Palaeogenomics of Upper Palaeolithic to Neolithic European hunter-gatherers

: Modern humans have populated Europe for more than 45,000 years1,2. Our knowledge of the genetic relatedness and structure of ancient hunter-gatherers is however limited, owing to the scarceness and poor molecular preservation of human remains from that period3. Here we analyse 356 ancient hunter-gatherer genomes, including new genomic data for 116 individuals from 14 countries in western and central Eurasia, spanning between 35,000 and 5,000 years ago. We identify a genetic ancestry profile in individuals associated with Upper Palaeolithic Gravettian assemblages from western Europe that is distinct from contemporaneous groups related to this archaeological culture in central and southern Europe4, but resembles that of preceding individuals associated with the Aurignacian culture. This ancestry profile survived during the Last Glacial Maximum (25,000 to 19,000 years ago) in human populations from southwestern Europe associated with the Solutrean culture, and with the following Magdalenian culture that re-expanded northeastward after the Last Glacial Maximum. Conversely, we reveal a genetic turnover in southern Europe suggesting a local replacement of human groups around the time of the Last Glacial Maximum, accompanied by a north-to-south dispersal of populations associated with the Epigravettian culture. From at least 14,000 years ago, an ancestry related to this culture spread from the south across the rest of Europe, largely replacing the Magdalenian-associated gene pool. After a period of limited admixture that spanned the beginning of the Mesolithic, we find genetic interactions between western and eastern European hunter-gatherers, who were also characterized by marked differences in phenotypically relevant variants

Palaeogenomics of Upper Palaeolithic to Neolithic European hunter-gatherers

Publisher Copyright: © 2023, The Author(s).Modern humans have populated Europe for more than 45,000 years1,2. Our knowledge of the genetic relatedness and structure of ancient hunter-gatherers is however limited, owing to the scarceness and poor molecular preservation of human remains from that period3. Here we analyse 356 ancient hunter-gatherer genomes, including new genomic data for 116 individuals from 14 countries in western and central Eurasia, spanning between 35,000 and 5,000 years ago. We identify a genetic ancestry profile in individuals associated with Upper Palaeolithic Gravettian assemblages from western Europe that is distinct from contemporaneous groups related to this archaeological culture in central and southern Europe4, but resembles that of preceding individuals associated with the Aurignacian culture. This ancestry profile survived during the Last Glacial Maximum (25,000 to 19,000 years ago) in human populations from southwestern Europe associated with the Solutrean culture, and with the following Magdalenian culture that re-expanded northeastward after the Last Glacial Maximum. Conversely, we reveal a genetic turnover in southern Europe suggesting a local replacement of human groups around the time of the Last Glacial Maximum, accompanied by a north-to-south dispersal of populations associated with the Epigravettian culture. From at least 14,000 years ago, an ancestry related to this culture spread from the south across the rest of Europe, largely replacing the Magdalenian-associated gene pool. After a period of limited admixture that spanned the beginning of the Mesolithic, we find genetic interactions between western and eastern European hunter-gatherers, who were also characterized by marked differences in phenotypically relevant variants.Peer reviewe

