and polities, some of which achieved state-level complexity. To understand the impact of this legacy on the genetic diversity of people living today, we generated 76 Y-chromosomal STR profiles and 143 full mtDNA sequences from four communities of the Peruvian North Coast. We reconstruct genealogical trajectories and search for connections to other living populations from South America, as well as with ancient individuals from archaeological contexts. We find characteristic paternal and maternal lineages, found only in the North Coast. These distinct genetic profiles are deeply rooted, and some of them can be linked with ancient individuals from local archaeological sites such as La Galgada (4000 years ago), and Moche sites like El Brujo (1600 years ago) and Huaca Prieta (1400 years ago). Additionally, a north-south divide from haplotype sharing profiles partly mirrors archaeological and linguistic dissimilarities already present at the time of the Moche culture. The multidisciplinary evidence examined suggests that the demographic distinctiveness of the North Coast populations of Peru is paired by exchanges with neighboring Peruvian and Ecuadorian groups and a high intrapopulation diversity.