Author(s): Gelabert, Pere ; Schmidt, Ryan W ; Fernandes, Daniel ; Karsten, Jordan K ; Harper, Thomas K ; Madden, Gwyn D ; Ledogar, Sarah H ; Sokhatsky, Mykhailo ; Oota, Hiroki ; Kennett, Douglas J ; Pinhasi, Ron
Date: 2022
Persistent ID: https://hdl.handle.net/10316/103488
Origin: Estudo Geral - Universidade de Coimbra
Subject(s): Agriculture; Europe; Genome, Human; History, Ancient; Humans; Ukraine; DNA, Ancient; Human Migration
The transition to agriculture occurred relatively late in Eastern Europe, leading researchers to debate whether it was a gradual, interactive process or a colonisation event. In the forest and forest-steppe regions of Ukraine, farming appeared during the fifth millennium BCE, associated with the Cucuteni-Trypillia cultural complex (CTCC, ~ 5000-3000 BCE). Across Europe, the Neolithisation process was highly variable across space and over time. Here, we investigate the population dynamics of early agriculturalists from the eastern forest-steppe region based on the analyses of 20 ancient genomes from the site of Verteba Cave (3935-825 cal BCE). Results reveal that the CTCC individuals' ancestry is related to both western hunter-gatherers and Near Eastern farmers, has no local ancestry associated with Ukrainian Neolithic hunter-gatherers and has steppe ancestry. An Early Bronze Age individual has an ancestry profile related to the Yamnaya expansions but with 20% of ancestry related to the other Trypillian individuals, which suggests admixture between the Trypillians and the incoming populations carrying steppe-related ancestry. A Late Bronze Age individual dated to 980-825 cal BCE has a genetic profile indicating affinity to Beaker-related populations, detected close to 1000 years after the end of the Bell Beaker phenomenon during the third millennium BCE.
Open access funding provided by University of Vienna, Grand Valley State University Professional Development Grant (GDM), University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh (JKK), National Science Foundation (BCS-1725067 to TKH and DJK).
