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Paleogeneticists have found that the origin of the populations of Western Asia of the Pre-Ceramic Neolithic era can be modeled from three ancestral groups: Epipaleolithic inhabitants of Anatolia, representatives of the Natufian culture and hunter-gatherers from the Caucasus or Iran. They also found out that the pre-Ceramic Neolithic in Anatolia is probably associated with a population that arose from the mixing of local Epipaleolithic hunter-gatherers and the population of Northern Mesopotamia. The Anatolian populations of the ceramic Neolithic are also characterized by Levantine admixture.

No later than the tenth millennium BC, the process of transition from an appropriating economy to a producing one (neolithization) began, which represents one of the turning points in the history of mankind. The domestication of cereals began in several centers of the Fertile Crescent, from where this type of farming has already spread to the rest of the Middle East. In Europe, agriculture appeared together with migrants from Anatolia, who displaced or assimilated most of the local hunter-gatherers. Thus, the Neolithization of Greece began around 6800 BC, and about 5000 years ago this process ended almost all over the continent.

A few years ago, paleogeneticists who studied ancient DNA from Anatolia, the Levant, Iran and the South Caucasus came to the conclusion that more than one population of farmers was behind the spread of agricultural technologies. Then scientists presented a rather complex picture of how different groups interacted with each other. Modeling suggested that they came from four sources: Western hunter-gatherers (WHG), that is, descendants of European Cro-Magnons, Eastern hunter—gatherers (EHG) - descendants of Eastern European hunter-gatherers, as well as Neolithic farmers from Iran and the Levant.

A group of 205 scientists led by Iosif Lazaridis and David Reich from Harvard University decided to find out the genetic origin of the most ancient Neolithic populations. To do this, scientists for the first time sequenced the DNA of three people who lived in Northern Mesopotamia during the Pre-Ceramic Neolithic era (the monuments of Bojuklu-Tarla and Nemrik-9). In addition, they were able to read the genomes of three residents of Cyprus and three residents of Iraq and Iran of the same period, as well as two Neolithic residents of Armenia (VI millennium BC).

To increase the reliability of their analyses, paleogeneticists not only resorted to the study of previously published profiles, but also sequenced the DNA of four representatives of the Natufian Epipaleolithic culture from Israel, six pre-Ceramic Neolithic people from Jordan, as well as nine Neolithic inhabitants from northwestern Anatolia.

The method of the main components showed that the genomes of the studied individuals are combined into two clusters: the "Eastern Mediterranean" (Anatolian-Levantine), including the ancient inhabitants of Cyprus, and the "continental", which includes individuals from Zagros, the Caucasus and Mesopotamia. The studied populations, according to scientists, can be modeled as a mixture of three ancestral populations: Anatolian (Epipaleolithic monument of Pinarbashi), Levantine (Natufians) and the population from the interior regions (Caucasian hunter-gatherers or a population close to Ganji-Dara from Iranian Kurdistan). At the same time, none of the considered Neolithic populations of Western Asia was a simple descendant of an older local population.

The genetic proximity of the population of Cyprus to the inhabitants of Anatolia sheds light on the origin of the Neolithic culture on this island. But at the same time, the exact place where these people came from remains unknown. Although the genetic data is consistent with one of the past hypotheses indicating a connection with Central and Southern Anatolia. Modeling also showed that the origin of the ancient inhabitants of the island can be represented in the form of the population of the Ashikli-Huyuk monument (Central Anatolia), which received 6.8 ± 4.2 percent of the admixture from the Levant of the pre-Ceramic Neolithic.

Paleogeneticists have tried to present Neolithic populations as a mixture with each other. It turned out that the origin of the inhabitants of Central Anatolia of the pre-Ceramic Neolithic can be modeled as hunter-gatherers associated with the Epipaleolithic monument of Pinarbashi, who received about 30-70 percent of the admixture from the inhabitants of Northern Mesopotamia. However, the population of Anatolia of the ceramic Neolithic is additionally characterized by 6 to 23 percent Levantine admixture. Perhaps it is connected with an ancient population, for example, from Syria, for which genomic data is not available.

The article was published in the journal Science
Source: Mikhail Podrezov nplus1.ru

PHOTO: Bojuklu-Tarla pre-Ceramic Neolithic monument discovered in Northern Mesopotamia © Ergül Kodaş / NEO-LITHICS, 2019

 

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