The Arrival of Steppe and Iranian Related Ancestry in the Islands of the Western Mediterranean (original) (raw)
Recent ancient DNA studies of western Eurasia have revealed a dynamic history of admixture, with evidence for major migrations during the Neolithic and Bronze Age. The population of the Mediterranean island of Sardinia has been notable in these studies – Neolithic individuals from mainland Europe cluster more closely with Sardinian individuals than with all other present-day Europeans. The current model to explain this result is that Sardinia received an initial influx of Neolithic ancestry and then remained relatively isolated from expansions in the later Neolithic and Bronze Age that took place in continental Europe. To test this model, we generated genome-wide capture data (approximately 1.2 million variants) for 43 ancient Sardinian individuals spanning the Neolithic through the Bronze Age, including individuals from Sardinia’s Nuragic culture, which is known for the construction of numerous large stone towers throughout the island. We analyze these new samples in the context of...
Ancient genomes reveal structural shifts after the arrival of Steppe-related ancestry in the Italian Peninsula Highlights d 22 genomes from Northeastern and Central Italy dated between 3200 and 1500 BCE d Arrival of Steppe-related ancestry in the central Italian Peninsula by 1600 BCE d Close patrilineal kinship patterns within commingled Chalcolithic cave burials d Roman Imperial period had a stronger effect on phenotype shifts than the Bronze Age
The Spread of Steppe and Iranian Related Ancestry in the Islands of the Western Mediterranean
Nature Ecology & Evolution, 2020
Fernandes, DM., Mittnik, A., Olalde, I., Lazaridis, I., Cheronet, O., Rohland, N., Mallick, S., Bernardos, R., Broomandkhoshbacht, N., Carlsson, J., Culleton, BJ., Ferry, M., Gamarra, B., Lari, M., Mah, M., Michel, M., Modi, A., Novak, M., Oppenheimer, J., Sirak, KA., Stewardson, K., Mandl, K., Schattke, C., Özdogan, KT., Lucci, M., Gasperetti, G., Candilio, F., Salis, G., Vai, S., Camarós, E., Calò, C., Catalano, G., Cueto, M., Forgia, V., Lozano, M., Marini, E., Micheletti, M., Miccichè, RM., Palombo, MR., Ramis, D., Schimmenti, V., Sureda, P., Teira, L., Teschler-Nicola, M., Kennett, DJ., Lalueza-Fox, C., Patterson, N., Sineo, L., Coppa, A., Caramelli, D., Pinhasi, R., Reich, D. (2020). The Spread of Steppe and Iranian Related Ancestry in the Islands of the Western Mediterranean. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 4 (334-345): 1-12. doi: 10.1038/s41559-020-1102-0 Supplementary Information doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-1102-0 Available online / disponibile online: https://www.n...
Genetic history from the Middle Neolithic to present on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia
2020
The island of Sardinia has been of particular interest to geneticists for decades. The current model for Sardinia’s genetic history describes the island as harboring a founder population that was established largely from the Neolithic peoples of southern Europe and remained isolated from later Bronze Age expansions on the mainland. To evaluate this model, we generate genome-wide ancient DNA data for 70 individuals from 21 Sardinian archaeological sites spanning the Middle Neolithic through the Medieval period. The earliest individuals show a strong affinity to western Mediterranean Neolithic populations, followed by an extended period of genetic continuity on the island through the Nuragic period (second millennium BCE). Beginning with individuals from Phoenician/Punic sites (first millennium BCE), we observe spatially-varying signals of admixture with sources principally from the eastern and northern Mediterranean. Overall, our analysis sheds light on the genetic history of Sardini...
Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2017
Important gaps remain in our understanding of the spread of farming into Europe, due partly to apparent contradictions between studies of contemporary genetic variation and ancient DNA. It seems clear that farming was introduced into central, northern, and eastern Europe from the south by pioneer colonization. It is often argued that these dispersals originated in the Near East, where the potential source genetic pool resembles that of the early European farmers, but clear ancient DNA evidence from Mediterranean Europe is lacking, and there are suggestions that Mediterranean Europe may have resembled the Near East more than the rest of Europe in the Mesolithic. Here, we test this proposal by dating mitogenome founder lineages from the Near East in different regions of Europe. We find that whereas the lineages date mainly to the Neolithic in central Europe and Iberia, they largely date to the Late Glacial period in central/eastern Mediterranean Europe. This supports a scenario in whi...