Ancient genomes link early farmers from Atapuerca in Spain to modern-day Basques.
The consequences of the Neolithic transition in Europe--one of the most important cultural changes in human prehistory--is a subject of great interest. However, its effect on prehistoric and modern-day people in Iberia, the westernmost frontier of the European continent, remains unresolved. We present, to our knowledge, the first genome-wide sequence data from eight human remains, dated to between 5,500 and 3,500 years before present, excavated in the El Portalón cave at Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain. We show that these individuals emerged from the same ancestral gene pool as early farmers in other parts of Europe, suggesting that migration was the dominant mode of transferring farming practices throughout western Eurasia. In contrast to central and northern early European farmers, the Chalcolithic El Portalón individuals additionally mixed with local southwestern hunter-gatherers. The proportion of hunter-gatherer-related admixture into early farmers also increased over the course of two millennia. The Chalcolithic El Portalón individuals showed greatest genetic affinity to modern-day Basques, who have long been considered linguistic and genetic isolates linked to the Mesolithic whereas all other European early farmers show greater genetic similarity to modern-day Sardinians. These genetic links suggest that Basques and their language may be linked with the spread of agriculture during the Neolithic. Furthermore, all modern-day Iberian groups except the Basques display distinct admixture with Caucasus/Central Asian and North African groups, possibly related to historical migration events. The El Portalón genomes uncover important pieces of the demographic history of Iberia and Europe and reveal how prehistoric groups relate to modern-day people.
Department of Evolutionary Biology, Uppsala University, 75236 Uppsala, Sweden;
Torsten
T
Günther
Department of Evolutionary Biology, Uppsala University, 75236 Uppsala, Sweden; Department of Archaeology and History, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC 3086, Australia; Centro Mixto, Universidad Complutense de Madrid-Instituto de Salud Carlos III de Evolución y Comportamiento Humano, 28029 Madrid, Spain;
Cristina
C
Valdiosera
Department of Evolutionary Biology, Uppsala University, 75236 Uppsala, Sweden;
Helena
H
Malmström
Centro Mixto, Universidad Complutense de Madrid-Instituto de Salud Carlos III de Evolución y Comportamiento Humano, 28029 Madrid, Spain; Departamento de Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain;
Irene
I
Ureña
Centro Mixto, Universidad Complutense de Madrid-Instituto de Salud Carlos III de Evolución y Comportamiento Humano, 28029 Madrid, Spain; Departamento de Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain;
Ricardo
R
Rodriguez-Varela
Department of Evolutionary Biology, Uppsala University, 75236 Uppsala, Sweden;
Óddny Osk
ÓO
Sverrisdóttir
Department of Evolutionary Biology, Uppsala University, 75236 Uppsala, Sweden; Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden;
Evangelia A
EA
Daskalaki
Department of Evolutionary Biology, Uppsala University, 75236 Uppsala, Sweden; Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden; Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115;
Pontus
P
Skoglund
Department of Evolutionary Biology, Uppsala University, 75236 Uppsala, Sweden;
Thijessen
T
Naidoo
Department of Evolutionary Biology, Uppsala University, 75236 Uppsala, Sweden; Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 75007 Uppsala, Sweden;
Emma M
EM
Svensson
Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana, 09002 Burgos, Spain;
José María
JM
Bermúdez de Castro
Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social, CEIP Marcel·lí Domingo, 43007 Tarragona, Spain;
Eudald
E
Carbonell
Department of Linguistics and Philology, Uppsala University, 75238 Uppsala, Sweden;
Michael
M
Dunn
Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden;
Jan
J
Storå
Laboratorio de Evolución Humana, Departamento de Ciencias Históricas y Geografía, Universidad de Burgos, 09001 Burgos, Spain;
Eneko
E
Iriarte
Centro Mixto, Universidad Complutense de Madrid-Instituto de Salud Carlos III de Evolución y Comportamiento Humano, 28029 Madrid, Spain; Departamento de Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain;
Juan Luis
JL
Arsuaga
Centro Mixto, Universidad Complutense de Madrid-Instituto de Salud Carlos III de Evolución y Comportamiento Humano, 28029 Madrid, Spain; Laboratorio de Evolución Humana, Departamento de Ciencias Históricas y Geografía, Universidad de Burgos, 09001 Burgos, Spain;
José-Miguel
JM
Carretero
Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden;
Anders
A
Götherström
Department of Evolutionary Biology, Uppsala University, 75236 Uppsala, Sweden; Science for Life laboratory, Uppsala University, 75123 Uppsala, Sweden mattias.jakobsson@ebc.uu.se.
Mattias
M
Jakobsson
D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics*; D000067565:Farmers / Q000266:history*; D005788:Gene Pool; D016678:Genome; D005843:Geography; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D011157:Population Dynamics; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013030:Spain
D004247:DNA
Ancient DNA; human prehistory; population genomics