Archaeogenomic analysis of the first steps of Neolithization in Anatolia and the Aegean

Abstract

The Neolithic transition in west Eurasia occurred in two main steps: the gradual development of sedentism and plant cultivation in the Near East and the subsequent spread of Neolithic cultures into the Aegean and across Europe after 7000 cal BCE. Here, we use published ancient genomes to investigate gene flow events in west Eurasia during the Neolithic transition. We confirm that the Early Neolithic central Anatolians in the ninth millennium BCE were probably descendants of local hunter-gatherers, rather than immigrants from the Levant or Iran. We further study the emergence of post-7000 cal BCE north Aegean Neolithic communities. Although Aegean farmers have frequently been assumed to be colonists originating from either central Anatolia or from the Levant, our findings raise alternative possibilities: north Aegean Neolithic populations may have been the product of multiple westward migrations, including south Anatolian emigrants, or they may have been descendants of local Aegean Mesolithic groups who adopted farming. These scenarios are consistent with the diversity of material cultures among Aegean Neolithic communities and the inheritance of local forager know-how. The demographic and cultural dynamics behind the earliest spread of Neolithic culture in the Aegean could therefore be distinct from the subsequent Neolithization of mainland Europe.

The genomic history of the Aegean palatial civilizations

“…Neolithic whole genomes from present-day Greece and western Anatolia are almost indistinguishable, supporting a common Aegean Neolithic population spreading across the Aegean Sea (Hofmanová et al, 2016). Caucasus HG-related ancestry is present in some of the late Neolithic Aegean individuals, Chalcolithic Anatolians (Kılınç et al, 2017;Lazaridis et al, 2017;Omrak et al, 2016), LBA Mycenaeans, and Early to Middle BA (EMBA) Minoans (Lazaridis et al, 2017), raising the possibility of gene flow from the East. LBA Mycenaeans also show evidence for an ancestry attributable to gene flow from the Pontic-Caspian Steppe, or from Armenia (Lazaridis et al, 2017).…”

Investigating Holocene human population history in North Asia using ancient mitogenomes

“…Recent ancient DNA studies have contributed to four major discoveries about the Holocene human population history in Eurasia: i. Gene flow from Near East through Europe during the Neolithization 1 – 7 , ii. Genetic continuity between pre-Neolithic and Neolithic populations of Near East 8 – 10 , iii. Increased mobility in West Eurasia during Bronze Age 11 , 12 , and iv.…”

A comparative study of the Initial Neolithic chipped-stone assemblages of Ulucak and Uğurlu

“…We have to travel further afield to find more information for this period. In central Anatolia, Çatalhöyük is clearly the most important site, and its chipped-stone industry is well documented (Conolly 1999;Carter, Milić 2013;Kayacan 2015). Closer to the obsidian outcrops of Cappadocia, we also have data from Tepecik (Bıçakçı et al 2012).…”