title: Ancient mitochondrial lineages support the prehistoric maternal root of Basques in Northern Iberian Peninsula.
abstract: The Basque population inhabits the Franco-Cantabrian region in southwest Europe where Palaeolithic human groups took refuge during the Last Glacial Maximum. Basques have been an isolated population, largely considered as one of the most ancient European populations and it is possible that they maintained some pre-Neolithic genetic characteristics. This work shows the results of mitochondrial DNA analysis of seven ancient human remains from the Cave of Santimamiñe in the Basque Country dated from Mesolithic to the Late Roman period. In addition, we compared these data with those obtained from a modern sample of Basque population, 158 individuals that nowadays inhabits next to the cave. The results support the hypothesis that Iberians might have been less affected by the Neolithic mitochondrial lineages carried from the Near East than populations of Central Europe and revealed the unexpected presence of prehistoric maternal lineages such as U5a2a and U3a in the Basque region. Comparison between ancient and current population samples upholds the hypothesis of continuity of the maternal lineages in the area of the Franco-Cantabrian region.
authors.affiliation: BIOMICs Research Group, Lascaray Research Center, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain.
authors.forename: Leire
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Palencia-Madrid
authors.affiliation: BIOMICs Research Group, Lascaray Research Center, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain.
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cardoso
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire AMIS, CNRS, UMR 5288, Institut de Médecine Légale, Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Keyser
authors.affiliation: AGIRI Arkeologia Kultura Elkartea, Gernika-Lumo, Spain.
authors.forename: Juan Carlos
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: López-Quintana
authors.affiliation: AGIRI Arkeologia Kultura Elkartea, Gernika-Lumo, Spain.
authors.forename: Amagoia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Guenaga-Lizasu
authors.affiliation: BIOMICs Research Group, Lascaray Research Center, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain.
authors.forename: Marian M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: de Pancorbo
mesh_terms: D000072441:DNA, Ancient / Q000737:chemistry*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D054629:Genome, Mitochondrial; D006239:Haplotypes; D063426:Human Migration; D006801:Humans; D010375:Pedigree; D013030:Spain; D044465:White People / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D000072441:DNA, Ancient