Vittrup Man–The life-history of a genetic foreigner in Neolithic Denmark

The lethally maltreated body of Vittrup Man was deposited in a Danish bog, probably as part of a ritualised sacrifice. It happened between c. 3300 and 3100 cal years BC, i.e., during the period of the local farming-based Funnel Beaker Culture. In terms of skull morphological features, he differs from the majority of the contemporaneous farmers found in Denmark, and associates with hunter-gatherers, who inhabited Scandinavia during the previous millennia. His skeletal remains were selected for transdisciplinary analysis to reveal his life-history in terms of a population historical perspective. We report the combined results of an integrated set of genetic, isotopic, physical anthropological and archaeological analytical approaches. Strontium signature suggests a foreign birthplace that could be in Norway or Sweden. In addition, enamel oxygen isotope values indicate that as a child he lived in a colder climate, i.e., to the north of the regions inhabited by farmers. Genomic data in fact demonstrates that he is closely related to Mesolithic humans known from Norway and Sweden. Moreover, dietary stable isotope analyses on enamel and bone collagen demonstrate a fisher-hunter way of life in his childhood and a diet typical of farmers later on. Such a variable life-history is also reflected by proteomic analysis of hardened organic deposits on his teeth, indicating the consumption of forager food (seal, whale and marine fish) as well as farmer food (sheep/goat). From a dietary isotopic transect of one of his teeth it is shown that his transfer between societies of foragers and farmers took place near to the end of his teenage years

Species-specific responses of Late Quaternary megafauna to climate and humans

Despite decades of research, the roles of climate and humans in driving the dramatic extinctions of large-bodied mammals during the Late Quaternary remain contentious. We use ancient DNA, species distribution models and the human fossil record to elucidate how climate and humans shaped the demographic history of woolly rhinoceros, woolly mammoth, wild horse, reindeer, bison and musk ox. We show that climate has been a major driver of population change over the past 50,000 years. However, each species responds differently to the effects of climatic shifts, habitat redistribution and human encroachment. Although climate change alone can explain the extinction of some species, such as Eurasian musk ox and woolly rhinoceros, a combination of climatic and anthropogenic effects appears to be responsible for the extinction of others, including Eurasian steppe bison and wild horse. We find no genetic signature or any distinctive range dynamics distinguishing extinct from surviving species, underscoring the challenges associated with predicting future responses of extant mammals to climate and human-mediated habitat change.This paper is in the memory of our friend and colleague Dr. Andrei Sher, who was a major contributor of this study. Dr Sher died unexpectedly, but his major contributions to the field of Quaternary science will be remembered and appreciated for many years to come. We are grateful to Dr. Adrian Lister and Dr. Tony Stuart for guides and discussions. Thanks to Tina B. Brandt, Dr. Bryan Hockett and Alice Telka for laboratory help and samples and to L. Malik R. Thrane for his work on the megafauna locality database. Data taken from the Stage 3 project was partly funded by Grant #F/757/A from the Leverhulme Trust, together with a grant from the McDonald Grants and Awards Fund. We acknowledge the Danish National Research Foundation, the Lundbeck Foundation, the Danish Council for Independent Research and the US National Science Foundation for financial suppor

Vittrup Man–The life-history of a genetic foreigner in Neolithic Denmark

Acknowledgements: We acknowledge a conservation specialist from Finland (NLES, previous employee of Bevaringscenter Nordjylland) for calling attention to the archaic appearance of the Vittrup skull; Paula Reimer (14CHRONO, Queen’s University Belfast), for providing methodological clarifications on AMS dates and isotopic measurements; Paul Fullagar (University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill) and David Dettman (University of Arizona, Tucson) for effective handling of our enamel Sr and δ13C & δ18O samples, respectively, during a complicated period of pandemic close downs; Poul Otto Nielsen (Danish National Museum) for access to archives and for assistance in having artefact photos produced for the paper. Moreover, we express our sincere thanks to Niels Lynnerup (Copenhagen University), Poul Otto Nielsen (Danish National Museum) and Kurt Gron (Durham University) for useful comments on earlier versions of the manuscript.Funder: Riksbankens Jubileumsfond; funder-id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100004472; Grant(s): M16-0455:1Funder: FP7 People: Marie-Curie Actions; funder-id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100011264; Grant(s): 300554The lethally maltreated body of Vittrup Man was deposited in a Danish bog, probably as part of a ritualised sacrifice. It happened between c. 3300 and 3100 cal years BC, i.e., during the period of the local farming-based Funnel Beaker Culture. In terms of skull morphological features, he differs from the majority of the contemporaneous farmers found in Denmark, and associates with hunter-gatherers, who inhabited Scandinavia during the previous millennia. His skeletal remains were selected for transdisciplinary analysis to reveal his life-history in terms of a population historical perspective. We report the combined results of an integrated set of genetic, isotopic, physical anthropological and archaeological analytical approaches. Strontium signature suggests a foreign birthplace that could be in Norway or Sweden. In addition, enamel oxygen isotope values indicate that as a child he lived in a colder climate, i.e., to the north of the regions inhabited by farmers. Genomic data in fact demonstrates that he is closely related to Mesolithic humans known from Norway and Sweden. Moreover, dietary stable isotope analyses on enamel and bone collagen demonstrate a fisher-hunter way of life in his childhood and a diet typical of farmers later on. Such a variable life-history is also reflected by proteomic analysis of hardened organic deposits on his teeth, indicating the consumption of forager food (seal, whale and marine fish) as well as farmer food (sheep/goat). From a dietary isotopic transect of one of his teeth it is shown that his transfer between societies of foragers and farmers took place near to the end of his teenage years.</jats:p

