Estimating genetic kin relationships in prehistoric populations

Kuhn, José Manuel Monroy; Jakobsson, Mattias; Günther, Torsten

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0195491

Cited by 219 publications

(220 citation statements)

References 75 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

192

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Kinship before and after the genetic transition. In five burial sites, we identified first-degree relatives using the software lcmlkin 23 and READ 24 , and by calculating pairwise mismatch rates across all analyzed genomic sites between individuals (see "Methods"). Four of these sites contained more than two closely related individuals, which allowed us to reconstruct family trees spanning three generations for Oberbipp, Aesch and Singen (Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ancient genomes reveal social and genetic structure of Late Neolithic Switzerland

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Genetic studies of Neolithic and Bronze Age skeletons from Europe have provided evidence for strong population genetic changes at the beginning and the end of the Neolithic period. To further understand the implications of these in Southern Central Europe, we analyze 96 ancient genomes from Switzerland, Southern Germany, and the Alsace region in France, covering the Middle/Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age. Similar to previously described genetic changes in other parts of Europe from the early 3rd millennium BCE, we detect an arrival of ancestry related to Late Neolithic pastoralists from the Pontic-Caspian steppe in Switzerland as early as 2860-2460 calBCE. Our analyses suggest that this genetic turnover was a complex process lasting almost 1000 years and involved highly genetically structured populations in this region.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ancient genomes reveal social and genetic structure of Late Neolithic Switzerland

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…We used READ software 80 as well as a custom method 81 to determine genetic kinship between individual pairs.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Genomic Formation of Human Populations in East Asia

Wang

Yeh

Popov

et al. 2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The deep population history of East Asia remains poorly understood due to a lack of ancient DNA data and sparse sampling of present-day people. We report genome-wide data from 191 individuals from Mongolia, northern China, Taiwan, the Amur River Basin and Japan dating to 6000 BCE – 1000 CE, many from contexts never previously analyzed with ancient DNA. We also report 383 present-day individuals from 46 groups mostly from the Tibetan Plateau and southern China. We document how 6000-3600 BCE people of Mongolia and the Amur River Basin were from populations that expanded over Northeast Asia, likely dispersing the ancestors of Mongolic and Tungusic languages. In a time transect of 89 Mongolians, we reveal how Yamnaya steppe pastoralist spread from the west by 3300-2900 BCE in association with the Afanasievo culture, although we also document a boy buried in an Afanasievo barrow with ancestry entirely from local Mongolian hunter-gatherers, representing a unique case of someone of entirely non-Yamnaya ancestry interred in this way. The second spread of Yamnaya-derived ancestry came via groups that harbored about a third of their ancestry from European farmers, which nearly completely displaced unmixed Yamnaya-related lineages in Mongolia in the second millennium BCE, but did not replace Afanasievo lineages in western China where Afanasievo ancestry persisted, plausibly acting as the source of the early-splitting Tocharian branch of Indo-European languages. Analyzing 20 Yellow River Basin farmers dating to ∼3000 BCE, we document a population that was a plausible vector for the spread of Sino-Tibetan languages both to the Tibetan Plateau and to the central plain where they mixed with southern agriculturalists to form the ancestors of Han Chinese. We show that the individuals in a time transect of 52 ancient Taiwan individuals spanning at least 1400 BCE to 600 CE were consistent with being nearly direct descendants of Yangtze Valley first farmers who likely spread Austronesian, Tai-Kadai and Austroasiatic languages across Southeast and South Asia and mixing with the people they encountered, contributing to a four-fold reduction of genetic differentiation during the emergence of complex societies. We finally report data from Jomon hunter-gatherers from Japan who harbored one of the earliest splitting branches of East Eurasian variation, and show an affinity among Jomon, Amur River Basin, ancient Taiwan, and Austronesian-speakers, as expected for ancestry if they all had contributions from a Late Pleistocene coastal route migration to East Asia.

show abstract

“…Concretely, we used mtDNA and Y‐chromosome lineages comparison to identify direct maternal and paternal relationships, respectively. We also applied the READ software (Monroy Kuhn, Jakobsson, & Günther, ) to genome‐wide data from Fregel et al () to infer up to second‐degree relationships, including nephew/niece‐uncle/aunt, grandparent–grandchild or half‐siblings. The main limitation for kinship inference using READ is that very low‐coverage samples (less than 0.1 X ) are prone to producing false negatives.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aggressive or funerary cannibalism? Skull‐cup and human bone manipulation in Cueva de El Toro (Early Neolithic, southern Iberia)

Santana

Santos

Camalich-Massieu

et al. 2019

American J Phys Anthropol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objective: We analyze the processing sequence involved in the manufacture of a skull-cup and the manipulation of human bones from the Early Neolithic of Cueva de El Toro (Málaga, Spain). Materials and methods:The Early Neolithic material studied includes human remains found in two separate assemblages. Assemblage A consists of one skull-cup, a non-manipulated adult human mandible, and four ceramic vessels. Assemblage B contains manipulated and nonmanipulated human remains that appeared mingled with domestic waste. Using a taphonomic approach, we evaluate the skull-cup processing and the anthropogenic alteration of human bones.Results: The skull-cup was processed by careful paring away of skin, fragmentation of the facial skeleton and base of the skull, and controlled percussion of the edges of the calotte to achieve a regular shape. It was later boiled for some time in a container that caused pot polish in a specific area. The other human bones appeared scattered throughout the living area, mixed with other remains of domestic activity. Some of these bones show cut marks, percussion damage for marrow extraction, and tooth/chewing marks.Discussion: Evidence from Cueva de El Toro suggests that cannibalism was conducted in the domestic sphere, likely following ritualized practices where the skull-cup could have played a part. Interpretation of this evidence suggests two hypotheses: (a) aggressive cannibalism relates to extreme inter-group violence; and (b) funerary cannibalism is a facet of multi-stage burial practices. Similar evidence has been found in other Neolithic sites of this region and suggests that cannibalism and skull-cups were elements widespread in these communities. These practices may be linked to significant transformations associated with the end of the Early Neolithic in southern Iberia. K E Y W O R D SAndalusia, funerary practice, human skull-cup, Neolithic, prehistoric cannibalism

show abstract

Estimating genetic kin relationships in prehistoric populations

Cited by 219 publications

References 75 publications

Ancient genomes reveal social and genetic structure of Late Neolithic Switzerland

Ancient genomes reveal social and genetic structure of Late Neolithic Switzerland

The Genomic Formation of Human Populations in East Asia

Aggressive or funerary cannibalism? Skull‐cup and human bone manipulation in Cueva de El Toro (Early Neolithic, southern Iberia)

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About