Ancient genomes from Mendoza, Argentina, trace the dynamics of colonial urban formation in the Southern Cone of the Americas.

Ancient DNA from 28 individuals in colonial Mendoza (17th–19th centuries) shows ancestry is partially structured by church and burial location, with admixture among Indigenous, European, and African populations.

• Why it matters: Colonial forces reshaped communities, but their regional impacts—especially in the Virreinato del Río de la Plata—remain debated and less studied than other parts of the Americas.
• What they did: The team sequenced ancient DNA from church burials tied to different social strata, recovering 22 mitochondrial genomes and genome-wide data for 15 individuals, then analyzed paleogenomic patterns by burial context.
• The result: They detect admixture with sex-biased dispersal, European-related ancestry linked to Southern European migration, African-related ancestry showing affinities to Western-Central Africa, and Indigenous ancestry matching precontact Cuyo populations, with exceptions suggesting social mobility beyond genetic ancestry.

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