A tiny tribe wanted to shape the future of a famed canyon. Ancient DNA helped.

Washington Post

30-04-2025

The elders of the Picuris Pueblo nation, a 300-person tribe in Northern New Mexico, have passed down their history for centuries. They trace ancestral connections to the famed complex of sandstone dwellings and roads at Chaco Canyon, a World Heritage site about 125 miles to the west.
But the small tribe didn't have a 'seat at the table' or much influence when it came to the future of Chaco Canyon and debates about drilling in the area, said Picuris Lt. Gov. Craig Quanchello. Six years ago, the tribe took the unusual step of partnering with an international team of scientists to probe whether analysis of ancient DNA could strengthen their case and more firmly connect them to the community they wanted to shape.
The findings, reported Wednesday in the journal Nature, confirm what the Picuris have always known — a continuous genetic thread connects human remains at Chaco Canyon to Picuris ancestors to modern-day people. The work also provides a possible new model for research involving Indigenous people, in which research is driven by the community.
'We steered this ship, in the hopes that using technology in the Western way, they would now listen,' Quanchello said at a news conference. 'We've always known who we are. Our elders [have] always known we've been here. Come to find out, everything we felt and knew [is] just validated on their terms.'
The study is novel because research on Indigenous communities has often been exploitative. Scientists drop into a community and take samples — sometimes without proper consent — and publish results without consideration of how they might affect tribal members.
The Havasupai tribe in Arizona, for example, sued Arizona State University in 2004 after samples collected for a study of type 2 diabetes were used without permission on other genetic studies. A 2017 genetic study of human remains in Chaco Canyon created a firestorm of criticism, because scientists failed to consult with tribal nations affiliated with the site.
The new study offers an alternate way for such studies to occur, guided by the interests of the tribe.
'I truly believe that DNA can be used to help Indigenous people fight for their rights, their claims and their sovereignty,' said Thomaz Pinotti, a geneticist from the University of Copenhagen who led the work.
Katrina Claw, a Navajo geneticist at the University of Colorado's Anschutz Medical Campus who was not involved in the study, said the tribe's participation is evident in the paper, which discusses the traditional knowledge of the Picuris alongside genetics.
'I think we're entering an era where ethical standards have changed — from 5 years ago, 10 years ago, 20 years ago. It's changing rapidly, which is very positive,' Claw said. 'I like that scientists and researchers are trying to keep up with these changes.'
Picuris is a small tribe today, but this wasn't always the case. Prior to the arrival of European colonizers, there were around 3,000 individuals according to the paper's estimate. Within a century, their population plummeted by 90 percent.
Michael Adler, an archaeologist at Southern Methodist University, began working closely with the Picuris in the early 1990s. He said that Western scientists, including himself, knew embarrassingly little about the tribe's history at the time.
The traditional 'archaeological worldview,' Adler said, was that the Picuris did not follow the ways of the Chacoan people to the west, who built 'great houses' of masonry with hundreds of rooms. Chaco was the center of the Pueblo world from about 850 to 1150. Nearly two dozen tribes have ancestral claims to the site.
But around that same time, the Picaris built subterranean pit houses. Their pottery style was different.
'Even though everyday in class, we tell our students, 'pots aren't people, arrowheads aren't people,' we fall into the same pitfall,' Adler said.
Traditional knowledge, however, was clear that Picuris people had a deep connection to Chaco Canyon. Tribal leaders said that line of evidence was often ignored.
In 2019, Picuris tribal leaders were faced with a dilemma: what to do with human remains that had been exhumed in archaeological excavations that began in the 1960s. Tribal leaders wondered whether genetic analysis could help reveal their ties to Chaco Canyon.
Members of the tribe began meeting with experts in ancient DNA from the University of Copenhagen via Zoom. Undertaking the project was risky, with concerns about how the data and samples might be used. After two years of consultation, they decided to move ahead. Eske Willerslev, an ancient DNA expert at the University of Copenhagen said that the tribe retained the right to call off the research at any point.
'There has unfortunately been a long history of harmful and unethical genomic research with Indigenous communities and Ancestors, and many Indigenous communities have had deep — and justifiable! — concerns about studies of their DNA and the DNA of their Ancestors,' Deborah Bolnick, an anthropological geneticist at the University of Connecticut who was not involved in the research, said in an email.
Bolnick said she hoped to see tribal members directly involved in data collection and analysis, but she praised the current study as refreshing and positive.
Anne Stone, an anthropological geneticist at Arizona State University, agreed. 'I think it's a very deliberative process when a community decides to participate. And given the politics and impact of colonialism — a very brave process. And I think this is a lovely example of a respectful dialogue between both parties.'
In total, scientists analyzed DNA from 16 Picuris individuals who lived 500 to 700 years ago and 13 present-day individuals. They compared those data to the 2017 genetic study of human remains from Chaco Canyon, which had been criticized because tribal communities were not consulted.
Scientists said that they were hesitant at first to use the controversial dataset. They brought the question before Picuris leaders. Those leaders said, 'It's not your call, that's our call,' Adler recalled being told.
Those genomic data show a throughline, from Chaco Canyon to present day Picuris — reflecting traditional knowledge, and giving the Picuris a new line of evidence when trying to make their voices heard.
The research team is quick to say they aren't making an exclusive claim. Other tribes also have genetic ties to Chaco ancestors. But now the Picuris know.
'We have it on their terms, with the science talk,' Quanchello said. 'It not only runs through our land, through our veins, but now through science.'