scholarly journals Ancient human genomes suggest three ancestral populations for present-day Europeans

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iosif Lazaridis ◽  
Nick Patterson ◽  
Alissa Mittnik ◽  
Gabriel Renaud ◽  
Swapan Mallick ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Great Majority ◽  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
Southern Sweden ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Human Genomes ◽  
Eurasian Lineage ◽  
West European

We sequenced genomes from a ~7,000 year old early farmer from Stuttgart in Germany, an ~8,000 year old hunter-gatherer from Luxembourg, and seven ~8,000 year old hunter-gatherers from southern Sweden. We analyzed these data together with other ancient genomes and 2,345 contemporary humans to show that the great majority of present-day Europeans derive from at least three highly differentiated populations: West European Hunter-Gatherers (WHG), who contributed ancestry to all Europeans but not to Near Easterners; Ancient North Eurasians (ANE), who were most closely related to Upper Paleolithic Siberians and contributed to both Europeans and Near Easterners; and Early European Farmers (EEF), who were mainly of Near Eastern origin but also harbored WHG-related ancestry. We model these populations' deep relationships and show that EEF had ~44% ancestry from a "Basal Eurasian" lineage that split prior to the diversification of all other non-African lineages.

Harvesting wild flax in the Galilee, Israel and extracting fibers — bearing on Near Eastern plant domestication

2015 ◽  
Vol 62 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 52-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shahal Abbo ◽  
Inbar Zezak ◽  
Simcha Lev-Yadun ◽  
Orit Shamir ◽  
Toni Friedman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
Plant Domestication ◽  
Wild Progenitor ◽  
Paleolithic Site ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Flax Fibers ◽  
Agricultural Revolution ◽  
Abundant Element ◽  
Whole Plants

Flax (Linum usitatissimum, 2n = 30) is considered as the first fiber and oil crop of Neolithic Near Eastern agriculture and is often mentioned as one of the Near Eastern Neolithic “founder crops” assemblage. Wild flax fibers were recovered from a 30,000-year-old Upper Paleolithic site in Georgia, suggesting that the utilization of wild flax by Old World hunter–gatherer societies pre-dates the Neolithic agricultural revolution. We examined the potential of a wild flax species (L.pubescens, 2n = 18), an abundant element in open plant formations in Israel, as a source of fibers. Whole plants were pulled by hand in two sites in the eastern Galilee, Israel, during May 2006 and May 2007. The roots, stems and inflorescences of the collected plants were separated, dried and weighed. Fibers were extracted by retting and hammering the stems, dried, weighed and yarn was spun. BecauseLinum pubescensis not the wild progenitor of domesticated flax but rather a distantly related wild relative, the results of our experimental flax harvest are discussed in the context of both Levantine hunter–gatherers’ subsistence and the Neolithic recruitment of species as potential candidates for domestication.

scholarly journals The genetic structure of the world’s first farmers

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iosif Lazaridis ◽  
Dani Nadel ◽  
Gary Rollefson ◽  
Deborah C. Merrett ◽  
Nadin Rohland ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Near East ◽  
Zagros Mountains ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Eurasian Steppe ◽  
Neanderthal Admixture ◽  
Eurasian Lineage ◽  
Early Farmers ◽  
The Impact

We report genome-wide ancient DNA from 44 ancient Near Easterners ranging in time between ~12,000-1,400 BCE, from Natufian hunter-gatherers to Bronze Age farmers. We show that the earliest populations of the Near East derived around half their ancestry from a ‘Basal Eurasian’ lineage that had little if any Neanderthal admixture and that separated from other non-African lineages prior to their separation from each other. The first farmers of the southern Levant (Israel and Jordan) and Zagros Mountains (Iran) were strongly genetically differentiated, and each descended from local hunter-gatherers. By the time of the Bronze Age, these two populations and Anatolian-related farmers had mixed with each other and with the hunter-gatherers of Europe to drastically reduce genetic differentiation. The impact of the Near Eastern farmers extended beyond the Near East: farmers related to those of Anatolia spread westward into Europe; farmers related to those of the Levant spread southward into East Africa; farmers related to those from Iran spread northward into the Eurasian steppe; and people related to both the early farmers of Iran and to the pastoralists of the Eurasian steppe spread eastward into South Asia.

scholarly journals Paleolithic DNA from the Caucasus reveals core of West Eurasian ancestry

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iosif Lazaridis ◽  
Anna Belfer-Cohen ◽  
Swapan Mallick ◽  
Nick Patterson ◽  
Olivia Cheronet ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Near East ◽  
Great Majority ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Western Anatolia ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
The Caucasus ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Population Turnover ◽  
Genome Wide Data ◽  
Relationship Of

