Ancient DNA challenges to admixture narratives: Insights from Notre-Dame Cemetery (1683–1796) in Colonial Montreal, Canada

Historical narratives of early colonization in Quebec frequently portray French–Indigenous relations as cooperative and characterized by admixture; which are often mobilized in modern debates on false-indigeneity. These narratives have been studied through genealogical, genetic, and bioarchaeological analyses, yet individuals of African descent remain mostly absent from them, while Indigenous peoples are framed largely in relation to colonists. Notre-Dame Cemetery (1683–1796) in Tiohtià:ke-Montréal offers a unique window onto one of the earliest urban colonial populations in Nouvelle France, but previous bioarchaeological studies have produced conflicting interpretations regarding the presence of non-European or admixed individuals. Here, we generated ancient DNA from 45 individuals and applied genotype imputation, runs-of-homozygosity, and identity-by-descent analyses to reevaluate genetic relatedness and cemetery organization. Our results show exclusively French European ancestry. We observe low levels of close-kin unions and identify several genetic lineages distributed across the cemetery’s successive burial phases rather than family clustering or religious ordering. The spatial organization of the graves is consistent with rapid demographic growth, with successive burials overlapping one another, before being disrupted by urban development. Rooted in Indigenous decolonial frameworks, these findings challenge the ‘admixed founding population’ narrative, aligning with historical evidence of Indigenous and African-descended marginalization while highlighting the social inequalities shaping this colonial urban cemetery. Québec’s bioarchaeological practices must move beyond blood ties as the sole measure of kinship and commit to legal frameworks that better reflect reciprocal obligations of care, in order to overcome the colonial structures that still define heritage.