DNA from Centuries-Old Montreal Human Bones Reveals No Genetic Mixing Between Indigenous Peoples and French Settlers

What the ancient DNA revealed

A new archaeological study analyzed the genomes of 45 people buried at Notre-Dame Cemetery, a Montreal cemetery founded in 1683 and used for Catholic burials until 1796. The researchers compared the DNA with reference populations from Europe, West Africa and the Americas.

The results showed that all 45 individuals had French-European ancestry. Researchers found no evidence of recent genetic admixture with Indigenous peoples or Africans in the sample.

The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, challenges common stories about widespread intermarriage between Indigenous peoples and French settlers during the early colonial period.

Why Indigenous ancestry stories are common in Quebec

“Indigenous ancestral family stories are very common” in Quebec, study lead author Diane Martin Moya, a biological anthropologist at the University of Quebec in Trois-Rivières, told Live Science.

Commercial genealogy services and consumer DNA testing have helped amplify those claims. Martin Moya said that distant or unverified Indigenous identities can undermine Indigenous rights, resources and recognition when they are treated as equivalent to belonging to an Indigenous community.

The findings do not rule out Indigenous people in Montreal

The researchers emphasized that the results apply only to the 45 people studied at one cemetery. They do not show that Indigenous and African people were absent from colonial Montreal, nor do they prove that relationships between French settlers and Indigenous peoples never involved family ties.

“Since our sample is small and from a single cemetery, this does not indicate that such combinations did not occur at all,” Martin Moya said. The results are consistent, however, with genealogical and genetic research suggesting that Indigenous ancestry among modern French Canadians is limited.

The study also does not establish that Quebecers have no Indigenous ancestry. Relationships between French settlers and Indigenous peoples were complex and included alliances, trade, conflict and, in some cases, family connections.

Cemetery burials may not reflect the entire population

Researchers cautioned that the people buried at Notre-Dame Cemetery may not represent everyone who lived in Montreal during the 17th and 18th centuries.

Previous studies disagreed about whether the cemetery contained Indigenous, European, African or mixed-race individuals. Burial locations, social class and changes to the cemetery over time may have influenced which remains survived and were available for analysis.

People buried inside the church were mainly clergy and wealthy residents, who were more likely to be exhumed and relocated. Poorer residents were buried outside the church, where later urban development may have disturbed or destroyed their graves. The analyzed remains may therefore disproportionately represent lower-class French settlers.

Reburials and changes in cemetery use could also have separated remains from their original locations, making it difficult to identify family groups.

Ancient DNA reveals family lines but not necessarily family burial plots

The DNA analysis identified genetic lineages that continued across multiple generations. However, the graves were spread across different parts of the cemetery rather than grouped into clear family units.

This suggests that 17th-century Montrealers may not have organized burials according to strict biological kinship, said Raquel Fleskes, a molecular anthropologist at Dartmouth College who was not involved in the study.

Fleskes said the apparent lack of genetic admixture between European, African and Indigenous populations may indicate that colonial communities interacted socially and politically without necessarily forming biological relationships.

Indigenous communities became increasingly separated from colonial towns

Archival records show that some Indigenous people were buried in Montreal’s Catholic cemeteries during the 17th century, Martin Moya said. Over time, however, Indigenous communities became increasingly separated from colonial towns because of land seizure and the relocation of missions away from urban centers.

Their dead were likely buried in their own communities. Enslaved Indigenous and African people were often buried on estates or in cemeteries designated for the poor, which may help explain why their remains were not identified in this cemetery sample.

DNA cannot define Indigenous identity

“Biological ancestry cannot in and of itself establish Indigenous affiliation,” Martin Moya said. Indigenous identity is rooted in kinship, community and relationships with the land, rather than blood or DNA alone.

A distant ancestor who lived more than 300 years ago cannot be equated with people who grew up within Indigenous families, communities and nations, she added.

The researchers said that if a claimed ancestor existed, that ancestry should be understood within its historical context rather than used as a substitute for community belonging or recognition.