Genomic history of Neolithic to Bronze Age Anatolia, Northern Levant, and Southern Caucasus

Eirini Skourtanioti, Yilmaz S. Erdal, Marcella Frangipane, Francesca Balossi Restelli, K. Aslıhan Yener, Frances Pinnock, Paolo Matthiae, Rana Özbal, Ulf Dietrich Schoop, Farhad Guliyev, Tufan Akhundov, Bertille Lyonnet, Emily L. Hammer, Selin E. Nugent, Marta Burri, Gunnar U. Neumann, Sandra Penske, Tara Ingman, Murat Akar, Rula ShafiqGiulio Palumbi, Stefanie Eisenmann, Marta D'Andrea, Adam B. Rohrlach, Christina Warinner*, Choongwon Jeong, Philipp W. Stockhammer, Wolfgang Haak, Johannes Krause

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Here, we report genome-wide data analyses from 110 ancient Near Eastern individuals spanning the Late Neolithic to Late Bronze Age, a period characterized by intense interregional interactions for the Near East. We find that 6th millennium BCE populations of North/Central Anatolia and the Southern Caucasus shared mixed ancestry on a genetic cline that formed during the Neolithic between Western Anatolia and regions in today's Southern Caucasus/Zagros. During the Late Chalcolithic and/or the Early Bronze Age, more than half of the Northern Levantine gene pool was replaced, while in the rest of Anatolia and the Southern Caucasus, we document genetic continuity with only transient gene flow. Additionally, we reveal a genetically distinct individual within the Late Bronze Age Northern Levant. Overall, our study uncovers multiple scales of population dynamics through time, from extensive admixture during the Neolithic period to long-distance mobility within the globalized societies of the Late Bronze Age. Video Abstract: Reconstruction of genomic history of the Near East in a time transect spanning from the Neolithic through the globalization events of the Middle and Late Bronze Ages.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1158-1175
Number of pages18
JournalCell
Volume181
Issue number5
Early online date28 May 2020
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 28 May 2020

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • admixture
  • ancient DNA
  • archaeogenetics
  • Eastern Mediterranean
  • genetic continuity
  • genome-wide data
  • human population history
  • Kura-Araxes
  • Near East
  • Ubaid
  • Uruk

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