Cited by 960Forensic and Genetic ResearchPleistocene-Era Hominins and ArchaeologyGenetic diversity and population structure

The genetic history of Ice Age Europe

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Fu, Qiaomei, Posth, Cosimo, Hajdinjak, Mateja, Petr, Martin, Mallick, Swapan, Fernandes, Daniel, Furtwängler, Anja, Haak, Wolfgang +56 more·2016·Nature

Abstract

Modern humans arrived in Europe ~45,000 years ago, but little is known about their genetic composition before the start of farming ~8,500 years ago. Here we analyse genome-wide data from 51 Eurasians from ~45,000-7,000 years ago. Over this time, the proportion of Neanderthal DNA decreased from 3-6% to around 2%, consistent with natural selection against Neanderthal variants in modern humans. Whereas there is no evidence of the earliest modern humans in Europe contributing to the genetic composition of present-day Europeans, all individuals between ~37,000 and ~14,000 years ago descended from a single founder population which forms part of the ancestry of present-day Europeans. An ~35,000-year-old individual from northwest Europe represents an early branch of this founder population which was then displaced across a broad region, before reappearing in southwest Europe at the height of the last Ice Age ~19,000 years ago. During the major warming period after ~14,000 years ago, a genetic component related to present-day Near Easterners became widespread in Europe. These results document how population turnover and migration have been recurring themes of European prehistory.

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  • After admixture, early events of negative selection removed large parts of archaic DNA, but about 2% of Neandertal ancestry is still found in all present-day non-Africans.

    “After admixture, early events of negative selection removed large parts of archaic DNA but ~2% of Neandertal ancestry is still found in all present-day non-Africans [15–17].”

    From Neandertal introgression partitions the genetic landscape of neuropsychiatric disorders and associated behavioral phenotypes (2022) · cites this paper as [15]

    The section “Natural selection has reduced Neanderthal ancestry over the last 45,000 years” (page not provided) reports a decline in Neanderthal ancestry driven by natural selection and estimates about 2% in present-day Eurasians. It describes a steady decrease over thousands of years, not specifically early events, and does not establish the figure for all present-day non-Africans. (LLM, conf=0.87)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • The demographic impact of steppe related populations on South Asia was substantial: the Mala are inferred to have ~18% steppe-related ancestry, while the Kalash of Pakistan are inferred to have ~50%, similar to present-day northern Europeans.

    “The demographic impact of steppe related populations on South Asia was substantial, as the Mala, a south Indian population with minimal ANI along the ‘Indian Cline’ of such ancestry34,35 is inferred to have ~18% steppe-related ancestry, while the Kalash of Pakistan are inferred to have ~50%, similar to present-day northern Europeans7.”

    From Genomic insights into the origin of farming in the ancient Near East (2016) · cites this paper as [35]

    Split into 2 atoms — 0 confirmed, 1 partially supported, 0 disputed, 0 misattributed, 1 unverifiable. Expand the claim to see per-atom verdicts.

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  • Evidence in favor of hybridization between Neanderthals and modern humans has accumulated during the past decade.

    “Evidence in favor of hybridization has accumulated during the past decade (4–6).”
  • It is impossible to model the Ancestral North Indians (ANI) as being derived from any single ancient population in the dataset.

    “We show that it is impossible to model the ANI as being derived from any single ancient population in our dataset.”

    From Genomic insights into the origin of farming in the ancient Near East (2016) · cites this paper as [35]

    The Genetic clustering section describes ancient European and Siberian samples, while the Extended Data discuss ancestry estimates and comparisons among those samples (page numbers unavailable). Searches for “Ancestral North Indians,” “ANI,” and single-population ancestry models found no passage addressing whether ANI can be derived from one ancient population. (LLM, conf=0.75)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • The depletion of archaic ancestry around functional elements in the genomes of present-day people reflects widespread purifying selection against archaic variants.

    “the depletion of archaic ancestry around functional elements in the genomes of present-day people reflects widespread purifying selection against archaic variants [5–7]”

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  1. [55]Orschiedt J Manipulationen an menschlichen Skelettresten. Taphonomische Prozesse, Sekundärbestattungen oder Kannibalismus Dissertation Urgeschichtliche Materialhefte 13 1999

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Authors
Fu, Q., Posth, C., Hajdinjak, M., Petr, M., Mallick, S., Fernandes, D., Furtwängler, A., Haak, W., Meyer, M., Mittnik, A., Nickel, B., Peltzer, A., Rohland, N., Slon, V., Talamo, S., Lazaridis, I., Lipson, M., Mathieson, I., Schiffels, S., Skoglund, P., Derevianko, A. P., Drozdov, N., Slavinsky, V., Tsybankov, A., Cremonesi, R. G., Mallegni, F., Gély, B., Vacca, E., Morales, M. R. G., Straus, L. G., Neugebauer-Maresch, C., Teschler-Nicola, M., Constantin, S., Moldovan, O. T., Benazzi, S., Peresani, M., Coppola, D., Lari, M., Ricci, S., Ronchitelli, A., Valentin, F., Thevenet, C., Wehrberger, K., Grigorescu, D., Rougier, H., Crevecoeur, I., Flas, D., Semal, P., Mannino, M. A., Cupillard, C., Bocherens, H., Conard, N. J., Harvati, K., Moiseyev, V., Drucker, D. G., Svoboda, J., Richards, M. P., Caramelli, D., Pinhasi, R., Kelso, J., Patterson, N., Krause, J., Pääbo, S., & Reich, D.
Affiliations
  • Harvard University (US)
  • Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology (DE)
  • Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (DE)
  • Broad Institute (US)
  • University College Dublin (IE)
  • University of Tübingen (DE)
  • Russian Academy of Sciences (RU)
  • University of Pisa (IT)
  • University of Bari Aldo Moro (IT)
  • Universidad de Cantabria (ES)
  • Austrian Academy of Sciences (AT)
  • Emil Racovita Institute of Speleology (RO)
  • University of Ferrara (IT)
  • University of Florence (IT)
  • University of Siena (IT)
  • Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
  • University of Bucharest (RO)
  • California State University, Northridge (US)
  • Travaux et Recherches Archéologiques sur les Cultures, les Espaces et les Sociétés (FR)
  • Institute of Natural Sciences (BE)
  • Aarhus University (DK)
  • Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment (DE)
  • Russian Museum of Ethnography (RU)
  • Simon Fraser University (CA)
Corresponding author
Reich, David
Venue
Nature
Published
2016-05-02
Volume
534
Issue
7606
Pages
200-205
ISSN
  • 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
  • 1476-4687
OpenAlex
W2344660378
Cited by
959
References
64
Citations by year
2026: 53 · 2025: 77 · 2024: 103 · 2023: 84 · 2022: 100 · 2021: 105 · 2020: 97 · 2019: 110 · 2018: 93 · 2017: 101 · 2016: 34
FWCI
90.92
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University) (acceptedVersion)
  • Portuguese National Funding Agency for Science, Research and Technology (RCAAP Project by FCT) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Open Repository and Bibliography (University of Liège) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • HAL (submittedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • ASEP (submittedVersion, public-domain)
  • Archivio istituzionale della ricerca (Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Adelaide Research & Scholarship (AR&S) (University of Adelaide) (submittedVersion)
  • Max Planck Digital Library (submittedVersion)
  • Portuguese National Funding Agency for Science, Research and Technology (RCAAP Project by FCT) (submittedVersion)
  • Florence Research (University of Florence) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
  • CINECA IRIS Institutional Research Information System (University of Bari Aldo Moro) (submittedVersion)
  • California State University ScholarWorks (system-wide DSpace) (submittedVersion)
  • Institutional Research Information System University of Ferrara (University of Ferrara) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Use Siena air (University of Siena) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • National Science Foundation (1032255)
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute
  • Wenner-Gren Foundation (2014-453)
  • Leakey Foundation (2015-2016)
  • Ministero per i beni e le attività culturali
  • European Commission (219965)
  • Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SFB 1052, project A02, FOR2237, KR 4015/1-1, 1FUGG)
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (L1524016)
  • Irish Research Council (GOIPG/2013/36)
  • Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA05130202)
  • Austrian Science Fund (FWF P‐17258, P23612, P 17258, P21660, P 19347)
  • Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca ((PRIN 2010), 2010-11, P.R.I.N. 2010/11)
  • Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
  • Vetenskapsrådet (2014-453)
  • Universidad de Cantabria
  • Unitatea Executiva pentru Finantarea Invatamantului Superior, a Cercetarii, Dezvoltarii si Inovarii (31/2010)
  • Russian Science Foundation (No. 14-50-00036, 14-50-, 14-50-00036)
  • Regione del Veneto
  • Koninklijk Belgisch Instituut voor Natuurwetenschappen
  • National Institutes of Health
  • California State University, Northridge
  • National Institute of General Medical Sciences (GM100233, R01GM100233)
  • European Social Fund
  • FP7 Ideas: European Research Council (283503, 263441)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Forensic and Genetic Research
  • Social Sciences › Anthropology › Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic diversity and population structure
Keywords
ancient human genomes, Neanderthal ancestry, population turnover, migration, founder populations, demographic history, Last Glacial Maximum
MeSH terms
Animals, DNA, Europe, Biological Evolution, Female, Genetics, Population, Humans, Male, Middle East, Phylogeny, Population Dynamics, Selection, Genetic, Time Factors, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Founder Effect, White People, Ice Cover, History, Ancient, Neanderthals, Human Migration

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