Abstract
The Bronze Age is a complex period of social, cultural and economic changes. Recent paleogenomic studies have documented a large and rapid genetic change in early Bronze Age populations from Central Europe. However, the detailed demographic and genetic processes involved in this change are still debated. Here we have used spatially explicit simulations of genomic components to better characterize the demographic and migratory conditions that may have led to this change. We investigated various scenarios representing the expansion of pastoralists from the Pontic steppe, potentially linked to the Yamnaya cultural complex, and their interactions with local populations in Central Europe, considering various eco-evolutionary factors, such as population admixture, competition and long-distance dispersal. Our results do not support direct competition but rather the cohabitation of pastoralists and farmers in Central Europe, with limited gene flow between populations. They also suggest occasional long-distance migrations accompanying the expansion of pastoralists and a demographic decline in both populations following their initial contact. These results link recent archaeological and paleogenomic observations and move further the debate of genomic changes during the early Bronze Age.
Highlights
The Bronze Age is a complex period of social, cultural and economic changes
While it is widely accepted that people of steppe ancestry are involved in these genetic replacement events[6,7,8], it is less clear the extent to which they are related to the Yamnaya cultural complex (YCC, called Pit-Grave culture) that originated in the Pontic steppe at approximately 6000–5300 BP9,10
The parameter estimation shows that the steppe ancestry components estimated in Bronze Age Central European populations are best explained with local farmer and incoming pastoralist populations having similar sizes; the results indicate that both populations suffered an important demographic decline in CE after their initial contact (~65% decline), despite its exact timing and duration remain undetermined
Summary
The Bronze Age is a complex period of social, cultural and economic changes. Recent paleogenomic studies have documented a large and rapid genetic change in early Bronze Age populations from Central Europe. They suggest occasional long-distance migrations accompanying the expansion of pastoralists and a demographic decline in both populations following their initial contact These results link recent archaeological and paleogenomic observations and move further the debate of genomic changes during the early Bronze Age. 1234567890():,; While the rise of the farming lifestyle during the Neolithic transition has attracted the attention of population geneticists for decades (e.g.,1–4), little is known about the population interactions and dynamics during the period marking the rise of the Bronze Age (BA) in Central Europe (CE). The British island populations experienced a nearly total replacement of the local population at approximately 4400 years Before Present (BP)[6], while southwestern Europe experienced a total replacement of male lineages at about the same time (4500–4000 BP6,7) These studies indicated that genetic components related to the populations of the Pontic steppe (hereafter called steppe ancestry) were introduced during this period. While there is no doubt that some migration of YCC-related populations occurred from the Pontic steppes westward around 5000 BP, more work needs to be done to understand the demographic processes that have shaped the genetic diversity of human populations during the BA11
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
