| 1. |
- Altınışık, N. Ezgi, et al.
(författare)
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A genomic snapshot of demographic and cultural dynamism in Upper Mesopotamia during the Neolithic Transition
- 2022
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Ingår i: Science Advances. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 2375-2548. ; 8:44
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Upper Mesopotamia played a key role in the Neolithic Transition in Southwest Asia through marked innovations in symbolism, technology, and diet. We present 13 ancient genomes (c. 8500 to 7500 cal BCE) from Pre-Pottery Neolithic Çayönü in the Tigris basin together with bioarchaeological and material culture data. Our findings reveal that Çayönü was a genetically diverse population, carrying mixed ancestry from western and eastern Fertile Crescent, and that the community received immigrants. Our results further suggest that the community was organized along biological family lines. We document bodily interventions such as head shaping and cauterization among the individuals examined, reflecting Çayönü’s cultural ingenuity. Last, we identify Upper Mesopotamia as the likely source of eastern gene flow into Neolithic Anatolia, in line with material culture evidence. We hypothesize that Upper Mesopotamia’s cultural dynamism during the Neolithic Transition was the product not only of its fertile lands but also of its interregional demographic connections.
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| 2. |
- Ceballos, Francisco C., et al.
(författare)
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Human inbreeding has decreased in time through the Holocene
- 2021
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Ingår i: Current Biology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0960-9822 .- 1879-0445. ; 31:17, s. 3925-3934
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The history of human inbreeding is controversial.(1) In particular, how the development of sedentary and/or agricultural societies may have influenced overall inbreeding levels, relative to those of hunter-gatherer communities, is unclear.(2-5) Here, we present an approach for reliable estimation of runs of homozygosity (ROHs) in genomes with >= 3x mean sequence coverage across >1 million SNPs and apply this to 411 ancient Eurasian genomes from the last 15,000 years.(5-34) We show that the frequency of inbreeding, as measured by ROHs, has decreased over time. The strongest effect is associated with the Neolithic transition, but the trend has since continued, indicating a population size effect on inbreeding prevalence. We further show that most inbreeding in our historical sample can be attributed to small population size instead of consanguinity. Cases of high consanguinity were rare and only observed among members of farming societies in our sample. Despite the lack of evidence for common consanguinity in our ancient sample, consanguineous traditions are today prevalent in various modem-day Eurasian societies,(1, 35-37) suggesting that such practices may have become widespread within the last few millennia.
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| 3. |
- Yaka, Reyhan, et al.
(författare)
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Variable kinship patterns in Neolithic Anatolia revealed by ancient genomes
- 2021
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Ingår i: Current Biology. - : Cell Press. - 0960-9822 .- 1879-0445. ; 31:11, s. 2455-2468.e18
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The social organization of the first fully sedentary societies that emerged during the Neolithic period in Southwest Asia remains enigmatic,(1) mainly because material culture studies provide limited insight into this issue. However, because Neolithic Anatolian communities often buried their dead beneath domestic buildings,(2) household composition and social structure can be studied through these human remains. Here, we describe genetic relatedness among co-burials associated with domestic buildings in Neolithic Anatolia using 59 ancient genomes, including 22 new genomes from Asxikli Hoyuk and Catalhoyuk. We infer pedigree relationships by simultaneously analyzing multiple types of information, including autosomal and X chromosome kinship coefficients, maternal markers, and radiocarbon dating. In two early Neolithic villages dating to the 9th and 8th millennia BCE, Asxikli Hoyuk and Boncuklu, we discover that siblings and parent-offspring pairings were frequent within domestic structures, which provides the first direct indication of close genetic relationships among co-burials. In contrast, in the 7th millennium BCE sites of Catalhoyuk and Barcin, where we study subadults interred within and around houses, we find close genetic relatives to be rare. Hence, genetic relatedness may not have played a major role in the choice of burial location at these latter two sites, at least for subadults. This supports the hypothesis that in Catalhoyuk,(3-5) and possibly in some other Neolithic communities, domestic structures may have served as burial location for social units incorporating biologically unrelated individuals. Our results underscore the diversity of kin structures in Neolithic communities during this important phase of sociocultural development.
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| 4. |
- Yurtman, Erinç, et al.
(författare)
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Archaeogenetic analysis of Neolithic sheep from Anatolia suggests a complex demographic history since domestication
- 2021
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Ingår i: Communications Biology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2399-3642. ; 4:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Sheep were among the first domesticated animals, but their demographic history is little understood. Here we analyzed nuclear polymorphism and mitochondrial data (mtDNA) from ancient central and west Anatolian sheep dating from Epipaleolithic to late Neolithic, comparatively with modern-day breeds and central Asian Neolithic/Bronze Age sheep (OBI). Analyzing ancient nuclear data, we found that Anatolian Neolithic sheep (ANS) are genetically closest to present-day European breeds relative to Asian breeds, a conclusion supported by mtDNA haplogroup frequencies. In contrast, OBI showed higher genetic affinity to present-day Asian breeds. These results suggest that the east-west genetic structure observed in present-day breeds had already emerged by 6000 BCE, hinting at multiple sheep domestication episodes or early wild introgression in southwest Asia. Furthermore, we found that ANS are genetically distinct from all modern breeds. Our results suggest that European and Anatolian domestic sheep gene pools have been strongly remolded since the Neolithic.
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