<P> While not as widespread as in other areas of the world (Asia, Africa, Europe), indigenous Americans did have livestock . Domesticated turkeys were common in Mesoamerica and in some regions of North America; they were valued for their meat, feathers, and, possibly, eggs . There is documentation of Mesoamericans utilizing hairless dogs, especially the Xoloitzcuintle breed, for their meat . Andean societies had llamas and alpacas for meat and wool, as well as for beasts of burden . Guinea pigs were raised for meat in the Andes . Iguanas and a range of wild animals, such as deer and pecari, were another source of meat in Mexico, Central, and northern South America . </P> <P> By the 15th century, maize had been transmitted from Mexico and was being farmed in the Mississippi embayment, as far as the East Coast of the United States, and as far north as southern Canada . Potatoes were utilized by the Inca, and chocolate was used by the Aztecs . </P> <P> The haplogroup most commonly associated with Indigenous Amerindian genetics is Haplogroup Q1a3a (Y - DNA). Y - DNA, like mtDNA, differs from other nuclear chromosomes in that the majority of the Y chromosome is unique and does not recombine during meiosis . This has the effect that the historical pattern of mutations can easily be studied . The pattern indicates Indigenous Amerindians experienced two very distinctive genetic episodes; first with the initial - peopling of the Americas, and secondly with European colonization of the Americas . The former is the determinant factor for the number of gene lineages and founding haplotypes present in today's Indigenous Amerindian populations . </P> <P> Human settlement of the New World occurred in stages from the Bering sea coast line, with an initial 20,000 - year layover on Beringia for the founding population . The micro-satellite diversity and distributions of the Y lineage specific to South America indicates that certain Amerindian populations have been isolated since the initial colonization of the region . The Na - Dené, Inuit and Indigenous Alaskan populations exhibit haplogroup Q - M242 (Y - DNA) mutations, however are distinct from other indigenous Amerindians with various mtDNA mutations . This suggests that the earliest migrants into the northern extremes of North America and Greenland derived from later populations . </P>

What accounts for the wide variety of languages and cultures in the pre-columbian americas