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

• Author(s): Szécsényi-Nagy, Anna ; Roth, Christina ; Brandt, Guido ; Rihuete-Herrada, Cristina ; Tejedor-Rodríguez, Cristina ; Held, Petra ; García-Martínez-de-Lagrán, Íñigo ; Arcusa Magallón, Héctor ; Zesch, Stephanie ; Knipper, Corina ; Bánffy, Eszter ; Friederich, Susanne ; Meller, Harald ; Bueno Ramírez, Primitiva ; Barroso Bermejo, Rosa ; de Balbín Behrmann, Rodrigo ; Herrero-Corral, Ana M. ; Flores Fernández, Raúl ; Alonso Fernández, Carmen ; Jiménez Echevarria, Javier ; Rindlisbacher, Laura ; Oliart, Camila ; Fregeiro, María-Inés ; Soriano, Ignacio ; Vicente, Oriol ; Micó, Rafael ; Lull, Vicente ; Soler Díaz, Jorge ; López Padilla, Juan Antonio ; Roca de Togores Muñoz, Consuelo ; Hernández Pérez, Mauro S. ; Jover Maestre, Francisco Javier ; Lomba Maurandi, Joaquín ; Avilés Fernández, Azucena ; Lillios, Katina T. ; Silva, Ana Maria ; Magalhães Ramalho, Miguel ; Oosterbeek, Luiz Miguel ; Cunha, Claudia Minervina Souza ; Waterman, Anna J. ; Roig Buxó, Jordi ; Martínez, Andrés ; Ponce Martínez, Juana ; Hunt Ortiz, Mark ; Mejías-García, Juan Carlos ; Pecero Espín, Juan Carlos ; Cruz-Auñón Briones, Rosario ; Tomé, Tiago ; Carmona Ballestero, Eduardo ; Cardoso, João Luís ; Araújo, Ana Cristina ; Liesau von Lettow-Vorbeck, Corina ; Blasco Bosqued, Concepción ; Ríos Mendoza, Patricia ; Pujante, Ana ; Royo-Guillén, José I. ; Esquembre Beviá, Marco Aurelio ; Dos Santos Goncalves, Victor Manuel ; Parreira, Rui ; Morán Hernández, Elena ; Méndez Izquierdo, Elena ; Vega Y Miguel, Jorge ; Menduiña García, Roberto ; Martínez Calvo, Victoria ; López Jiménez, Oscar ; Krause, Johannes ; Pichler, Sandra L. ; Garrido-Pena, Rafael ; Kunst, Michael ; Risch, Roberto ; Rojo-Guerra, Manuel A. ; Haak, Wolfgang ; Alt, Kurt W.
• Date: 2017
• Persistent ID: https://hdl.handle.net/10316/108369
• Origin: Estudo Geral - Universidade de Coimbra
• Subject(s): Agriculture; DNA, Mitochondrial; Europe; Genetic Variation; Haplotypes; History, Ancient; Humans; DNA, Ancient; Genetics, Population
• Document Type: Journal article
• Language: English

Description

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 focus 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.