Two ancient human genomes reveal Polynesian ancestry among the indigenous Botocudos of Brazil.

Understanding the peopling of the Americas remains an important and challenging question. Here, we present (14)C dates, and morphological, isotopic and genomic sequence data from two human skulls from the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, part of one of the indigenous groups known as 'Botocudos'. We find that their genomic ancestry is Polynesian, with no detectable Native American component. Radiocarbon analysis of the skulls shows that the individuals had died prior to the beginning of the 19th century. Our findings could either represent genomic evidence of Polynesians reaching South America during their Pacific expansion, or European-mediated transport

Two ancient human genomes reveal Polynesian ancestry among the indigenous Botocudos of Brazil.

Understanding the peopling of the Americas remains an important and challenging question. Here, we present (14)C dates, and morphological, isotopic and genomic sequence data from two human skulls from the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, part of one of the indigenous groups known as 'Botocudos'. We find that their genomic ancestry is Polynesian, with no detectable Native American component. Radiocarbon analysis of the skulls shows that the individuals had died prior to the beginning of the 19th century. Our findings could either represent genomic evidence of Polynesians reaching South America during their Pacific expansion, or European-mediated transport.GeoGenetics members were supported by the Lundbeck Foundation, the Danish National Research Foundation (DNRF94) and the European Union (FP7/2007-2013/317184 and 319209). A.S.M. was supported by a fellowship from the Swiss National Science Foundation (PBSKP3_143529); M.D. by the US National Science Foundation (grant DBI-1103639); P.L.J. by the National Institutes of Health (grant K99 GM104158); V.F.G. by a Strategic Training for Advanced Genetic Epidemiology (STAGE) fellowship, University of Toronto.This is the final version. It was first published by Elsevier at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096098221401274

The cranial remains of Vittrup Man, who ended up in a bog after his skull had been crushed by at least eight heavy blows.

The cranial remains of Vittrup Man, who ended up in a bog after his skull had been crushed by at least eight heavy blows.</p

Strontium isotope values of Danish human skeletal remains of the Funnel Beaker Culture epoch for which a genomic DNA profile is available.

Vittrup Man plots clearly outside the Danish baseline range, indicated as grey zones. The highly dissimilar values for the two of his teeth analysed indicate a geographical change of residence. Data from [1] and SI.8 in S1 File this study.</p

Deposaries/reproducibility.

The lethally maltreated body of Vittrup Man was deposited in a Danish bog, probably as part of a ritualised sacrifice. It happened between c. 3300 and 3100 cal years BC, i.e., during the period of the local farming-based Funnel Beaker Culture. In terms of skull morphological features, he differs from the majority of the contemporaneous farmers found in Denmark, and associates with hunter-gatherers, who inhabited Scandinavia during the previous millennia. His skeletal remains were selected for transdisciplinary analysis to reveal his life-history in terms of a population historical perspective. We report the combined results of an integrated set of genetic, isotopic, physical anthropological and archaeological analytical approaches. Strontium signature suggests a foreign birthplace that could be in Norway or Sweden. In addition, enamel oxygen isotope values indicate that as a child he lived in a colder climate, i.e., to the north of the regions inhabited by farmers. Genomic data in fact demonstrates that he is closely related to Mesolithic humans known from Norway and Sweden. Moreover, dietary stable isotope analyses on enamel and bone collagen demonstrate a fisher-hunter way of life in his childhood and a diet typical of farmers later on. Such a variable life-history is also reflected by proteomic analysis of hardened organic deposits on his teeth, indicating the consumption of forager food (seal, whale and marine fish) as well as farmer food (sheep/goat). From a dietary isotopic transect of one of his teeth it is shown that his transfer between societies of foragers and farmers took place near to the end of his teenage years.</div

AMS dates and associated dietary carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios for human and cattle bones from the Vittrup river mire.

AMS dates and associated dietary carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios for human and cattle bones from the Vittrup river mire.</p