The maternal genetic make-up of the Iberian Peninsula between the Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age

Abstract

Agriculture first reached the Iberian Peninsula around 5700 BCE. However, little is known about the genetic structure and changes of prehistoric populations in different geographic areas of Iberia. In our study, we focused on the maternal genetic makeup of the Neolithic (∼ 5500-3000 BCE), Chalcolithic (∼ 3000-2200 BCE) and Early Bronze Age (∼ 2200-1500 BCE). We report ancient mitochondrial DNA results of 213 individuals (151 HVS-I sequences) from the northeast, central, southeast and southwest regions and thus on the largest archaeogenetic dataset from the Peninsula to date. Similar to other parts of Europe, we observe a discontinuity between hunter-gatherers and the first farmers of the Neolithic. During the subsequent periods, we detect regional continuity of Early Neolithic lineages across Iberia, however the genetic contribution of hunter-gatherers is generally higher than in other parts of Europe and varies regionally. In contrast to ancient DNA findings from Central Europe, we do not observe a major turnover in the mtDNA record of the Iberian Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age, suggesting that the population history of the Iberian Peninsula is distinct in character.

Survival of Late Pleistocene Hunter-Gatherer Ancestry in the Iberian Peninsula

“…However, in general the Azilian is considered to be more common in Vasco-Cantabrian northern Iberia and on the other side of the Pyrenees [45]. Here, we report the genome-wide data from two individuals from this site: BAL0051, adult individual BAL003, adult individual Moita do Sebastia˜o (Mesolithic) This site was previously described in Sz ecs enyi-Nagy et al [46]. Moita do Sebastiã o is a Late Mesolithic shell midden site located in the Muge region (Salvaterra de Magos, Portugal) on the Atlantic coastline of Portugal.…”

The evolutionary history of human populations in Europe

“…Steppe ancestry did arrive into Iberia during the Bronze Age [50], but to a much lesser degree. A limited effect of steppe ancestry in Iberia is also shown by the study of mtDNA [51], which shows no detectible change during the Chalcolithic/Early Bronze Age [51], in contrast to central Europe [52]. Sex-biased gene flow has been implicated in the spread of steppe ancestry into Europe [33,53], although the presence and extent of such bias has been debated [54,55].…”

Campaniforme no Norte de Portugal. Perspectivas interpretativas instigadas pela leitura de dados recentes

“…Ainda que análises ao genoma de esqueletos prossigam, e bem, na senda da identificação e explicação da origem e movimentação de grupos (migrações de escala diversa) em toda a Europa pré-histórica pós paleolítica, incluindo o norte de África (Szécsényi-Nagy, A. et alii, 2017;Olalde, I. et alii, 2018), e em particular aqueles associados a contextos campaniformes, a maioria dos estudos de arqueologia, ao debruçar-se sobre o tema, discute e enfatiza o papel activo que as comunidades autóctones tiveram na adopção da cerâmica campaniforme.…”