Omino
Regular member
"Abstract
Western Anatolia has been a crucial yet elusive element in the Neolithic expansion from the
Fertile Crescent to Europe. Using 30 new palaeogenomes from Anatolia c.8000-6000 BCE
we describe the early Holocene genetic landscape of Western Anatolia, which reveals
population continuity since the late Upper Pleistocene. Our findings indicate that the
Neolithisation of Western Anatolia in the 7th millennium BCE was a multifaceted process,
characterised by the assimilation of Neolithic practices by indigenous groups and the influx
of populations from the east, their admixed descendants eventually laying the foundations of
Neolithic Southeast Europe. Intriguingly, the observed diversity in material culture among
Aegean Early Neolithic communities correlates with their geographical distances but not their
genetic differences, signifying a decoupling between cultural developments and genetic
admixture processes."
"Conclusion
Our expanded genomic dataset has helped resolve long-standing questions on the earliest
westward steps of the Neolithic expansion beyond the Fertile Crescent. We first describe the
indigenous gene pool of W Anatolia prior to Neolithisation, represented by the 7800 BCE
Girmeler genome, which was closely related to C Anatolians from the PPN period but distinct
in its lack of U Mesopotamian ancestry. The presence of PPN-related cultural elements in
Girmeler provides another case of cultural interaction among regional communities without
major genetic admixture. The fact that we find U Mesopotamia-related admixture during the
PPN in C Anatolia but not in Girmeler is also interesting, raising the possibility that eastern gene flow into C Anatolia >8k BCE may have involved the introduction of certain Neolithic
elements such as mudbrick technology or animal management practices, which either did
not reach Girmeler or were simply not adopted there.
Moving forward in time, we use the Neolithic Aktopraklık genome from c.6600 BCE (Marchi
et al. 2020) to infer that the Pınarbaşı/Girmeler-related indigenous foragers persisted in W
Anatolia at least between c.13ky-6.6ky BCE. We further infer that Neolithisation in the region
involved both large-scale mobility from C Anatolia and cultural adoption by local groups, as
well as admixture between the two. The patterns we observe resemble those observed in N
Africa (Simões et al., 2023), where the expansion of Neolithic communities appears to have
triggered cultural change among locals. Through comparative analysis of material culture
traits and ancient genomes for the first time to our knowledge, we test the hypothesis that
the observed cultural heterogeneity in regions of Neolithic expansion can be explained by
heterogeneity in admixture patterns, but find no support for this. Instead, sociocultural affinity
patterns, even in ritual elements such as burial practices (Figure S35), may have been more
fluid than genetic admixture processes, at least during the Aegean Neolithisation.
Our results raise new questions. One is the sources of gene flow into W Anatolia before
7000 BCE. A second question is the reason for the apparent lack of indigenous genetic
contribution in the Neolithic populations of Greece, which appears unusual given what is
observed in the rest of Europe. Another question pertains to the lack of correlations between
sociocultural and population genetic similarities at the local level: how universal is this
conclusion, and at what levels and historical depth do mobility and admixture cease to shape
cultural affinities? Or may correlations become visible only with more refined classifications
of material culture assemblages and more comprehensive genetic data? Through further
integration of material culture and palaeogenomic data, we are thus starting to disentangle
the diverse sources of cultural shifts in prehistoric societies."
www.biorxiv.org
Western Anatolia has been a crucial yet elusive element in the Neolithic expansion from the
Fertile Crescent to Europe. Using 30 new palaeogenomes from Anatolia c.8000-6000 BCE
we describe the early Holocene genetic landscape of Western Anatolia, which reveals
population continuity since the late Upper Pleistocene. Our findings indicate that the
Neolithisation of Western Anatolia in the 7th millennium BCE was a multifaceted process,
characterised by the assimilation of Neolithic practices by indigenous groups and the influx
of populations from the east, their admixed descendants eventually laying the foundations of
Neolithic Southeast Europe. Intriguingly, the observed diversity in material culture among
Aegean Early Neolithic communities correlates with their geographical distances but not their
genetic differences, signifying a decoupling between cultural developments and genetic
admixture processes."
"Conclusion
Our expanded genomic dataset has helped resolve long-standing questions on the earliest
westward steps of the Neolithic expansion beyond the Fertile Crescent. We first describe the
indigenous gene pool of W Anatolia prior to Neolithisation, represented by the 7800 BCE
Girmeler genome, which was closely related to C Anatolians from the PPN period but distinct
in its lack of U Mesopotamian ancestry. The presence of PPN-related cultural elements in
Girmeler provides another case of cultural interaction among regional communities without
major genetic admixture. The fact that we find U Mesopotamia-related admixture during the
PPN in C Anatolia but not in Girmeler is also interesting, raising the possibility that eastern gene flow into C Anatolia >8k BCE may have involved the introduction of certain Neolithic
elements such as mudbrick technology or animal management practices, which either did
not reach Girmeler or were simply not adopted there.
Moving forward in time, we use the Neolithic Aktopraklık genome from c.6600 BCE (Marchi
et al. 2020) to infer that the Pınarbaşı/Girmeler-related indigenous foragers persisted in W
Anatolia at least between c.13ky-6.6ky BCE. We further infer that Neolithisation in the region
involved both large-scale mobility from C Anatolia and cultural adoption by local groups, as
well as admixture between the two. The patterns we observe resemble those observed in N
Africa (Simões et al., 2023), where the expansion of Neolithic communities appears to have
triggered cultural change among locals. Through comparative analysis of material culture
traits and ancient genomes for the first time to our knowledge, we test the hypothesis that
the observed cultural heterogeneity in regions of Neolithic expansion can be explained by
heterogeneity in admixture patterns, but find no support for this. Instead, sociocultural affinity
patterns, even in ritual elements such as burial practices (Figure S35), may have been more
fluid than genetic admixture processes, at least during the Aegean Neolithisation.
Our results raise new questions. One is the sources of gene flow into W Anatolia before
7000 BCE. A second question is the reason for the apparent lack of indigenous genetic
contribution in the Neolithic populations of Greece, which appears unusual given what is
observed in the rest of Europe. Another question pertains to the lack of correlations between
sociocultural and population genetic similarities at the local level: how universal is this
conclusion, and at what levels and historical depth do mobility and admixture cease to shape
cultural affinities? Or may correlations become visible only with more refined classifications
of material culture assemblages and more comprehensive genetic data? Through further
integration of material culture and palaeogenomic data, we are thus starting to disentangle
the diverse sources of cultural shifts in prehistoric societies."
Out-of-Anatolia: cultural and genetic interactions during the Neolithic expansion in the Aegean
Western Anatolia has been a crucial yet elusive element in the Neolithic expansion from the Fertile Crescent to Europe. Using 30 new palaeogenomes from Anatolia c.8000-6000 BCE we describe the early Holocene genetic landscape of Western Anatolia, suggesting population continuity since the late...
www.biorxiv.org
Last edited:
