A genomic Neolithic time transect of hunter-farmer admixture in central Poland

D M Fernandes,V Siska,J Carlsson,E Żądzińska,R Pinhasi,P Borówka,D Strapagiel,A Manica,K Sirak,W Lorkiewicz,R Grygiel,B Marciniak

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-33067-w

Abstract

Ancient DNA genome-wide analyses of Neolithic individuals from central and southern Europe indicate an overall population turnover pattern in which migrating farmers from Anatolia and the Near East largely replaced autochthonous Mesolithic hunter-gatherers. However, the genetic history of the Neolithic transition in areas lying north of the European Neolithic core region involved different levels of admixture with hunter-gatherers. Here we analyse genome-wide data of 17 individuals spanning from the Middle Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age (4300-1900 BCE) in order to assess the Neolithic transition in north-central Poland, and the local impacts of hunter-farmer contacts and Late Neolithic steppe migrations. We evaluate the influence of these on local populations and assess if and how they change through time, reporting evidence of recurrent hunter-farmer admixture over three millennia, and the co-existence of unadmixed hunter-gatherers as late as 4300 BCE. During the Late Neolithic we report the appearance of steppe ancestry, but on a lesser scale than previously described for other central European regions, with evidence of stronger affinities to hunter-gatherers than to steppe pastoralists. These results help understand the Neolithic palaeogenomics of another central European area, Kuyavia, and highlight the complexity of population interactions during those times.

Highlights

During the Late Neolithic, two archaeological cultures coexisted in the Kuyavia region: the Globular Amphora culture (GAC) and the Corded Ware culture (CWC)
The Early Bronze Age (EBA) individual is positioned of the principal component analysis (PCA) plot
The results show a constant increase in the average amounts of Western Hunter-Gatherer (WHG) ancestry up to the GAC period, and the appearance of eastern hunter-gatherer (EHG) ancestry related to the expansion or Pontic steppe cultures by the CWC period (Fig. 5, Supplementary Table S5)

Summary

Introduction

The knowledge about the genetic history of prehistoric Europeans has increased substantially during the past three years following a series of studies that have provided new insights about the ancestry and affinities of Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Bronze Age populations from various parts of Europe[1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19]. During the 5th millennium BCE, following the dissolution of the LBK, Kuyavia continues to be populated by post-Linear Pottery Neolithic cultural units of local expression such as the Stroke Band Pottery and later the Middle Neolithic Brześć Kujawski Group of the Lengyel culture (BKG)[24,27]. This cultural tradition is known as the ‘Danubian Neolithic’ for its clear cultural ties with Carpathian Basin cultures on the one hand, and contrast to subsequent indigenous cultures on the other. The Corded Ware Culture, which have had a major input from migrating steppe pastoralists[2,3,9], appears in the same region by the early part of the 3rd millennium BCE

Methods

Results

Conclusion