The multiple maternal legacy of the Late Iron Age group of Urville-Nacqueville (France, Normandy) documents a long-standing genetic contact zone in northwestern France

The compilation of archaeological and genetic data for ancient European human groups has provided persuasive evidence for a complex series of migrations, population replacements and admixture until the Bronze Age. If the Bronze-to-Iron Age transition has been well documented archaeologically, ancient DNA (aDNA) remains rare for the latter period and does not precisely reflect the genetic diversity of European Celtic groups. In order to document the evolution of European communities, we analysed 45 individuals from the Late Iron Age (La Tène) Urville-Nacqueville necropolis in northwestern France, a region recognized as a major cultural contact zone between groups from both sides of the Channel. The characterization of 37 HVS-I mitochondrial sequences and 40 haplogroups provided the largest maternal gene pool yet recovered for the European Iron Age. First, descriptive analyses allowed us to demonstrate the presence of substantial amounts of steppe-related mitochondrial ancestry in the community, which is consistent with the expansion of Bell Beaker groups bearing an important steppe legacy in northwestern Europe at approximately 2500 BC. Second, maternal genetic affinities highlighted with Bronze Age groups from Great Britain and the Iberian Peninsula regions tends to support the idea that the continuous cultural exchanges documented archaeologically across the Channel and along the Atlantic coast (during and after the Bronze Age period) were accompanied by significant gene flow. Lastly, our results suggest a maternal genetic continuity between Bronze Age and Iron Age groups that would argue in favour of a cultural transition linked to progressive local economic changes rather than to a massive influx of allochthone groups. The palaeogenetic data gathered for the Urville-Nacqueville group constitute an important step in the biological characterization of European Iron age groups. Clearly, more numerous and diachronic aDNA data are needed to fully understand the complex relationship between the cultural and biological evolution of groups from the period

Présence arabo-berbère dans le sud de la Gaule : de nouveaux résultats archéo-anthropologiques ?

Durant la première moitié du VIIIe siècle, l’empire islamique s’étend jusqu’aux rives de l’océan Atlantique. Après avoir enrôlé les tribus berbères lors de la conquête du Maghreb, les armées omeyyades prennent possession du royaume wisigoth qui occupait la péninsule ibérique et la Septimanie. Les sources textuelles témoignent du franchissement des Pyrénées autour de l’année 719 et d’une installation en Narbonnaise. Les éventuels vestiges archéologiques permettant d’attester cette présence on..

Mourir sur le champ de bataille en 1814. Identité, statut social, traitement des corps après la bataille d’Orthez

En 2017, la découverte d’une vaste fosse contenant 26 soldats morts au cours de la bataille d’Orthez le 27 février 1814 fut l’occasion de mener une recherche interdisciplinaire dont l’une des problématiques est l’identification de ces individus. Cette recherche est conduite en confrontant les données archéologiques (mobilier porté par les défunts), historiques (registres des régiments), anthropologiques (données biologiques) et biochimiques (paléogénomiques et isotopiques) et va bien au-delà..

New insights on Neolithic food and mobility patterns of Mediterranean coastal populations

The aims of this research are to explore the diet, mobility, social organization, and environmental exploitation patterns of early Mediterranean farmers, particularly the role of marine and plant resources in these foodways. In addition, this work strives to document possible gendered patterns of behavior linked to the neolithization of this ecologically rich area. To achieve this, a set of multiproxy analyses (isotopic analyses, dental calculus, microremains analysis, ancient DNA) were performed on an exceptional deposit (n = 61) of human remains from the Les Bréguières site (France), dating to the transition of the sixth to the fifth millennium BCE. Materials and Methods: The samples used in this study were excavated from the Les Bréguières site (Mougins, Alpes-Maritimes, France), located along the southeastern Mediterranean coastline of France. Stable isotope analyses (C, N) on bone collagen (17 coxal bones, 35 craniofacial elements) were performed as a means to infer protein intake during tissue development. Sulfur isotope ratios were used as indicators of geographical and environmental points of origin. The study of ancient dental calculus helped document the consumption of plants. Strontium isotope analysis on tooth enamel (n = 56) was conducted to infer human provenance and territorial mobility. Finally, ancient DNA analysis was performed to study maternal versus paternal diversity within this Neolithic group (n = 30). Results: Stable isotope ratios for human bones range from −20.3 to −18.1¿ for C, from 8.9 to 11.1¿ for N and from 6.4 to 15¿ for S. Domestic animal data range from −22.0 to −20.2¿ for C, from 4.1 to 6.9¿ for N, and from 10.2 to 12.5¿ for S. Human enamel 87Sr/86Sr range from 0.7081 to 0.7102, slightly wider than the animal range (between 0.7087 and 0.7096). Starch and phytolith microremains were recovered as well as other types of remains (e.g., hairs, diatoms, fungal spores). Starch grains include Triticeae type and phytolith includes dicotyledons and monocot types as panicoid grasses. Mitochondrial DNA characterized eight different maternal lineages: H1, H3, HV (5.26%), J (10.53%), J1, K, T (5.2%), and U5 (10.53%) but no sample yielded reproducible Y chromosome SNPs, preventing paternal lineage characterization. Discussion: Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios indicate a consumption of protein by humans mainly focused on terrestrial animals and possible exploitation of marine resources for one male and one undetermined adult. Sulfur stable isotope ratios allowed distinguishing groups with different geographical origins, including two females possibly more exposed to the sea spray effect. While strontium isotope data do not indicate different origins for the individuals, mitochondrial lineage diversity from petrous bone DNA suggests the burial includes genetically differentiated groups or a group practicing patrilocality. Moreover, the diversity of plant microremains recorded in dental calculus provide the first evidence that the groups of Les Bréguières consumed a wide breadth of plant foods (as cereals and wild taxa) that required access to diverse environments. This transdisciplinary research paves the way for new perspectives and highlights the relevance for novel research of contexts (whether recently discovered or in museum collections) excavated near shorelines, due to the richness of the biodiversity and the wide range of edible resources available

