Abstract
Previous mitochondrial DNA analyses on ancient European remains have suggested that the current distribution of haplogroup H was modeled by the expansion of the Bell Beaker culture (ca 4,500–4,050 years BP) out of Iberia during the Chalcolithic period. However, little is known on the genetic composition of contemporaneous Iberian populations that do not carry the archaeological tool kit defining this culture. Here we have retrieved mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences from 19 individuals from a Chalcolithic sample from El Mirador cave in Spain, dated to 4,760–4,200 years BP and we have analyzed the haplogroup composition in the context of modern and ancient populations. Regarding extant African, Asian and European populations, El Mirador shows affinities with Near Eastern groups. In different analyses with other ancient samples, El Mirador clusters with Middle and Late Neolithic populations from Germany, belonging to the Rössen, the Salzmünde and the Baalberge archaeological cultures but not with contemporaneous Bell Beakers. Our analyses support the existence of a common genetic signal between Western and Central Europe during the Middle and Late Neolithic and points to a heterogeneous genetic landscape among Chalcolithic groups.
Highlights
The evolutionary history of the human settlement of Europe has been shaped by a complex pattern of migrations, driven by the appearance of new socio-economical strategies, cultural innovations and ecological changes [1]
This has created a specific genetic landscape that can be investigated from the analysis of current European populations [2]
From the analysis of 757 clone sequences (Figure S1), we have obtained the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) HVR1 in 19 individuals, accounting for different mtDNA haplogroups and sub-haplogroups previously described in Europe (Table 1)
Summary
The evolutionary history of the human settlement of Europe has been shaped by a complex pattern of migrations, driven by the appearance of new socio-economical strategies, cultural innovations and ecological changes [1]. Several ancient DNA studies have contributed to this debate by directly analysing ancient human skeletal remains, mainly Neolithic, and comparing their mtDNA composition to those of modern populations from the same area [12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22].
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