AbstractThe earliest ancient DNA data of modern humans from Europe dates to ∼40 thousand years ago1-4, but that from the Caucasus and the Near East to only ∼14 thousand years ago5,6, from populations who lived long after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) ∼26.5-19 thousand years ago7. To address this imbalance and to better understand the relationship of Europeans and Near Easterners, we report genome-wide data from two ∼26 thousand year old individuals from Dzudzuana Cave in Georgia in the Caucasus from around the beginning of the LGM. Surprisingly, the Dzudzuana population was more closely related to early agriculturalists from western Anatolia ∼8 thousand years ago8 than to the hunter-gatherers of the Caucasus from the same region of western Georgia of ∼13-10 thousand years ago5. Most of the Dzudzuana population’s ancestry was deeply related to the post-glacial western European hunter-gatherers of the ‘Villabruna cluster’3, but it also had ancestry from a lineage that had separated from the great majority of non-African populations before they separated from each other, proving that such ‘Basal Eurasians’6,9 were present in West Eurasia twice as early as previously recorded5,6. We document major population turnover in the Near East after the time of Dzudzuana, showing that the highly differentiated Holocene populations of the region6 were formed by ‘Ancient North Eurasian’3,9,10 admixture into the Caucasus and Iran and North African11,12 admixture into the Natufians of the Levant. We finally show that the Dzudzuana population contributed the majority of the ancestry of post-Ice Age people in the Near East, North Africa, and even parts of Europe, thereby becoming the largest single contributor of ancestry of all present-day West Eurasians.

The Hidden Shaman

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Wengrow
Keyword(s):  
Near East ◽  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Southern Europe ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Last Ice Age ◽  
Paleolithic Art ◽  
Predynastic Egypt

This chapter considers the case for a much earlier beginning to the composite's story, among the hunter-gatherers and villagers of remote prehistory. It has been suggested that “imaginary animals,” “monsters,” and composite figures are found throughout the Upper Paleolithic art tradition that flourished among hunter-gatherers of the last Ice Age, between around 40,000 and 10,000 years ago. That tradition, or better complex of traditions, is most richly documented across a broad swath of southern Europe, on what were then the fringes of a vast steppe bordering the zone of maximum glaciation. The chapter first examines the frequency of composites among the surviving corpus of Paleolithic art, along with the significance of such images in the ritual life of prehistoric societies, before discussing the development of pictorial art in the later Neolithic of the Near East. It also describes animal figures in predynastic Egypt.

Paleolithic Hunter-Gatherers of Nubia

2021 ◽  
pp. 79-100
Author(s):  
Mirosław Masojć
Keyword(s):  
Middle Stone Age ◽  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Nile Valley ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Human Settlement ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Lower Paleolithic ◽  
Upper Egypt

The chapter is devoted to the earliest human settlement in Nubia, which took place in the Pleistocene, with numerous references to neighboring areas, especially Upper Egypt. Paleolithic groups of humans probably appeared in Nubia in the Early Pleistocene, but well-documented sites—connected with Lower Paleolithic-Acheulean complex industries—are dated only to Middle Pleistocene (MIS 9-7). Some of the oldest Middle Stone Age (MSA) assemblages in Africa were discovered in Nubia (ca. 220 ka, MIS 7). Numerous MSA sites (ca. 220–40 ka, MIS 7-3) with predominating Levallois technology are situated within the Nile valley and the neighboring deserts, mainly in oases. The onset of Upper Paleolithic (ca. 40–20 ka, MIS 3-2) blade technology was recorded together with the oldest mining. Late Paleolithic groups of humans (20–11 ka, MIS 2), characterized by considerable diversity in the hyper-arid period, lived only in the Nile valley. Local examples of rock paintings come from that period. Pleistocene human remains from Nubia are extremely rare; they all represent H. sapiens. Cemeteries with numerous burials, some of which display evidence of violence, were also discovered in this area.

The Creative Explosion

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Douglas Price
Keyword(s):  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Iron Mineral ◽  
Cape Of Good Hope ◽  
Pinnacle Point ◽  
Anatomically Modern Humans ◽  
Small Stone ◽  
Almost All