Archéologie funéraire et (re)connaissance des populations esclavisées des Antilles françaises : l’exemple du cimetière de l’Anse Bellay à la Martinique

Depuis l’abolition définitive de l’esclavage sur les territoires français en 1848, de nombreux éléments qui se rattachent à ce passé aujourd’hui jugé lourd, ont, sciemment ou non, été effacés. Les cimetières des esclaves, entre autres, ont disparu du paysage. À la Martinique, celui de l’Anse Bellay, fouillé entre 2013 et 2019, s’inscrit dans la lignée des quelques cimetières antillais d’époque coloniale dont le statut de la population inhumée n’était pas connu au commencement des recherches ..

Authenticated DNA from Ancient Wood Remains

• Background The reconstruction of biological processes and human activities during the last glacial cycle relies mainly on data from biological remains. Highly abundant tissues, such as wood, are candidates for a genetic analysis of past populations. While well-authenticated DNA has now been recovered from various fossil remains, the final ‘proof' is still missing for wood, despite some promising studies. • Scope The goal of this study was to determine if ancient wood can be analysed routinely in studies of archaeology and palaeogenetics. An experiment was designed which included blind testing, independent replicates, extensive contamination controls and rigorous statistical tests. Ten samples of ancient wood from major European forest tree genera were analysed with plastid DNA markers. • Conclusions Authentic DNA was retrieved from wood samples up to 1000 years of age. A new tool for real-time vegetation history and archaeology is ready to us

Les individus du dépôt multiple néolithique du site de Pontcharaud, Clermont-Ferrand (fouilles 1986) : guerriers ou morts d’accompagnement ?

Le site de Pontcharaud 2 (4300-3900 cal. BCE), fouillé en 1986, a livré 68 individus issus de 56 structures parmi lesquelles un dépôt multiple exceptionnel de par le nombre de sujets qui le compose (5 adultes et 2 immatures) et la présence d’une pointe de flèche dans la vertèbre de l’un d’entre eux. Cette découverte a été abordée dans plusieurs publications sans qu’il y ait consensus quant à l’interprétation qui peut en être donnée. Or, la série ostéologique de Pontcharaud 2 bénéficie depuis..

L’alimentation des premiers agropasteurs du Néolithique : apport de l’étude des microrestes du tartre dentaire des individus de la Roussille (Auvergne)

Le Néolithique, épisode majeur de l’histoire humaine est marqué par la domestication des espèces végétales et animales, les débuts de l’agriculture et une croissance démographique significative. Le projet ANR WomenSOFar (ANR-21-CE03-0008) vise à identifier le statut des femmes à travers la façon dont elles se déplacent, se nourrissent, travaillent et prennent soin des jeunes. Dans le cadre de ce projet de recherche, une approche novatrice et exploratoire, consistant en l’analyse des micro-re..

Investigating mitochondrial DNA relationships in Neolithic Western Europe through serial coalescent simulations

Recent ancient DNA studies on European Neolithic human populations have provided persuasive evidence of a major migration of farmers originating from the Aegean, accompanied by sporadic hunter-gatherer admixture into early Neolithic populations, but increasing toward the Late Neolithic. In this context, ancient mitochondrial DNA data collected from the Neolithic necropolis of Gurgy (Paris Basin, France), the largest mitochondrial DNA sample obtained from a single archeological site for the Early/Middle Neolithic period, indicate little differentiation from farmers associated to both the Danubian and Mediterranean Neolithic migration routes, as well as from Western European hunter-gatherers. To test whether this pattern of differentiation could arise in a single unstructured population by genetic drift alone, we used serial coalescent simulations. We explore female effective population size parameter combinations at the time of the colonization of Europe 45000 years ago and the most recent of the Neolithic samples analyzed in this study 5900 years ago, and identify conditions under which population panmixia between hunter-gatherers/Early-Middle Neolithic farmers and Gurgy cannot be rejected. In relation to other studies on the current debate of the origins of Europeans, these results suggest increasing hunter-gatherer admixture into farmers' group migrating farther west in Europe.European Journal of Human Genetics advance online publication, 28 December 2016; doi:10.1038/ejhg.2016.180

Inférences sur les réseaux régionaux à partir d’arbres génétiques locaux, l’exemple du site néolithique de Gurgy 'les Noisats'

La reconstitution de la parenté génétique dans des contextes archéologiques a longtemps été impossible, mais grâce à l’optimisation récente des méthodes d’analyse de l’ADN ancien, on peut désormais reconstituer de manière fiable des généalogies génétiques, parfois importantes. L’analyse génomique approfondie du site français du Néolithique moyen de Gurgy 'les Noisats', dans le Bassin parisien, nous a permis de reconstruire deux arbres conséquents, l’un reliant 63 individus sur sept génératio..