Abstract
The Italian peninsula was host to a strong history of migration processes that shaped its genomic variability since prehistoric times. During the Metal Age, Sicily and Southern Italy were the protagonists of intense trade networks and settlements along the Mediterranean. Nonetheless, ancient DNA studies in Southern Italy are, at present, still limited to prehistoric and Roman Apulia. Here, we present the first mitogenomes from a Middle Bronze Age cave burial in Calabria to address this knowledge gap. We adopted a hybridization capture approach, which enabled the recovery of one complete and one partial mitochondrial genome. Phylogenetic analysis assigned these two individuals to the H1e and H5 subhaplogroups, respectively. This preliminary phylogenetic analysis supports affinities with coeval Sicilian populations, along with Linearbandkeramik and Bell Beaker cultures maternal lineages from Central Europe and Iberia. Our work represents a starting point which contributes to the comprehension of migrations and population dynamics in Southern Italy, and highlights this knowledge gap yet to be filled by genomic studies.
Highlights
Genetic studies based on autosomal and uniparental markers [2,3,4], genome-wide [1,5,6,7,8,9] and whole genome approaches [10] have dissected the clinal variability of the present Italian population, revealing multilayered patterns of prehistorical and historical processes of migration and admixture that occurred throughout the Peninsula
We explored the remains of a MBA cave burial in Tyrrhenian Calabria, Grotta della Monaca (Figure 1)
Six human bone fragments and one petrous bone from the m5v burial area of Grotta della Monaca were analyzed for ancient mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) on the Illumina MiSeq platform
Summary
Genetic studies based on autosomal and uniparental markers [2,3,4], genome-wide [1,5,6,7,8,9] and whole genome approaches [10] have dissected the clinal variability of the present Italian population, revealing multilayered patterns of prehistorical and historical processes of migration and admixture that occurred throughout the Peninsula These studies provided evidence of an early divergence of Italian groups dating back to the Late Glacial period, with further differentiation attributed to Neolithic and Bronze Age migrations [10].
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