Ancient DNA (Archaeology)

Archaeological research documents major technological shifts among people who have lived in the southern tip of South America (South Patagonia) during the last thirteen millennia, including the development of marine-based economies and changes in tools and raw materials. It has been proposed that movements of people spreading culture and technology propelled some of these shifts, but these hypotheses have not been tested with ancient DNA.
Here we report genome-wide data from 20 ancient individuals, and co-analyze it with previously reported data. We reveal that immigration does not explain the appearance of marine adaptations in South Patagonia. We describe partial genetic continuity since ~6600 BP and two later gene flows correlated with technological changes: one between 4700–2000 BP that affected primarily marine-based groups, and a later one impacting all <2000 BP groups. From ~2200–1200 BP, mixture among neighbors resulted in a cline correlated to geographic ordering along the coast.

Abstract (Survival of dual Hunter-Gatherer ancestry in the Iberian Peninsula): The Iberian Peninsula conformed a periglacial refugium for Pleistocene hunter-gatherers (HG) during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) which served as a potential source for the re-peopling of northern latitudes. After 14,000 years ago, the genetic signature was dominated by ancestry associated with the individual from Villabruna, generally called Western HG (WHG). However, little is known about the genetic diversity in the southern refugia. Here we report new genome-wide data that highlight the late survival of another Paleolithic lineage in Iberia, previously reported in Magdalenian individuals. We show that all Iberian HG, including the oldest individual from El Mirón (~18,600 yrs cal BP), carry dual ancestry from both WHG and the Magdalenian cluster. Thus, our results suggest an earlier connection between refugia than 14,000 yrs cal BP. Our new genomic data from Iberian Early and Middle Neolithic individuals show that dual Iberian HG genomic legacy pertains in the peninsula, suggesting that expanding farmers mixed with local HGs.

Palabras clave: Genética de poblaciones, ADN antiguo, Paleolítico,

This volume covers the Prehistory of Ukraine from the Lower Palaeolithic through to the end of the Neolithic periods. This is the first comprehensive synthesis of Ukrainian Prehistory from earliest times through until the Neolithic Period undertaken by researchers who are currently investigating the Prehistory of Ukraine. At present there are no other English language books on this subject that provide a current synthesis for these periods. The chapters in this volume provide up-to-date overviews of all aspects of prehistoric culture development in Ukraine and present details of the key sites and finds for the periods studied. The book includes the most recent research from all areas of prehistory up to the Neolithic period, and, in addition, areas such as recent radiocarbon dating and its implications for culture chronology are considered; as is a consideration of aDNA and the new insights into culture history this area of research affords; alongside recent macrofossil studies of plant use, and anthropological and stable isotope studies of diet, which all combine to allow greater insights into the nature of human subsistence and cultural developments across the Palaeolithic to Neolithic periods in Ukraine. It is anticipated that this book will be an invaluable resource for students of prehistory throughout Europe in providing an English-language text that is written by researchers who are active in their respective fields and who possess an intimate knowledge of Ukrainian prehistory.

Malcolm C. Lillie (PhD 1998, University of Sheffield) is Professor of Archaeology at Umeå University, Sweden. Previously he was Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology and Wetland Science at the University of Hull, England. Malcolm undertook MSc and PhD research at Sheffield University, the latter under the supervision of the late Professor Marek Zvelebil. His main research interests are the Prehistory of Ukraine, in situ preservation in wetlands, prehistoric and wetlands archaeology in general and the analysis of prehistoric human remains.

Inna Potekhina (PhD 1992, Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev) is Head of the Bioarchaeology Department in the Institute of Archeology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev and an Associate Professor at the University of 'Kyiv-Mohyla Academy', where she teaches a course of anthropology and bioarchaeology. Inna is an author of more than 150 articles and four monographs on the anthropology of the prehistoric populations of Ukraine and Eastern Europe, the genomic history of Mesolithic-Eneolithic Ukraine and palaeodemography and palaeodiet reconstructions.

Chelsea Budd (PhD 2016, University of Oxford) is a Postdoctoral Researcher in Archaeology at the University of Umeå, Sweden. Her main research interests are Early European Prehistory, isotope geochemistry and the application of statistical modelling techniques to archaeological research.

This paper presents the first results of a comprehensive project on the genetics of prehistoric sheep stocks in central Europe. It demonstrates that sheep were introduced into central Europe during the Neolithic in two different ways and that both stocks had different genetic structures. An eastern population spread from the Balkan Peninsula via Austria to the north, yielding a mixture of a dominant haplogroup B with a stable minority of haplogroup A. Another population reached central Europe from a western route via Italy and France, consisting of sheep with haplogroup B exclusively. The analyses do not support the hypothesis of two subsequent dispersal events of sheep, first with hairy sheep, second with woolly sheep. We found no indication of the emergence of a new kind of sheep; in contrast, the prehistoric distribution of the haplogroups is stable when compared to modern times. Based on these results, it is likely that the development of woolly sheep were multiple and independent events.

