Differential Y‐chromosome Anatolian Influences on the Greek and Cretan Neolithic

Abstract

SummaryThe earliest Neolithic sites of Europe are located in Crete and mainland Greece. A debate persists concerning whether these farmers originated in neighboring Anatolia and the role of maritime colonization. To address these issues 171 samples were collected from areas near three known early Neolithic settlements in Greece together with 193 samples from Crete. An analysis of Y-chromosome haplogroups determined that the samples from the Greek Neolithic sites showed strong affinity to Balkan data, while Crete shows affinity with central/Mediterranean Anatolia. Haplogroup J2b-M12 was frequent in Thessaly and Greek Macedonia while haplogroup J2a-M410 was scarce. Alternatively, Crete, like Anatolia showed a high frequency of J2a-M410 and a low frequency of J2b-M12. This dichotomy parallels archaeobotanical evidence, specifically that while bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) is known from Neolithic Anatolia, Crete and southern Italy; it is absent from earliest Neolithic Greece. The expansion time of YSTR variation for haplogroup E3b1a2-V13, in the Peloponnese was consistent with an indigenous Mesolithic presence. In turn, two distinctive haplogroups, J2a1h-M319 and J2a1b1-M92, have demographic properties consistent with Bronze Age expansions in Crete, arguably from NW/W Anatolia and Syro-Palestine, while a later mainland (Mycenaean) contribution to Crete is indicated by relative frequencies of V13.

Separating the post-Glacial coancestry of European and Asian Y chromosomes within haplogroup R1a

“…As islands such as Crete have been subject to multiple episodes of colonization from different source regions, it is not inconsistent that R1a1a* Td predates the date of its first colonization by the first farmers approximately 9 KYA. 38 Also noteworthy is the drop in R1a1a* diversity away from the Indus Valley toward central Asia (Kyrgyzstan 5.6 KYA) and the Altai region (8.1 KYA) that marks the eastern boundary of significant R1a1a* spread (Figure 1, Supplementary Table S4.). In Europe, Poland also has the highest R1a1a7-M458 diversity, corresponding to approximately an 11 KYA coalescent time (Supplementary Table S4).…”

“…46 Following this model, it would not be surprising to associate a localized Neolithic demic expansion with a genetic lineage absent in the Fertile Crescent where farming originated and where other Y-chromosome haplogroups, such as G and J, have been associated with the initial demic spread of farming toward Southeast Europe. 38 However, it should be noted that ancient mtDNA evidence from the Central European Mesolithic and LBK sites shows a lack of substantial continuity between Mesolithic, Neolithic and presently living populations of the area. 47,48 Notably, mtDNA haplogroups R1a, U4, U5, HV3 and HV4, which have been inferred to have pre-Neolithic spread in East Europe, occur at marginally low frequencies in India.…”

The phylogenetic and geographic structure of Y-chromosome haplogroup R1a

“…We assembled a genotyping panel of 16 244 males from 126 Eurasian populations, some of which we report upon for the first time herein and others that we have combined from earlier studies, 22,[29][30][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45] and updated to a higher level of phylogenetic resolution. All samples were obtained using locally approved informed consent and were de-identified.…”

Neolithic patrilineal signals indicate that the Armenian plateau was repopulated by agriculturalists

“…However, a small number of individuals from Lake Van belong to the E1b1b1a*-M78 (0.9%), E1b1b1a2-V13 (1.9%) and E1b1b1a3-V22 (0.9%) branches that have been implicated as signals of Greek influence. 40 Pairwise Fst distances between the four Armenian populations based on haplogroup frequencies, as well as their corresponding P-values, are provided in Table 2. These results indicate that the genetic distances separating Ararat Valley, Gardman and Lake Van are not statistically significant (Pr0.001).…”