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Genomic transformation and social organization during the Copper Age-Bronze Age transition in southern Iberia.

ABSTRACT: The emerging Bronze Age (BA) of southeastern Iberia saw marked social changes. Late Copper Age (CA) settlements were abandoned in favor of hilltop sites, and collective graves were largely replaced by single or double burials with often distinctive grave goods indirectly reflecting a hierarchical social organization, as exemplified by the BA El Argar group. We explored this transition from a genomic viewpoint by tripling the amount of data available for this period. Concomitant with the rise of El Argar starting ~2200 cal BCE, we observe a complete turnover of Y-chromosome lineages along with the arrival of steppe-related ancestry. This pattern is consistent with a founder effect in male lineages, supported by our finding that males shared more relatives at sites than females. However, simple two-source models do not find support in some El Argar groups, suggesting additional genetic contributions from the Mediterranean that could predate the BA.

SUBMITTER: Villalba-Mouco V

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8597998 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Genomic transformation and social organization during the Copper Age-Bronze Age transition in southern Iberia.

Villalba-Mouco Vanessa V Oliart Camila C Rihuete-Herrada Cristina C Childebayeva Ainash A Rohrlach Adam B AB Fregeiro María Inés MI Celdrán Beltrán Eva E Velasco-Felipe Carlos C Aron Franziska F Himmel Marie M Freund Caecilia C Alt Kurt W KW Salazar-García Domingo C DC García Atiénzar Gabriel G de Miguel Ibáñez Ma Paz MP Hernández Pérez Mauro S MS Barciela Virginia V Romero Alejandro A Ponce Juana J Martínez Andrés A Lomba Joaquín J Soler Jorge J Martínez Ana Pujante AP Avilés Fernández Azucena A Haber-Uriarte María M Roca de Togores Muñoz Consuelo C Olalde Iñigo I Lalueza-Fox Carles C Reich David D Krause Johannes J García Sanjuán Leonardo L Lull Vicente V Micó Rafael R Risch Roberto R Haak Wolfgang W

Science advances 20211117 47

The emerging Bronze Age (BA) of southeastern Iberia saw marked social changes. Late Copper Age (CA) settlements were abandoned in favor of hilltop sites, and collective graves were largely replaced by single or double burials with often distinctive grave goods indirectly reflecting a hierarchical social organization, as exemplified by the BA El Argar group. We explored this transition from a genomic viewpoint by tripling the amount of data available for this period. Concomitant with the rise of ...[more]

PMID: 34788096

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Project description:The El Argar society of the Bronze Age in the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula (2200-1550 cal BCE) was among the first complex societies in Europe. Its economy was based on cereal cultivation and metallurgy, it was organized hierarchically, and successively expanded its territory. Most of the monumentally fortified settlements lay on steeply sloped mountains, separated by fertile plains, and allowed optimal control of the area. Here, we explore El Argar human diets, animal husbandry strategies, and food webs using stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of charred cereal grains as well as human and animal bone collagen. The sample comprised 75 human individuals from the sites of La Bastida (n = 52) and Gatas (n = 23), 32 domesticated and wild animals as well as 76 barley and 29 wheat grains from two chronological phases of a total time span of ca. 650 years. The grains indicate extensive cereal cultivation under rain-fed conditions with little to moderate application of manure. Especially at La Bastida, crops and their by-products contributed significantly to the forage of the domesticated animals, which attests to a strong interrelation of cultivation and animal husbandry. Trophic level spacing and Bayesian modelling confirm that human diets were largely based on barley with some contribution of meat or dairy products. A cross-sectional analysis of bone collagen suggests that children were breastfed until about 1.5-2 years old, and infants from Gatas may have suffered from more metabolic stress than those at La Bastida. Adults of both sexes consumed similar diets that reflect social and chronological variation to some extent. Despite significantly higher δ13C and δ15N values at La Bastida than at Gatas, the isotopic data of the staple crops and domestic animals from both sites indicate that such differences do not necessarily correspond to different average human diets, but to agricultural strategies. These results urge for a reassessment of previous isotope studies in which only human remains have been taken into account. The study highlights that disentangling the complex influences on human isotope compositions requires a firm set of comparative data.

Dataset Information

Genomic transformation and social organization during the Copper Age-Bronze Age transition in southern Iberia.

Publications

Genomic transformation and social organization during the Copper Age-Bronze Age transition in southern Iberia.

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