Craniometric data support a mosaic model of demic and cultural Neolithic diffusion to outlying regions of Europe

Noreen Von Cramon-Taubadel,Ron Pinhasi

doi:10.1098/rspb.2010.2678

Abstract

The extent to which the transition to agriculture in Europe was the result of biological (demic) diffusion from the Near East or the adoption of farming practices by indigenous hunter-gatherers is subject to continuing debate. Thus far, archaeological study and the analysis of modern and ancient European DNA have yielded inconclusive results regarding these hypotheses. Here we test these ideas using an extensive craniometric dataset representing 30 hunter-gatherer and farming populations. Pairwise population craniometric distance was compared with temporally controlled geographical models representing evolutionary hypotheses of biological and cultural transmission. The results show that, following the physical dispersal of Near Eastern/Anatolian farmers into central Europe, two biological lineages were established with limited gene flow between them. Farming communities spread across Europe, while hunter-gatherer communities located in outlying geographical regions adopted some cultural elements from the farmers. Therefore, the transition to farming in Europe did not involve the complete replacement of indigenous hunter-gatherer populations despite significant gene flow from the Southwest Asia. This study suggests that a mosaic process of dispersal of farmers and their ideas was operating in outlying regions of Europe, thereby reconciling previously conflicting results obtained from genetic and archaeological studies.

Highlights

The transition to agriculture in Europe has been subject to intense debate for over a century, with the major controversy centring on the extent to which it involved the acculturation of indigenous (Mesolithic) hunter – gatherer populations [1] or the replacement of hunter –gatherers by (Neolithic) farmers dispersing from the Near East [2]
The results clearly show that the craniometric affinity patterns are best explained by a model that involves a barrier to gene flow between farming and hunter–gatherer populations
It must be emphasized that the impediment to gene flow was modelled as being relatively weak and, it is likely that the strength of the gene flow barrier between the farming and non-farming lineages was underestimated rather than overestimated

Summary

INTRODUCTION

The transition to agriculture in Europe has been subject to intense debate for over a century, with the major controversy centring on the extent to which it involved the acculturation of indigenous (Mesolithic) hunter – gatherer populations [1] or the replacement of hunter –gatherers by (Neolithic) farmers dispersing from the Near East [2]. These contrasting demographic models are often referred to as the cultural diffusion and demic diffusion models, respectively [2,3]. In the Received 13 December 2010 Accepted 1 February 2011

Natufian

Findings

DISCUSSION