Halštatski žgani grob z žaro iz Unterhausa pri Wildonu na Avstrijskem Štajerskem

/At the end of August 2003 while digging a ditch for drains in Unterhaus (Wildon, Styria), a cremation grave was discovered by chance. It proved to be the burial of a young person, from 13  to  18  years  old.  A  small  pot  with  a  conical  neck  painted  with a metope motif was used as the urn. This was covered by a grooved cup used as the lid, similarly decorated inside with a painted cross motif. Two years later, interesting details about the burial itself were further uncovered.It is apparent from the presented analogies that the burial most probably can be dated to the Ha C2 period of the central European chronology. In the Late Bronze Age and Early Hall-statt period this region around Wildon (Wildoner Schlossberg, Buchkogel) certainly represented one of the important centres of present-day Austrian Styria. Konec  avgusta  2003  so  v  Unterhausu  (Wildon,  Avstrijska  Štajerska)  ob  izkopu  kanalizacijskega  jarka  naključno  odkrili  žgan grob. Izkazalo se je, da gre za pokop mlajše osebe, stare med 13 in 18 let. Kot žara je bila uporabljena manjša posoda s  stožčastim  vratom,  okrašena  z  motivom  metop  in  pokrita  z  nažlebljeno  skodelico,  v  notranjosti  pa  okrašena  s  križnim  motivom. Ob izkopavanjih dve leti pozneje so bile razkrite tudi zanimive podrobnosti samega načina pokopa.Na osnovi zbranih primerjav je razvidno, da grob sodi naj-verjetneje v čas Ha C2 po srednjeevropski kronologiji. V pozni bronasti dobi in starejšem halštatskem obdobju je obravnavano območje Wildona (Wildoner Schlossberg in Buchkogel) gotovo predstavljalo  eno  od  pomembnih  središč  poznejše  Avstrijske  Štajerske

Molecular clocks in ancient proteins: Do they reflect the age at death even after millennia?

Age at death estimation in cases of human skeletal finds is an important task in forensic medicine as well as in anthropology. In forensic medicine, methods based on 'molecular clocks' in dental tissues and bone play an increasing role. The question, whether these methods are applicable also in cases with post-depositional intervals far beyond the forensically relevant period, was investigated for two 'protein clocks', the accumulation of D-aspartic acid (D-Asp) and the accumulation of pentosidine (Pen) in dentine. Eight teeth of skeletons from different burial sites in Austria and with post-depositional intervals between c. 1216 and c. 8775 years were analysed. The results of age at death estimation based on D-Asp and Pen in dentine were compared to that derived from a classical morphological examination. Age at death estimation based on D-Asp resulted consistently in false high values. This finding can be explained by a post-mortem accumulation of D-Asp that may be enhanced by protein degradation. In contrast, the Pen-based age estimates fitted well with the morphological age diagnoses. The described effect of post-mortem protein degradation is negligible in forensically relevant time horizons, but not for post-depositional intervals of thousands of years. That means that the 'D-Asp clock' loses its functionality with increasing post-depositional intervals, whereas Pen seems to be very stable. The 'Pen-clock' may have the potential to become an interesting supplement to the existing repertoire of methods even in cases with extremely long post-depositional intervals. Further investigations have to test this hypothesis

Palaeogenomics of Upper Palaeolithic to Neolithic European hunter-gatherers

Modern humans have populated Europe for more than 45,000 years1, 2. Our knowledge of the genetic relatedness and structure of ancient hunter-gatherers is however limited, owing to the scarceness and poor molecular preservation of human remains from that period3. Here we analyse 356 ancient hunter-gatherer genomes, including new genomic data for 116 individuals from 14 countries in western and central Eurasia, spanning between 35,000 and 5,000 years ago. We identify a genetic ancestry profile in individuals associated with Upper Palaeolithic Gravettian assemblages from western Europe that is distinct from contemporaneous groups related to this archaeological culture in central and southern Europe4, but resembles that of preceding individuals associated with the Aurignacian culture. This ancestry profile survived during the Last Glacial Maximum (25,000 to 19,000 years ago) in human populations from southwestern Europe associated with the Solutrean culture, and with the following Magdalenian culture that re-expanded northeastward after the Last Glacial Maximum. Conversely, we reveal a genetic turnover in southern Europe suggesting a local replacement of human groups around the time of the Last Glacial Maximum, accompanied by a north-to-south dispersal of populations associated with the Epigravettian culture. From at least 14,000 years ago, an ancestry related to this culture spread from the south across the rest of Europe, largely replacing the Magdalenian-associated gene pool. After a period of limited admixture that spanned the beginning of the Mesolithic, we find genetic interactions between western and eastern European hunter-gatherers, who were also characterized by marked differences in phenotypically relevant variants