The present study focuses on the genetic history of the Quechua-Lamistas, inhabitants of the Lamas Province in the San Martin Department, Peru, who speak a peculiar dialect of the Quechua language related to the Ecuadorian Quichua. It has been suggested that different pre-Columbian ethnic groups from the Peruvian Amazonia, like the Motilones or “shaven heads”, assimilated the Quechua language and then formed the current native population of Lamas. However, many Quechua-Lamistas claim to be direct descendants of the Chankas, a famous pre-Columbian indigenous group that escaped from the Inca rule in the Andes. To investigate the Quechua-Lamistas and Chankas’ ancestries, we compared uniparental genetic profiles (17 STRs of Y-chromosome Q-M3 and complete mtDNA control region haplotypes) among autochthonous Amazonian and Andean populations from Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. The phylogeogra...