Genetic ancestry changes in Stone to Bronze Age transition in the East European plain

The transition from Stone to Bronze Age in Central and Western Europe was a period of major population movements originating from the Ponto-Caspian Steppe. Here, we report new genome-wide sequence data from 30 individuals north of this area, from the understudied western part of present-day Russia, including 3 Stone Age hunter-gatherers (10, 800 to 4250 cal BCE) and 26 Bronze Age farmers from the Corded Ware complex Fatyanovo Culture (2900 to 2050 cal BCE). We show that Eastern hunter-gatherer ancestry was present in northwestern Russia already from around 10, 000 BCE. Furthermore, we see a change in ancestry with the arrival of farming - Fatyanovo Culture individuals were genetically similar to other Corded Ware cultures, carrying a mixture of Steppe and European early farmer ancestry. Thus, they likely originate from a fast migration toward the northeast from somewhere near modern-day Ukraine - the closest area where these ancestries coexisted from around 3000 BCE

History and evolution of the Picene Culture through Ancient DNA analysis

Until the Roman conquest, the Italian peninsula was characterized by the presence of many different ethnic groups. Although considerable archaeological research has been conducted, several aspects of the origins and evolution of these ancient populations are still unknown. We focused our attention on the Picenes, a civilization established in IX-III cc. BCE on the Adriatic coast of central Italy that, on the basis of archaeological data, seems to be composed of many local groups not necessarily ancestrally related. During the Iron Age, central-eastern Italy experienced the full development of the Picene culture, but in the early years of the III c. BCE Picenes underwent Roman expansion and the whole region was subject to Rome. In order to investigate the origin of the Picenes and the genetic legacy of the Roman conquest, we performed the ancient DNA analysis of new samples from different burial sites of central Italy. On the basis of the material culture, the selected sites belong either to Picenes or to other pre-Roman and Roman cultures. We then framed our data in the context of published Italian and European ancient data, for a total of more than 1500 samples included in our study. Our preliminary results show that the genetic diversity of Picenes seems to be consistent with other Iron Age Italian and European people, suggesting a genetic continuity with previous central Italian cultures. On the other hand, during the Roman rule there was a shift in the genetic landscape of central Italy possibly due to an influence from eastern Mediterranean people

Archaeogenetics of the Picenes and the legacy of the Roman expansion in Central Italy

Until the Roman conquest, the Italian peninsula was characterized by the presence of many different ethnic groups. Although considerable archaeological research has been conducted, several aspects of the evolution of these ancient populations are still unknown. We focused our attention on the Picenes, a civilization established during the Iron Age on the Adriatic coast of Central Italy. They flourished until the beginning of the III century BCE, when their territory was conquered by Romans. To investigate the origin of the Picenes and the genetic legacy of the Roman conquest, we extracted DNA from 91 ancient individuals belonging to four different Central Italian burial sites (two Picene, an Etruscan and a Roman Imperial time necropolises) to frame the genetic variability of the Picenes in the local context. Our preliminary results show no major genetic differences between Picenes and other contemporary populations like the Etruscans, suggesting a shared ancestry for the Iron Age Central Italian populations. Nevertheless, Picenes show some additional genetic influences, possibly linked to other European cultures. Similarly to other areas of Central Italy, the arrival of the Romans caused a partial shift in the genetic landscape of the region towards Near Eastern and North African components, although some continuity between the Iron Age and the Imperial time is still present

The Arrival of Siberian Ancestry Connecting the Eastern Baltic to Uralic Speakers further East

In this study, we compare the genetic ancestry of individuals from two as yet genetically unstudied cultural traditions in Estonia in the context of available modern and ancient datasets: 15 from the Late Bronze Age stone-cist graves (1200-400 BC) (EstBA) and 6 from the Pre-Roman Iron Age tarand cemeteries (800/500 BC-50 AD) (EstIA). We also included 5 Pre-Roman to Roman Iron Age Ingrian (500 BC-450 AD) (IngIA) and 7 Middle Age Estonian (1200-1600 AD) (EstMA) individuals to build a dataset for studying the demographic history of the northern parts of the Eastern Baltic from the earliest layer of Mesolithic to modern times. Our findings are consistent with EstBA receiving gene flow from regions with strong Western hunter-gatherer (WHG) affinities and EstIA from populations related to modern Siberians. The latter inference is in accordance with Y chromosome (chrY) distributions in present day populations of the Eastern Baltic, as well as patterns of autosomal variation in the majority of the westernmost Uralic speakers [1-5]. This ancestry reached the coasts of the Baltic Sea no later than the mid-first millennium BC; i.e., in the same time window as the diversification of west Uralic (Finnic) languages [6]. Furthermore, phenotypic traits often associated with modern Northern Europeans, like light eyes, hair, and skin, as well as lactose tolerance, can be traced back to the Bronze Age in the Eastern Baltic. VIDEO ABSTRACT.status: publishe

The Arrival of Siberian Ancestry Connecting the Eastern Baltic to Uralic Speakers further East.

In this study, we compare the genetic ancestry of individuals from two as yet genetically unstudied cultural traditions in Estonia in the context of available modern and ancient datasets: 15 from the Late Bronze Age stone-cist graves (1200-400 BC) (EstBA) and 6 from the Pre-Roman Iron Age tarand cemeteries (800/500 BC-50 AD) (EstIA). We also included 5 Pre-Roman to Roman Iron Age Ingrian (500 BC-450 AD) (IngIA) and 7 Middle Age Estonian (1200-1600 AD) (EstMA) individuals to build a dataset for studying the demographic history of the northern parts of the Eastern Baltic from the earliest layer of Mesolithic to modern times. Our findings are consistent with EstBA receiving gene flow from regions with strong Western hunter-gatherer (WHG) affinities and EstIA from populations related to modern Siberians. The latter inference is in accordance with Y chromosome (chrY) distributions in present day populations of the Eastern Baltic, as well as patterns of autosomal variation in the majority of the westernmost Uralic speakers [1-5]. This ancestry reached the coasts of the Baltic Sea no later than the mid-first millennium BC; i.e., in the same time window as the diversification of west Uralic (Finnic) languages [6]. Furthermore, phenotypic traits often associated with modern Northern Europeans, like light eyes, hair, and skin, as well as lactose tolerance, can be traced back to the Bronze Age in the Eastern Baltic. VIDEO ABSTRACT

Shifts in the Genetic Landscape of the Western Eurasian Steppe Associated with the Beginning and End of the Scythian Dominance

The Early Iron Age nomadic Scythians have been described as a confederation of tribes of different origins, based on ancient DNA evidence [1-3]. It is still unclear how much of the Scythian dominance in the Eurasian Steppe was due to movements of people and how much reflected cultural diffusion and elite dominance. We present new whole-genome sequences of 31 ancient Western and Eastern Steppe individuals, including Scythians as well as samples pre- and postdating them, allowing us to set the Scythians in a temporal context (in the Western, i.e., Ponto-Caspian Steppe). We detect an increase of eastern (Altaian) affinity along with a decrease in eastern hunter-gatherer (EHG) ancestry in the Early Iron Age Ponto-Caspian gene pool at the start of the Scythian dominance. On the other hand, samples of the Chernyakhiv culture postdating the Scythians in Ukraine have a significantly higher proportion of Near Eastern ancestry than other samples of this study. Our results agree with the Gothic source of the Chernyakhiv culture and support the hypothesis that the Scythian dominance did involve a demic component.status: publishe