Ancient genomes link early farmers from Atapuerca in Spain to modern-day Basques.

ABSTRACT: 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 Chalco

SUBMITTER: Gunther T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4586848 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature