Paleogenetic and morphometric analysis of a Mesolithic individual from Grotta d’Oriente: An oldest genetic legacy for the first modern humans in Sicily

Modi, Alessandra; Catalano, Giulio; D’Amore, Giuseppe; Marco, Silvia Di; Lari, Martina; Sìneo, Luca; Caramelli, David

doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106603

Cited by 7 publications

(12 citation statements)

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“…Excluding Sicily and Sardinia that experienced different processes of migration and admixture and were covered by several paleogenomic studies [ 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 ], Bronze Age Southern Italy has not been studied with an aDNA approach. In this study we attempted analysis of the mitochondrial DNA variation of seven MBA samples from Grotta della Monaca cave, located in Calabria, Southern Italy, with the aim of filling the gap in the contribution of ancient genetic data to the population dynamics of this peculiar area.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

First Bronze Age Human Mitogenomes from Calabria (Grotta Della Monaca, Southern Italy)

Fontani

Cilli

Arena

et al. 2021

Genes

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The Italian peninsula was host to a strong history of migration processes that shaped its genomic variability since prehistoric times. During the Metal Age, Sicily and Southern Italy were the protagonists of intense trade networks and settlements along the Mediterranean. Nonetheless, ancient DNA studies in Southern Italy are, at present, still limited to prehistoric and Roman Apulia. Here, we present the first mitogenomes from a Middle Bronze Age cave burial in Calabria to address this knowledge gap. We adopted a hybridization capture approach, which enabled the recovery of one complete and one partial mitochondrial genome. Phylogenetic analysis assigned these two individuals to the H1e and H5 subhaplogroups, respectively. This preliminary phylogenetic analysis supports affinities with coeval Sicilian populations, along with Linearbandkeramik and Bell Beaker cultures maternal lineages from Central Europe and Iberia. Our work represents a starting point which contributes to the comprehension of migrations and population dynamics in Southern Italy, and highlights this knowledge gap yet to be filled by genomic studies.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

First Bronze Age Human Mitogenomes from Calabria (Grotta Della Monaca, Southern Italy)

Fontani

Cilli

Arena

et al. 2021

Genes

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“…In the absence of circumstantial evidence of a presumed Middle-Pleistocene human colonization of Sicily [6], the human prehistory on the island presumably begins with the arrival of the Epigravettian hunter-gatherers during the LGM (Last Glacial Maximum, from 22,000 to 17,500 years ago), who came from the Italian peninsula via a land bridge connecting, at that time, the two shores of the Messinian Strait [7][8][9]. These are the early people who sporadically settled the large territories of the island and with whom the Early Holocene hunter-gatherers of continental origin overlapped and mixed [10][11][12]. After these, came the great Neolithic movement of settlers ("Neolithic" comprises a succession of different cultural traditions).…”

Section: Ethnic and Demographic Dynamics Of Sicily: From Prehistory To Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recently, two genome-wide analyses reported a U2 3 4 7 8 9 mtDNA haplogroup for the Upper Paleolithic Oriente C individual, suggesting that the "Western Hunter Gatherers" were a genetically homogeneous population widely distributed between the Atlantic seaboard of Europe in the west and Sicily in the south, and the Balkan Peninsula in the southeast [10,11]. More recently, Modi et al [12] also categorized the Mesolithic Oriente B individual into the U2 3 4 7 8 9 mtDNA haplogroup, estimating the emergence date of a "Sicilian clade" to 23,248 years BP. Interestingly, new ancient sequences from a Paleolithic individual in Grotta di San Teodoro and from two Early Mesolithic individuals in Grotta dell'Uzzo seem to corroborate the idea that U2 3 4 7 8 9 was the only mitochondrial lineage in Sicily during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene [49,50].…”

Section: The Archaeogenetics Of Sicily: a Long Journey Lasted Forty Yearsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Archaeogenetics and Landscape Dynamics in Sicily during the Holocene: A Review

et al. 2021

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The Mediterranean islands and their population history are of considerable importance to the interpretation of the population history of Europe as a whole. In this context, Sicily, because of its geographic position, represents a bridge between Africa, the Near East, and Europe that led to the stratification of settlements and admixture events. The genetic analysis of extant and ancient human samples has tried to reconstruct the population dynamics associated with the cultural and demographic changes that took place during the prehistory and history of Sicily. In turn, genetic, demographic and cultural changes need to be understood in the context of the environmental changes that took place over the Holocene. Based on this framework, this paper aims to discuss the cultural and demographic dimension of the island by reviewing archaeogenetic studies, and lastly, we discuss the ecological constraints related to human peopling in times of change in landscapes that occurred on the island in various periods. Finally, possible directions for future archaeogenetic studies of Sicily are discussed. Despite its long human history, Sicily is still one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots. The lessons we learn from the past use of landscape provide models for sustainable future management of the Mediterranean’s landscapes.

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“…Up to date, paleogenetics studies have focused mainly on the first colonization of the Island. Recently, the complete mitochondrial genome from Upper Paleolithic San Teodoro two and Mesolithic Oriente B individuals (Modi et al, 2021(Modi et al, , 2020 revealed a low genetic diversity of the Sicilian huntergatherers presumably because of genetic drift processes during the early stages of colonization. Genome wide data from Late Epigravettian Oriente C individual (Mathieson et al, 2018;Catalano et al, 2020) confirmed the Western hunter-gatherer (WHG) affiliation of the specimen, suggesting a substantial genetic homogeneity among the Mediterranean Epigravettian population.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic structure and differentiation from early bronze age in the mediterranean island of sicily: Insights from ancient mitochondrial genomes

et al. 2022

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Sicily is one of the main islands of the Mediterranean Sea, and it is characterized by a variety of archaeological records, material culture and traditions, reflecting the history of migrations and populations’ interaction since its first colonization, during the Paleolithic. These deep and complex demographic and cultural dynamics should have affected the genomic landscape of Sicily at different levels; however, the relative impact of these migrations on the genomic structure and differentiation within the island remains largely unknown. The available Sicilian modern genetic data gave a picture of the current genetic structure, but the paucity of ancient data did not allow so far to make predictions about the level of historical variation. In this work, we sequenced and analyzed the complete mitochondrial genomes of 36 individuals from five different locations in Sicily, spanning from Early Bronze Age to Iron Age, and with different cultural backgrounds. The comparison with coeval groups from the Mediterranean Basin highlighted structured genetic variation in Sicily since Early Bronze Age, thus supporting a demic impact of the cultural transitions within the Island. Explicit model testing through Approximate Bayesian Computation allowed us to make predictions about the origin of Sicanians, one of the three indigenous peoples of Sicily, whose foreign origin from Spain, historically attributed, was not confirmed by our analysis of genetic data. Sicilian modern mitochondrial data show a different, more homogeneous, genetic composition, calling for a recent genetic replacement in the Island of pre-Iron Age populations, that should be further investigated.

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Paleogenetic and morphometric analysis of a Mesolithic individual from Grotta d’Oriente: An oldest genetic legacy for the first modern humans in Sicily

Cited by 7 publications

References 46 publications

First Bronze Age Human Mitogenomes from Calabria (Grotta Della Monaca, Southern Italy)

First Bronze Age Human Mitogenomes from Calabria (Grotta Della Monaca, Southern Italy)

Archaeogenetics and Landscape Dynamics in Sicily during the Holocene: A Review

Genetic structure and differentiation from early bronze age in the mediterranean island of sicily: Insights from ancient mitochondrial genomes

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