AI Article Synopsis

  • Researchers analyzed ancient DNA from 44 individuals in the Near East, covering a time span of about 12,000 to 1,400 BC, from early hunter-gatherers to Bronze Age farmers.
  • They discovered that early Near Eastern populations had about half of their ancestry from a unique 'Basal Eurasian' lineage with minimal Neanderthal mixing.
  • By the Bronze Age, distinct populations from regions like the Levant and Zagros had intermingled with each other and European hunter-gatherers, leading to reduced genetic differences and significant migrations of these agricultural groups into Europe and other regions.

Article Abstract

We report genome-wide ancient DNA from 44 ancient Near Easterners ranging in time between ~12,000 and 1,400 bc, from Natufian hunter-gatherers to Bronze Age farmers. We show that the earliest populations of the Near East derived around half their ancestry from a 'Basal Eurasian' lineage that had little if any Neanderthal admixture and that separated from other non-African lineages before their separation from each other. The first farmers of the southern Levant (Israel and Jordan) and Zagros Mountains (Iran) were strongly genetically differentiated, and each descended from local hunter-gatherers. By the time of the Bronze Age, these two populations and Anatolian-related farmers had mixed with each other and with the hunter-gatherers of Europe to greatly reduce genetic differentiation. The impact of the Near Eastern farmers extended beyond the Near East: farmers related to those of Anatolia spread westward into Europe; farmers related to those of the Levant spread southward into East Africa; farmers related to those of Iran spread northward into the Eurasian steppe; and people related to both the early farmers of Iran and to the pastoralists of the Eurasian steppe spread eastward into South Asia.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5003663PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature19310DOI Listing

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