Population genomics of Bronze Age Eurasia
Author(s)
Allentoft, Morten Erik
Sikora, Martin
Sjogren, Karl-Goran
Rasmussen, Simon
Rasmussen, Morten
Stenderup, Jesper
Damgaard, Peter de Barros
Schroeder, Hannes
Ahlstrom, Torbjorn
Vinner, Lasse
Malaspinas, Anna-Sapfo
Margaryan, Ashot
Higham, Thomas F. G.
Chivall, David
Lynnerup, Niels
Harvig, Lise
Baron, Justyna
Casa, Philippe Della
Dabrowski, Pawel
Duffy, Paul R.
Ebel, Alexander V.
Epimakhov, Andrey
Frei, Karin
Furmanek, Miroslaw
Gralak, Tomasz
Gromov, Andrey
Gronkiewicz, Stanislaw
Grupe, Gisela
Willerslev, Eske
et al.
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2015
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The Bronze Age of Eurasia (around 3000–1000 BC) was a period of major cultural changes. However, there is debate about whether these changes resulted from the circulation of ideas or from human migrations, potentially also facilitating the spread of languages and certain phenotypic traits. We investigated this by using new, improved methods to sequence low-coverage genomes from 101 ancient humans from across Eurasia. We show that the Bronze Age was a highly dynamic period involving large-scale population migrations and replacements, responsible for shaping major parts of present-day demographic structure in both Europe and ...
View more >The Bronze Age of Eurasia (around 3000–1000 BC) was a period of major cultural changes. However, there is debate about whether these changes resulted from the circulation of ideas or from human migrations, potentially also facilitating the spread of languages and certain phenotypic traits. We investigated this by using new, improved methods to sequence low-coverage genomes from 101 ancient humans from across Eurasia. We show that the Bronze Age was a highly dynamic period involving large-scale population migrations and replacements, responsible for shaping major parts of present-day demographic structure in both Europe and Asia. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesized spread of Indo-European languages during the Early Bronze Age. We also demonstrate that light skin pigmentation in Europeans was already present at high frequency in the Bronze Age, but not lactose tolerance, indicating a more recent onset of positive selection on lactose tolerance than previously thought.
View less >
View more >The Bronze Age of Eurasia (around 3000–1000 BC) was a period of major cultural changes. However, there is debate about whether these changes resulted from the circulation of ideas or from human migrations, potentially also facilitating the spread of languages and certain phenotypic traits. We investigated this by using new, improved methods to sequence low-coverage genomes from 101 ancient humans from across Eurasia. We show that the Bronze Age was a highly dynamic period involving large-scale population migrations and replacements, responsible for shaping major parts of present-day demographic structure in both Europe and Asia. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesized spread of Indo-European languages during the Early Bronze Age. We also demonstrate that light skin pigmentation in Europeans was already present at high frequency in the Bronze Age, but not lactose tolerance, indicating a more recent onset of positive selection on lactose tolerance than previously thought.
View less >
Journal Title
Nature
Volume
522
Issue
7555
Subject
Population, Ecological and Evolutionary Genetics