Late Upper Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers in the Central Mediterranean: new archaeological and genetic data from the Late Epigravettian burial Oriente C (Favignana, Sicily)

Catalano, Giulio; Vetro, Domenico Lo; Fabbri, Pier Francesco; Mallick, Swapan; Reich, David; Rohland, Nadin; Sìneo, Luca; Mathieson, Iain; Martini, Fabio

doi:10.1101/692871

Cited by 5 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…The final data set includes 868,755 intersecting autosomal SNPs for which our newly reported individuals cover 53,352-796,174 SNP positions with an average read depth per target SNP of 0.09-9.39X (Data file 1). We compared our data to a global set of contemporary ( 21 ) and 377 ancient individuals from Europe, Asia and Africa ( 15-17, 21-51 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…First, we aimed to group the individuals for genetic analysis. For this we co-analysed one Epigravettian HG ( OrienteC ) from the Grotta d’Oriente site on Favignana island in southwestern Sicily (12,250-11,850 calBCE, 14 C date on charcoal from the deposit ( 15, 17 ). The ancient Sicilians form three genetic groups that we distinguished based on the individuals’ 14 C dates (Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The ancient Sicilians are projected (black symbols) together with relevant previously published hunter-gatherers (coloured dots) and early farmers (coloured squares). We co-analyzed an Epigravettian HG from OrienteC ( 15 ) (marked by **). The genetic variation of the ancient Sicilians forms three genetic groups, that we labelled Sicily EM, LM and EN.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The first and oldest genetic group, which we labelled Sicily Early Mesolithic (Sicily EM, n=3), contains the previously published Epigravettian OrienteC (12,250-11,850 calBCE ( 15, 17 )) and the two oldest HGs from Grotta dell’Uzzo (∼8,800-8,630 calBCE). These three individuals carried mitogenome lineages that fall within the U2’3’4’7’8’9 branch (Supplementary Section S7, and ( 15, 17 ) for OrienteC ). From that haplogroup node they shared nine mutations specific to their lineage and were differently related to each other with regard to three additional private mutations.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Genome-wide data has been published for six (Epi-)Gravettian HGs and one tentatively Sauveterrian Mesolithic HG from peninsular Italy, and one Late Epigravettian HG from OrienteC in Sicily ( 15–17 ). To date, no ancient genomes are available for Early Neolithic and Late Mesolithic individuals from Sicily or southern Italy.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Genomic and dietary transitions during the Mesolithic and Early Neolithic in Sicily

Loosdrecht

Mannino

Talamo

et al. 2020

Preprint

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37Southern Italy is a key region for understanding the agricultural transition in the Mediterranean due to its 38 central position. We present a genomic transect for 19 prehistoric Sicilians that covers the Early Mesolithic 39 to Early Neolithic period. We find that the Early Mesolithic hunter-gatherers (HGs) are a highly drifted 40 sister lineage to Early Holocene western European HGs, whereas a quarter of the Late Mesolithic HGs 41 ancestry is related to HGs from eastern Europe and the Near East. This indicates substantial gene flow from 42 (south-)eastern Europe between the Early and Late Mesolithic. The Early Neolithic farmers are genetically 43 most similar to those from the Balkan and Greece, and carry only a maximum of ~7% ancestry from Sicilian 44 Mesolithic HGs. Ancestry changes match changes in dietary profile and material culture, except for two 45individuals who may provide tentative initial evidence that HGs adopted elements of farming in Sicily. 47One-sentence summary 48 Genome-wide and isotopic data from prehistoric Sicilians reveal a pre-farming connection to (south-) 49 eastern Europe, and tentative initial evidence that hunter-gatherers adopted some Neolithic aspects prior to 50 near-total replacement by early farmers. 51 52

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Genomic and dietary transitions during the Mesolithic and Early Neolithic in Sicily

Loosdrecht

Mannino

Talamo

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Through 40,000 years of human presence in Southern Europe: the Italian case study

et al. 2021

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The Italian Peninsula, a natural pier across the Mediterranean Sea, witnessed intricate population events since the very beginning of the human occupation in Europe. In the last few years, an increasing number of modern and ancient genomes from the area have been published by the international research community. This genomic perspective started unveiling the relevance of Italy to understand the post-Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) re-peopling of Europe, the earlier phase of the Neolithic westward migrations, and its linking role between Eastern and Western Mediterranean areas after the Iron Age. However, many open questions are still waiting for more data to be addressed in full. With this review, we summarize the current knowledge emerging from the available ancient Italian individuals and, by re-analysing them all at once, we try to shed light on the avenues future research in the area should cover. In particular, open questions concern (1) the fate of pre-Villabruna Europeans and to what extent their genomic components were absorbed by the post-LGM hunter-gatherers; (2) the role of Sicily and Sardinia before LGM; (3) to what degree the documented genetic structure within the Early Neolithic settlers can be described as two separate migrations; (4) what are the population events behind the marked presence of an Iranian Neolithic-like component in Bronze Age and Iron Age Italian and Southern European samples.

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Genomic ancestry, diet and microbiomes of Upper Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers from San Teodoro cave

et al. 2022

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Recent improvements in the analysis of ancient biomolecules from human remains and associated dental calculus have provided new insights into the prehistoric diet and genetic diversity of our species. Here we present a multi-omics study, integrating metagenomic and proteomic analyses of dental calculus, and human ancient DNA analysis of the petrous bones of two post-Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) individuals from San Teodoro cave (Italy), to reconstruct their lifestyle and the post-LGM resettlement of Europe. Our analyses show genetic homogeneity in Sicily during the Palaeolithic, representing a hitherto unknown Italian genetic lineage within the previously identified Villabruna cluster. We argue that this lineage took refuge in Italy during the LGM, followed by a subsequent spread to central-western Europe. Analysis of dental calculus showed a diet rich in animal proteins which is also reflected on the oral microbiome composition. Our results demonstrate the power of this approach in the study of prehistoric humans and will enable future research to reach a more holistic understanding of the population dynamics and ecology.

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Late Upper Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers in the Central Mediterranean: new archaeological and genetic data from the Late Epigravettian burial Oriente C (Favignana, Sicily)

Cited by 5 publications

References 32 publications

Genomic and dietary transitions during the Mesolithic and Early Neolithic in Sicily

Genomic and dietary transitions during the Mesolithic and Early Neolithic in Sicily

Through 40,000 years of human presence in Southern Europe: the Italian case study

Genomic ancestry, diet and microbiomes of Upper Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers from San Teodoro cave

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