Two related phenomena characterize the last 30,000 years or so of the Pleistocene and the Old Stone Age in Europe, a period known as the Upper Paleolithic. The first of these is the arrival of a version of ourselves, Homo sapiens, around 40,000 years ago. The second is the creative explosion in technology, equipment, raw materials, art, and decoration that took place in this period. There appears to have been a substantial upgrade in human abilities and the variety of activities taking place. The first part of this chapter examines some of the sites and places that tell this story. At the end of the Pleistocene and the Paleolithic, 10,000 years ago, hunter-gatherers continued to thrive in a warmer, “postglacial” Europe, but their time was coming to an end. Agriculture had been invented in the Near East and was spreading toward the continent, arriving in the southeast by 7000 BC and reaching the northeast by 4000 BC. This period of post-Pleistocene hunter-gatherers in Europe is known as the Mesolithic and is the focus of the second part of this chapter. By the end of the Pleistocene, Homo sapiens had created art, invented many new tools, made tailored clothing, started counting, and spread to almost all parts of the world. As noted earlier, the oldest known representatives of anatomically modern humans have been found in East Africa, from almost 200,000 years ago. Further evidence of the activities of these individuals comes from caves around Pinnacle Point on the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa and dates to 165,000 years ago. This evidence is not in the form of fossil skeletons, but artifacts. Several finds—small stone blades, pieces of red ochre (an iron mineral used as a pigment), the earliest known collection and consumption of shellfish—point to new kinds of food, new tools that probably required hafting, and the use of powdered mineral as a pigment or preservative. These are firsts in the archaeological record and likely document the beginnings ative explosion witnessed more fully after 50,000 years ago.

scholarly journals The prehistoric peopling of Southeast Asia

Science ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 361 (6397) ◽  
pp. 88-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugh McColl ◽  
Fernando Racimo ◽  
Lasse Vinner ◽  
Fabrice Demeter ◽  
Takashi Gakuhari ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Agricultural Development ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Southeast Asian ◽  
Current Evidence ◽  
Human Occupation ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Human Genomes ◽  
History Of ◽  
Asian History

The human occupation history of Southeast Asia (SEA) remains heavily debated. Current evidence suggests that SEA was occupied by Hòabìnhian hunter-gatherers until ~4000 years ago, when farming economies developed and expanded, restricting foraging groups to remote habitats. Some argue that agricultural development was indigenous; others favor the “two-layer” hypothesis that posits a southward expansion of farmers giving rise to present-day Southeast Asian genetic diversity. By sequencing 26 ancient human genomes (25 from SEA, 1 Japanese Jōmon), we show that neither interpretation fits the complexity of Southeast Asian history: Both Hòabìnhian hunter-gatherers and East Asian farmers contributed to current Southeast Asian diversity, with further migrations affecting island SEA and Vietnam. Our results help resolve one of the long-standing controversies in Southeast Asian prehistory.

Social Landscapes of the Late Palaeolithic: Marking Meaning in the Magdalenian

2015 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 380-401 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen Sterling
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Cultural Importance ◽  
Lithic Tools ◽  
The World ◽  
Social Landscapes ◽  
Late Palaeolithic

Landscape archaeologies that pay attention to cultural importance of place have become increasingly common in recent years in many parts of the world. However, these approaches have largely failed to make inroads into Pleistocene European hunter–gatherer archaeology. This is partly due to a focus on economics, survival, and neo-liberal assumptions of ‘efficiency’ in early modern human behaviour. With evidence of lithic use drawn from cave sites, survey, and open-air excavation, I argue that Upper Paleolithic hunter–gatherers left clues to the importance of certain places in the landscape. Lithic tools in particular have been undervalued for their symbolic meaning, which goes well beyond style and ethnicity models. Raw material has been seen as evidence of mobility and trade, but possible cultural motives behind material choices have been downplayed or ignored.

scholarly journals Reconstructing Genetic History of Siberian and Northeastern European Populations

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily H.M. Wong ◽  
Andrey Khrunin ◽  
Larissa Nichols ◽  
Dmitry Pushkarev ◽  
Denis Khokhrin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Linguistically Diverse ◽  
Indigenous Populations ◽  
Whole Genome Sequencing Data ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Sequencing Data ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Human Genomes ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Ancient Gene

Siberia and Western Russia are home to over 40 culturally and linguistically diverse indigenous ethnic groups. Yet, genetic variation of peoples from this region is largely uncharacterized. We present whole-genome sequencing data from 28 individuals belonging to 14 distinct indigenous populations from that region. We combine these datasets with additional 32 modern-day and 15 ancient human genomes to build and compare autosomal, Y-DNA and mtDNA trees. Our results provide new links between modern and ancient inhabitants of Eurasia. Siberians share 38% of ancestry with descendants of the 45,000-year-old Ust-Ishim people, who were previously believed to have no modern-day descendants. Western Siberians trace 57% of their ancestry to the Ancient North Eurasians, represented by the 24,000-year-old Siberian Malta boy. In addition, Siberians admixtures are present in lineages represented by Eastern European hunter-gatherers from Samara, Karelia, Hungary and Sweden (from 8,000-6,600 years ago), as well as Yamnaya culture people (5,300-4,700 years ago) and modern-day northeastern Europeans. These results provide new evidence of ancient gene flow from Siberia into Europe.

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