First migration of farmers revealed by ancient human DNA

The clues of the origins of modern society have been revealed through research conducted by LJMU’s Lecturer in Forensic Anthropology, Dr Eva Fernández-Domínguez, together with co-authors from four Spanish institutions, who have analysed the ancient human DNA of the first Near Eastern farmers.

Dr Fernández-Domínguez and the co-investigators have today published a paper in the prestigious scientific journal PLoS Genetics showing the results of the DNA analyses of the farmers.

This is the first time that the genetic make-up of the original farming populations has been revealed and the results are expected to have a wide impact over different areas of research like archaeology, physical anthropology and human population genetics.

The analyses have been focused on two archaeological sites from the first areas of emergence of the Neolithic: the Middle Euphrates Valley and the Oasis of Damascus, located within Syria and dated back to approximately 8,000 years BCE.

The research conducted on this paper has focused on an on-going long-term debate about the role and the genetic impact associated to the first human domestication of plants and animals.

These processes, culturally known as “Neolithic”, gave place to a series of social, cultural and economic changes including sedentary lifestyle, development of the first villages and the origins of modern society as we know it. From this area the Neolithic rapidly spread into Europe, replacing the hunter-gatherer lifestyle. The core of the debate has been whether the Neolithic practices were adopted by the local hunter-gatherer groups or were brought by a group of Near Eastern immigrants that would have replaced the indigenous populations.

The results of this study support the second of these hypotheses: a very ancient migration wave of a group of Near Eastern farmers whose genes might have reached as far as the Levantine Coast of Spain and the Central European Plain. Moreover, the genetic affinities found between these first farmers and the current populations of Cyprus and Crete suggest that the initial expansion might have taken place by seafaring through the Aegean and not by land through Anatolia as it has been suggested previously.

The first author of this study, Dr Eva Fernandez commented:

"This study demonstrates that long-term DNA preservation in temperate environments is possible, but a lot of work is needed to make sure that the information obtained is authentic and unambiguous. In this publication strict validation criteria were applied throughout the experimental process, including the use of exclusive ancient DNA laboratories with limited and controlled staff access, the identification of all the potential sources of contamination through the genotyping of all the laboratory staff and the reproducibility of the results in a second laboratory. The effort has paid off, as the implications of this study in the fields of Archaeology and Human population genetics are expected to be highly significant. We are providing, for the first time, the adequate background for the interpretation of present and future ancient DNA results from Early Neolithic European populations. We believe that the publication of these results will generate a great debate in the field and will inspire experts to produce new data and models of analysis."

To reinforce the conclusions of the study the authors are planning to study more samples from other regions of the Fertile Crescent and to increase the number of genetic markers analysed.       

The complete article can be found here

Complete article reference:    Fernández E, Pérez-Pérez A, Gamba C, Prats E, Cuesta P, Anfruns J, Molist M, Arroyo-Pardo E, Turbón D. 2014. Ancient DNA Analysis of 8000 B.C. Near Eastern Farmers Supports an Early Neolithic Pioneer Maritime Colonization of Mainland Europe through Cyprus and the Aegean Islands. PLoS Genetics.

Siobhan Coghlan, Press and Publications Officer, 0151 231 3888

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