RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Early Neolithic genomes from the eastern Fertile Crescent
JF Science
JO Science
FD American Association for the Advancement of Science
SP 499
OP 503
DO 10.1126/science.aaf7943
VO 353
IS 6298
A1 Broushaki, Farnaz
A1 Thomas, Mark G.
A1 Link, Vivian
A1 López, Saioa
A1 van Dorp, Lucy
A1 Kirsanow, Karola
A1 Hofmanová, Zuzana
A1 Diekmann, Yoan
A1 Cassidy, Lara M.
A1 Díez-del-Molino, David
A1 Kousathanas, Athanasios
A1 Sell, Christian
A1 Robson, Harry K.
A1 Martiniano, Rui
A1 Blöcher, Jens
A1 Scheu, Amelie
A1 Kreutzer, Susanne
A1 Bollongino, Ruth
A1 Bobo, Dean
A1 Davoudi, Hossein
A1 Munoz, Olivia
A1 Currat, Mathias
A1 Abdi, Kamyar
A1 Biglari, Fereidoun
A1 Craig, Oliver E.
A1 Bradley, Daniel G.
A1 Shennan, Stephen
A1 Veeramah, Krishna R.
A1 Mashkour, Marjan
A1 Wegmann, Daniel
A1 Hellenthal, Garrett
A1 Burger, Joachim
YR 2016
UL http://science.sciencemag.org/content/353/6298/499.abstract
AB The genetic composition of populations in Europe changed during the Neolithic transition from hunting and gathering to farming. To better understand the origin of modern populations, Broushaki et al. sequenced ancient DNA from four individuals from the Zagros region of present-day Iran, representing the early Neolithic Fertile Crescent. These individuals unexpectedly were not ancestral to early European farmers, and their genetic structures did not contribute significantly to those of present-day Europeans. These data indicate that a parallel Neolithic transition probably resulted from structured farming populations across southwest Asia.Science, this issue p. 499We sequenced Early Neolithic genomes from the Zagros region of Iran (eastern Fertile Crescent), where some of the earliest evidence for farming is found, and identify a previously uncharacterized population that is neither ancestral to the first European farmers nor has contributed substantially to the ancestry of modern Europeans. These people are estimated to have separated from Early Neolithic farmers in Anatolia some 46,000 to 77,000 years ago and show affinities to modern-day Pakistani and Afghan populations, but particularly to Iranian Zoroastrians. We conclude that multiple, genetically differentiated hunter-gatherer populations adopted farming in southwestern Asia, that components of pre-Neolithic population structure were preserved as farming spread into neighboring regions, and that the Zagros region was the cradle of eastward expansion.