Archaeogenomic analysis of the first steps of Neolithization in Anatolia and the Aegean

The Neolithic transition in west Eurasia occurred in two main steps: the gradual development of sedentism and plant cultivation in the Near East and the subsequent spread of Neolithic cultures into the Aegean and across Europe after 7000 cal BCE. Here, we use published ancient genomes to investigate gene flow events in west Eurasia during the Neolithic transition. We confirm that the Early Neolithic central Anatolians in the ninth millennium BCE were probably descendants of local hunter-gatherers, rather than immigrants from the Levant or Iran. We further study the emergence of post-7000 cal BCE north Aegean Neolithic communities. Although Aegean farmers have frequently been assumed to be colonists originating from either central Anatolia or from the Levant, our findings raise alternative possibilities: north Aegean Neolithic populations may have been the product of multiple westward migrations, including south Anatolian emigrants, or they may have been descendants of local Aegean Mesolithic groups who adopted farming. These scenarios are consistent with the diversity of material cultures among Aegean Neolithic communities and the inheritance of local forager know-how. The demographic and cultural dynamics behind the earliest spread of Neolithic culture in the Aegean could therefore be distinct from the subsequent Neolithization of mainland Europe.WoSScopu

Before the Neolithic in the Aegean: the Pleistocene and the Early Holocene record of Bozburun-Southwest Turkey

Starnini, Elisabetta/0000-0002-3933-0854; Gemici, Hasan Can/0000-0003-4424-2864; ERDOGU, BURCIN/0000-0003-3584-5313; Atakuman, Cigdem/0000-0001-8675-6236WOS: 000566620900001The renewed Mesolithic research in the Greek mainland and the islands has been providing new insights into the lively maritime activity within the region; however, the southwest coast of Turkey has been virtually devoid of related investigations until the commencement of the Bozburun Prehistoric Survey project in 2017. the aim of this paper is to give an overview of the prehistoric sites discovered at the Bozburun Peninsula during the 2017-2019 field seasons. Preliminary results indicate that the area is rich in prehistoric activity. While Middle Paleolithic chipped stone industries were identified at the sites of Kayabasi Cave, cakmak, and Sobalak, flake based microlithic chipped stone industries typical of the Aegean Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene were identified at the sites of Sarnic, Hurma, Sobalak, Zeytinlik, and cakmak. A variety of artifacts, suggestive of the Neolithic, were also recorded at the sites of Hurma, Zeytinlik, and possibly at Sobalak and Sarnic. in specific, the presence of carinated end-scrapers, burins and polyhedric cores at Sarnic, as well as some geometric microliths at Hurma, demonstrates that Bozburun was frequented during the Upper Paleolithic and the Epipaleolithic. the presence of a few geometric microliths made on Melos obsidian at Hurma also demonstrates that the region was connected to the Aegean obsidian network routes at least by the beginning of the Holocene. If our relative dating is correct, this constitutes the earliest known use of Melos obsidian in the Anatolian mainland.Turk Tarih Kurumu (Turkish Historical Association); METU-TACDAM (Middle East Technical University - Centre for Research and Assessment of Historical Environment)The permissions for the Bozburun Prehistoric Survey were provided by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism. We would like to thank Neyir Kolankaya-Bostanc and Metin Kartal for sharing their thoughts on the chipped stone assemblages of Bozburun, as well as to the three anonymous reviewers and the editors of the Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology. This project has been supported by Turk Tarih Kurumu (Turkish Historical Association) and METU-TACDAM (Middle East Technical University - Centre for Research and Assessment of Historical Environment)

Variable kinship patterns in Neolithic Anatolia revealed by ancient genomes

The social organization of the first fully sedentary societies that emerged during the Neolithic period in Southwest Asia remains enigmatic,(1) mainly because material culture studies provide limited insight into this issue. However, because Neolithic Anatolian communities often buried their dead beneath domestic buildings,(2) household composition and social structure can be studied through these human remains. Here, we describe genetic relatedness among co-burials associated with domestic buildings in Neolithic Anatolia using 59 ancient genomes, including 22 new genomes from Asxikli Hoyuk and Catalhoyuk. We infer pedigree relationships by simultaneously analyzing multiple types of information, including autosomal and X chromosome kinship coefficients, maternal markers, and radiocarbon dating. In two early Neolithic villages dating to the 9th and 8th millennia BCE, Asxikli Hoyuk and Boncuklu, we discover that siblings and parent-offspring pairings were frequent within domestic structures, which provides the first direct indication of close genetic relationships among co-burials. In contrast, in the 7th millennium BCE sites of Catalhoyuk and Barcin, where we study subadults interred within and around houses, we find close genetic relatives to be rare. Hence, genetic relatedness may not have played a major role in the choice of burial location at these latter two sites, at least for subadults. This supports the hypothesis that in Catalhoyuk,(3-5) and possibly in some other Neolithic communities, domestic structures may have served as burial location for social units incorporating biologically unrelated individuals. Our results underscore the diversity of kin structures in Neolithic communities during this important phase of sociocultural development