Africa hosts the greatest human genetic diversity globally, but legacies of ancient population interactions and dispersals across the continent remain understudied. Here, we report genome-wide data from 20 ancient sub-Saharan African individuals, including the first reported ancient DNA from the DRC, Uganda, and Botswana. These data demonstrate the contraction of diverse, once contiguous hunter-gatherer populations, and suggest the resistance to interaction with incoming pastoralists of delayed-return foragers in aquatic environments. We refine models for the spread of food producers into eastern and southern Africa, demonstrating more complex trajectories of admixture than previously suggested. In Botswana, we show that Bantu ancestry post-dates admixture between pastoralists and foragers, suggesting an earlier spread of pastoralism than farming to southern Africa. Our findings demonstrate how processes of migration and admixture have markedly reshaped the genetic map of sub-Saharan Africa in the past few millennia and highlight the utility of combined archaeological and archaeogenetic approaches.

https://www.cell.com/cell/pdf/S0092-8674(20)30487-6.pdf?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0092867420304876%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

We report genome-wide DNA data for 73 individuals from five archaeological sites across the Bronze and Iron Ages Southern Levant. These individuals, who share the “Canaanite” material culture, can be modeled as descending from two sources: (1) earlier local Neolithic populations and (2) populations related to the Chalcolithic Zagros or the Bronze Age Caucasus. The non-local contribution increased over time, as evinced by three outliers who can be modeled as descendants of recent migrants. We show evidence that different “Canaanite” groups genetically resemble each other more than other populations. We find that Levant-related modern populations typically have substantial ancestry coming from populations related to the Chalcolithic Zagros and the Bronze Age Southern Levant. These groups also harbor ancestry from sources we cannot fully model with the available data, highlighting the critical role of post-Bronze-Age migrations into the region over the past 3,000 years.

Guinea pigs (Cavia spp.) have a long association with humans. From as early as 10,000 years ago they were a wild food source. Later, domesticated Cavia porcellus were dispersed well beyond their native range through pre-Columbian exchange networks and, more recently, widely across the globe. Here we present 46 complete mitogenomes of archaeological guinea pigs from sites in Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, the Caribbean, Belgium and the United States to elucidate their evolutionary history, origins and paths of dispersal. our results indicate an independent centre of domestication of Cavia in the eastern colombian Highlands. We identify a peruvian origin for the initial introduction of domesticated guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus) beyond South America into the caribbean. We also demonstrate that peru was the probable source of the earliest known guinea pigs transported, as part of the exotic pet trade, to both Europe and the southeastern United States. Finally, we identify a modern reintroduction of guinea pigs to Puerto Rico, where local inhabitants use them for food. This research demonstrates that the natural and cultural history of guinea pigs is more complex than previously known and has implications for other studies regarding regional to global-scale studies of mammal domestication, translocation, and distribution. The use of ancient DNA (aDNA) in studies of animal domestication and subsequent translocation has radically improved our ability to identify spatially, temporally, and culturally variable processes of domestication and the diversity of social networks behind domestic species distribution (e.g. 1,2). Increasingly, aDNA studies are revising previous assumptions of geographically conscripted animal domestication and dispersal events to reveal multiple centers, timings, and processes of domestication of the world's most prominent domestic animals (e.g. pigs, chickens, cattle, dogs 3-6). Because domestic animals are exemplar proxies for investigating past human migration and interaction, understanding long-term, diachronic patterns of when and where species domestication and

Guinea pigs (Cavia spp.) have a long association with humans. From as early as 10,000 years ago they were a wild food source. Later, domesticated Cavia porcellus were dispersed well beyond their native range through pre-Columbian exchange networks and, more recently, widely across the globe. Here we present 46 complete mitogenomes of archaeological guinea pigs from sites in Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, the Caribbean, Belgium and the United States to elucidate their evolutionary history, origins and paths of dispersal. our results indicate an independent centre of domestication of Cavia in the eastern colombian Highlands. We identify a peruvian origin for the initial introduction of domesticated guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus) beyond South America into the caribbean. We also demonstrate that peru was the probable source of the earliest known guinea pigs transported, as part of the exotic pet trade, to both Europe and the southeastern United States. Finally, we identify a modern reintroduction of guinea pigs to Puerto Rico, where local inhabitants use them for food. This research demonstrates that the natural and cultural history of guinea pigs is more complex than previously known and has implications for other studies regarding regional to global-scale studies of mammal domestication, translocation, and distribution. The use of ancient DNA (aDNA) in studies of animal domestication and subsequent translocation has radically improved our ability to identify spatially, temporally, and culturally variable processes of domestication and the diversity of social networks behind domestic species distribution (e.g. 1,2). Increasingly, aDNA studies are revising previous assumptions of geographically conscripted animal domestication and dispersal events to reveal multiple centers, timings, and processes of domestication of the world's most prominent domestic animals (e.g. pigs, chickens, cattle, dogs 3-6). Because domestic animals are exemplar proxies for investigating past human migration and interaction, understanding long-term, diachronic patterns of when and where species domestication and

The house mouse (Mus musculus) represents the extreme of globalization of invasive mammals. However, the timing and basis of its origin and early phases of dispersal remain poorly documented. To track its synanthropisation and subsequent invasive spread during the develoment of complex human societies, we analyzed 829 Mus specimens from 43 archaeological contexts in Southwestern Asia and Southeastern Europe, between 40,000 and 3,000 cal. BP, combining geometric morphometrics
numerical taxonomy, ancient mitochondrial DNA and direct radiocarbon dating. We found that large late hunter-gatherer sedentary settlements in the Levant, c. 14,500 cal. BP, promoted the commensal behaviour of the house mouse, which probably led the commensal pathway to cat domestication. House mouse invasive spread was then fostered through the emergence of agriculture throughout the Near East 12,000 years ago. Stowaway transport of house mice to Cyprus can be inferred as early as10,800 years ago. However, the house mouse invasion of Europe did not happen until the development of proto urbanism and exchange networks — 6,500 years ago in Eastern Europe and 4000 years ago in Southern Europe — which in turn may have driven the first human mediated dispersal of cats in Europe.