Three individuals, three stories, three burials from medieval Trondheim, Norway

This article presents the life stories of three individuals who lived in Trondheim, Norway, dur- ing the 13th century. Based on skeletal examinations, facial reconstructions, genetic analy- ses, and stable oxygen isotope analyses, the birthplace, mobility, ancestry, pathology, and physical appearance of these people are presented. The stories are discussed within the relevant historical context. These three people would have been ordinary citizens, without any privileges out of the ordinary, which makes them quite rare in the academic literature. Through the study of individuals one gets a unique look into the Norwegian medieval society

Population genomics of Mesolithic Scandinavia: Investigating early postglacial migration routes and high-latitude adaptation

Scandinavia was one of the last geographic areas in Europe to become habitable for humans after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). However, the routes and genetic composition of these postglacial migrants remain unclear. We sequenced the genomes, up to 57× coverage, of seven hunter-gatherers excavated across Scandinavia and dated from 9,500–6,000 years before present (BP). Surprisingly, among the Scandinavian Mesolithic individuals, the genetic data display an east–west genetic gradient that opposes the pattern seen in other parts of Mesolithic Europe. Our results suggest two different early postglacial migrations into Scandinavia: initially from the south, and later, from the northeast. The latter followed the ice-free Norwegian north Atlantic coast, along which novel and advanced pressure-blade stone-tool techniques may have spread. These two groups met and mixed in Scandinavia, creating a genetically diverse population, which shows patterns of genetic adaptation to high latitude environments. These potential adaptations include high frequencies of low pigmentation variants and a gene region associated with physical performance, which shows strong continuity into modern-day northern Europeans

Population genomics of Mesolithic Scandinavia: Investigating early postglacial migration routes and high-latitude adaptation

Scandinavia was one of the last geographic areas in Europe to become habitable for humans after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). However, the routes and genetic composition of these postglacial migrants remain unclear. We sequenced the genomes, up to 57× coverage, of seven hunter-gatherers excavated across Scandinavia and dated from 9,500-6,000 years before present (BP). Surprisingly, among the Scandinavian Mesolithic individuals, the genetic data display an east-west genetic gradient that opposes the pattern seen in other parts of Mesolithic Europe. Our results suggest two different early postglacial migrations into Scandinavia: initially from the south, and later, from the northeast. The latter followed the ice-free Norwegian north Atlantic coast, along which novel and advanced pressure-blade stone-tool techniques may have spread. These two groups met and mixed in Scandinavia, creating a genetically diverse population, which shows patterns of genetic adaptation to high latitude environments. These potential adaptations include high frequencies of low pigmentation variants and a gene region associated with physical performance, which shows strong continuity into modern-day northern Europeans.Günther T., Malmström H., Svensson E.M., Omrak A., Sánchez-Quinto F, Kılınç G.M., Krzewinska M., Eriksson G., Fraser M., Edlund H., Munters A.R., Coutinho A., Simões L.G., Vicente M., Sjölander A., Sellevold B.J., Jørgensen R., Claes P., Shriver M.D., Valdiosera C., Netea M.G., Apel J., Lidén K., Skar B., Storå J., Götherström A., Jakobsson M., ''Population genomics of Mesolithic Scandinavia: Investigating early postglacial migration routes and high-latitude adaptation'', PLoS Biology, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. e2003703, 22 pp., January 9, 2018.status: publishe

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