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 F _ST 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.