Socio-cultural practices may have affected sexual dimorphism in stature in Early Neolithic Europe

Abstract

The rules and structure of human culture impact health and disease as much as genetics or the natural environment. Studying the origins and evolution of these patterns in the archaeological record is challenging as it is difficult to tease apart the effects of genetics, culture, and environment. We take a multidisciplinary approach by combining published ancient DNA, skeletal metrics, paleopathology, and dietary stable isotopes to analyze cultural, environmental, and genetic contributions to variation in stature in four geographically defined populations of Early Neolithic Europe: North Central, South Central, Southern (Mediterranean), and Southeastern (Balkan) Europeans. In individuals from Central Europe, female stature is low, despite polygenic scores for height identical to males and to neighboring regions. Dietary and skeletal stress markers indicate environmental stress that is equal in both sexes, but the high stature sexual dimorphism ratio suggests that these stresses were exacerbated in females by cultural factors, likely associated with male preference and sex-biased allocation of resources. In contrast, shorter average stature in Mediterranean Neolithic populations have been previously reported to be associated with genetic differences; however, this is likely an artifact of residual population structure in the genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Instead, we suggest that reduced sexual dimorphism in the region indicates a degree of male vulnerability in response to general environmental stress. We conclude that while population-level stature trends may in some cases reflect genetic factors, differences in sexual dimorphism are largely driven by culture, or the interaction of culture and environment. Our analysis indicates that biological effects of sex-specific inequities can be linked to cultural influences at least as early as 7000 years before present. Understanding these patterns is key to interpreting the evolution of genetic and socio-cultural determinants of health and our results show that culture, more than environment or genetics, drove height disparities in Early Neolithic Europe.

Testing for differences in polygenic scores in the presence of confounding

“…Interpreting patterns in the distribution of polygenic scores is difficult, especially when confounding cannot be ruled out. Because most well-powered GWAS are conducted on population samples where the relationship between genetic background, ancestry, and the environment is not well controlled, stratification bias remains a significant concern [32,33,40,56]. Here, we characterize patterns of stratification bias in the distribution of polygenic scores as a function of the expected genetic similarity between GWAS and test panels.…”

“…Understanding associations between polygenic scores and patterns of ancestry variation is important to many areas of human genetics. Because most well-powered GWAS are conducted on population samples in which the relationship between environment and ancestry is not well controlled, stratification bias remains a significant concern [32,33,42,56]. Here, we characterize patterns of stratification bias in the distribution of polygenic scores as a function of the genetic similarity between GWAS and test panels, and show how test panel genotypes can be used to protect against stratification bias when testing hypotheses about the relationship between polygenic scores and ancestry.…”

Exploring China's environmental sustainability reporting and corporate value based on the WIND database: theoretical analysis and empirical research

“…This study provides empirical evidence that can guide businesses in strategically shaping their environmental reporting practices. Such insights are indispensable for companies seeking to align their operational strategies with sustainable practices while enhancing their market value and investor appeal [10].…”