Population genomics of post-glacial western Eurasia.

Western Eurasia witnessed several large-scale human migrations during the Holocene <sup>1-5</sup> . Here, to investigate the cross-continental effects of these migrations, we shotgun-sequenced 317 genomes-mainly from the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods-from across northern and western Eurasia. These were imputed alongside published data to obtain diploid genotypes from more than 1,600 ancient humans. Our analyses revealed a 'great divide' genomic boundary extending from the Black Sea to the Baltic. Mesolithic hunter-gatherers were highly genetically differentiated east and west of this zone, and the effect of the neolithization was equally disparate. Large-scale ancestry shifts occurred in the west as farming was introduced, including near-total replacement of hunter-gatherers in many areas, whereas no substantial ancestry shifts happened east of the zone during the same period. Similarly, relatedness decreased in the west from the Neolithic transition onwards, whereas, east of the Urals, relatedness remained high until around 4,000 BP, consistent with the persistence of localized groups of hunter-gatherers. The boundary dissolved when Yamnaya-related ancestry spread across western Eurasia around 5,000 BP, resulting in a second major turnover that reached most parts of Europe within a 1,000-year span. The genetic origin and fate of the Yamnaya have remained elusive, but we show that hunter-gatherers from the Middle Don region contributed ancestry to them. Yamnaya groups later admixed with individuals associated with the Globular Amphora culture before expanding into Europe. Similar turnovers occurred in western Siberia, where we report new genomic data from a 'Neolithic steppe' cline spanning the Siberian forest steppe to Lake Baikal. These prehistoric migrations had profound and lasting effects on the genetic diversity of Eurasian populations

The Beaker phenomenon and the genomic transformation of northwest Europe

From around 2750 to 2500 bc, Bell Beaker pottery became widespread across western and central Europe, before it disappeared between 2200 and 1800 bc. The forces that propelled its expansion are a matter of long-standing debate, and there is support for both cultural diffusion and migration having a role in this process. Here we present genome-wide data from 400 Neolithic, Copper Age and Bronze Age Europeans, including 226 individuals associated with Beaker-complex artefacts. We detected limited genetic affinity between Beaker-complex-associated individuals from Iberia and central Europe, and thus exclude migration as an important mechanism of spread between these two regions. However, migration had a key role in the further dissemination of the Beaker complex. We document this phenomenon most clearly in Britain, where the spread of the Beaker complex introduced high levels of steppe-related ancestry and was associated with the replacement of approximately 90% of Britain’s gene pool within a few hundred years, continuing the east-to-west expansion that had brought steppe-related ancestry into central and northern Europe over the previous centuries

Manifestaciones simbólicas en el acceso Noreste del Recinto 4 del Foso en Camino de las Yeseras (San Fernando de Henares, Madrid)

This paper presents the characteristics of one of the entrances documented in the ditched enclosure 4 from Camino de las Yeseras: the best known and studied of all ditched enclosures of this site to date. As in other Iberian or European ditched enclosures, this study is focus on understanding that the access or transit areas are the most likely to contain structured deposits or deposits with a special character. The location and study of these strategicall areas represents an increasingly common approach on Iberian enclosures investigations, after several processualists and materialist approaches focused on the capacity of aggregation and the degree of social complexity developed to perform this type of construction. Thus, in the first part of the paper the location of the enclosure 4 is revised, and the orientation of access within the set of known enclosures as well as the relationship to the natural topography is analyzed. This increases our knowledge to what is already known in previous publications with some cosmological and astronomical considerations on the spatial organization and the architectural structure of the ditches. In the second part, enclosure fillings in the access area, as well as the main characteristics of the artefacts are described. Temporal sequence of the filling is also proposed. The final interpretation suggests that this access would be an outstanding place in the enclosure 4, around which certain symbolic practices were held. In these actions of structured depositions animals have special consideration, particularly dogs, given the amount of their remains and uniqueness of some of the deposits related to this species.Este trabajo presenta las características de una de las entradas documentadas en el foso 4 de Camino de las Yeseras, la mejor conocida y estudiada hasta el momento de todos los recintos de foso del yacimiento. Como ocurre con otros recintos de foso peninsulares y europeos, las zonas de acceso o tránsito son propensas a contener depósitos estructurados o presentar un carácter más singular en la naturaleza de sus contenidos. El objetivo de este trabajo es el de contextualizar si también en este caso la secuencia de colmatación del foso permite confirmar reiteradas actividades antrópicas que implican una manifiesta intencionalidad en los depósitos o si los rellenos son el resultado de una colmatación por abandono. La localización y estudio de estas zonas singulares supone un acercamiento cada vez más habitual en los trabajos sobre recintos peninsulares como vía de análisis de estas estructuras, tras unos primeros años de aproximaciones más procesualistas y materialistas sobre el tema centradas en la capacidad de estos asentamientos para agregar población, así como el grado de complejidad social desarrollado para llevar a cabo este tipo de construcciones. De este modo, en una primera parte del texto se revisa la ubicación del recinto 4 así como la orientación del acceso dentro del conjunto de recintos hasta hoy conocido y en relación a la topografía natural añadiendo, a lo ya conocido en publicaciones anteriores, algunas consideraciones astronómicas a la organización del espacio y a la estructuración arquitectónica de los fosos. En una segunda parte se describen los rellenos del foso en el acceso además de las principales características de los materiales que contienen y se hace una propuesta de secuencia temporal. La interpretación final que se propone sugiere la consideración del acceso como un lugar destacado en los recintos, en torno al cual se realizaban determinadas prácticas de carácter simbólico en las que los animales tienen especial significado, particularmente los perros dada la cantidad de restos y la singularidad de algunos de los depósitos relacionados con esta especie

The symbolic meaning of cattle and sheep/goat in the Bronze Age: Faunal inclusions in funerary contexts of South-Western Iberia

The inclusion of faunal remains in funerary practices is widely documented in Iberian prehistory. For the late prehistory (Neolithic to Bronze Age), there is relatively more data than in earlier periods, with limb segments being very common, and complete animals are rarer. In Bronze Age contexts from South-Western Iberia, a high percentage of human burials in subterranean chambers (hypogea) are associated with limb bones of cattle (Bos taurus) and sheep/goats (Ovis/Capra), along with other grave goods. Traditionally, this practice is interpreted as the result of rituals of commensality. In this paper, we present a different perspective. Besides commensality, we show that the inclusion of the same species and the same anatomical parts is a highly standardised behaviour. Beyond the tight connection between humans and animals, this pattern also points to a strong symbolism of these domestic species and to symbolic meaning of the anatomical parts themselves.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio