Parallel palaeogenomic transects reveal complex genetic history of early European farmers
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Abstract
Ancient DNA studies have established that Neolithic European populations were descended from Anatolian migrants who received a limited amount of admixture from resident hunter-gatherers. Many open questions remain, however, about the spatial and temporal dynamics of population interactions and admixture during the Neolithic period. Here we investigate the population dynamics of Neolithization across Europe using a high-resolution genome-wide ancient DNA dataset with a total of 180 samples, of which 130 are newly reported here, from the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods of Hungary (6000-2900 bc, n = 100), Germany (5500-3000 bc, n = 42) and Spain (5500-2200 bc, n = 38). We find that genetic diversity was shaped predominantly by local processes, with varied sources and proportions of hunter-gatherer ancestry among the three regions and through time. Admixture between groups with different ancestry profiles was pervasive and resulted in observable population transformation across almost all cultural transitions. Our results shed new light on the ways in which gene flow reshaped European populations throughout the Neolithic period and demonstrate the potential of time-series-based sampling and modelling approaches to elucidate multiple dimensions of historical population interactions.
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At least along the Danube route from Anatolia to Central Europe, the first stage of the Neolithic transition occurred through migration of farmers, followed by admixture with local hunter-gatherers in a second stage.
“At least along the Danube route from Anatolia to Central Europe, paleogenetic analyses have revealed that the first stage of the Neolithic transition occurred through the migration of FAs, followed by admixture with local HGs in a second stage, e.g., (32, 33, 35, 47).”
From Past human expansions shaped the spatial pattern of Neanderthal ancestry (2023) · cites this paper as [33]
The Abstract reports that Anatolian-related farmers brought agriculture to Europe with limited initial hunter-gatherer admixture, and the Hungary time series shows hunter-gatherer ancestry increasing over time. It does not establish a distinct second stage of admixture: it places interaction in the Early Neolithic and describes admixture as ongoing throughout the Neolithic. The passages have no page numbers in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.82)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe partial replacement of hunter-gatherers by farmers contributed to reducing the level of Neanderthal ancestry in western Eurasia more than in eastern Eurasia.
“The partial replacement of HGs by FAs (32, 33) thus contributed to reducing the level of NE ancestry in western Eurasia more than in eastern Eurasia.”
From Past human expansions shaped the spatial pattern of Neanderthal ancestry (2023) · cites this paper as [33]
In Europe, a prominent genetic transition occurred during the spread of early Neolithic farmers, when they partially replaced Paleolithic/Mesolithic hunter-gatherers.
“In Europe, a prominent genetic transition occurred during the spread of early Neolithic farmers, when they partially replaced Paleolithic/Mesolithic hunter-gatherers [i.e., the so-called Neolithic transition (33, 34, 35)].”
From Past human expansions shaped the spatial pattern of Neanderthal ancestry (2023) · cites this paper as [33]
During the European Neolithic transition, farmers coming from southeast Europe and Anatolia partially replaced hunter-gatherers.
“This includes the European Neolithic transition, when farmers coming from southeast Europe and Anatolia partially replaced hunter-gatherers (32–35), as well as the Bronze Age, with the spread of pastoralist populations from Eurasian steppes (36–38).”
From Past human expansions shaped the spatial pattern of Neanderthal ancestry (2023) · cites this paper as [33]
This corresponds to the model of population expansion with partial replacement supported by paleogenomic studies for the Neolithic.
“This corresponds to the model of population expansion with partial replacement supported by paleogenomic studies for the Neolithic (32–34).”
From Past human expansions shaped the spatial pattern of Neanderthal ancestry (2023) · cites this paper as [33]
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References 49 · Cited by 389
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- [44]Domboróczki L Research at Tiszaszőlős-Domaháza-puszta in 2003 Anders A Siklósi Z The First Neolithic Sites in Central/South-East European Transect. Volume III: The Körös Culture in Eastern Hungary 107 111 Oxford 2012
- Authors
- Lipson, M., Szécsényi-Nagy, A., Mallick, S., Pósa, A., Stégmár, B., Keerl, V., Rohland, N., Stewardson, K., Ferry, M., Michel, M., Oppenheimer, J., Broomandkhoshbacht, N., Harney, E., Nordenfelt, S., Llamas, B., Gusztáv Mende, B., Köhler, K., Oross, K., Bondár, M., Marton, T., Osztás, A., Jakucs, J., Paluch, T., Horváth, F., Csengeri, P., Koós, J., Sebők, K., Anders, A., Raczky, P., Regenye, J., Barna, J. P., Fábián, S., Serlegi, G., Toldi, Z., Gyöngyvér Nagy, E., Dani, J., Molnár, E., Pálfi, G., Márk, L., Melegh, B., Bánfai, Z., Domboróczki, L., Fernández-Eraso, J., Antonio Mujika-Alustiza, J., Alonso Fernández, C., Jiménez Echevarría, J., Bollongino, R., Orschiedt, J., Schierhold, K., Meller, H., Cooper, A., Burger, J., Bánffy, E., Alt, K. W., Lalueza-Fox, C., Haak, W., & Reich, D.
- Affiliations
- Harvard University (US)
- Broad Institute (US)
- ELTE Research Centre for the Humanities (HU)
- Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (DE)
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute (US)
- The University of Adelaide (AU)
- Móra Ferenc Múzeum (HU)
- Ottó Herman Museum (HU)
- Eötvös Loránd University (HU)
- Neurophotonics Laboratory (FR)
- Hungarian National Museum (HU)
- Jósa András Múzeum (HU)
- Deri Muzeum (HU)
- University of Szeged (HU)
- Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HU)
- University of Pecs (HU)
- DMEX Centre for X-ray Imaging (FR)
- Curt Engelhorn Centre Archaeometry (DE)
- Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Zentrale (DE)
- Danube Private University (AT)
- Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Lipson, Mark
- Reich, David
- ORCID
- Lipson, Mark
- Mallick, Swapan
- Rohland, Nadin
- Ferry, Matthew
- Michel, Megan
- Oppenheimer, Jonas
- Broomandkhoshbacht, Nasreen
- Llamas, Bastien
- Köhler, Kitti
- Oross, Krisztián
- Marton, Tibor
- Osztás, Anett
- Jakucs, János
- Anders, Alexandra
- Raczky, Pál
- Regenye, Judit
- Barna, Judit P.
- Dani, János
- Molnár, Erika
- Pálfi, György
- Márk, László
- Melegh, Béla
- Bánfai, Zsolt
- Orschiedt, Jörg
- Schierhold, Kerstin
- Meller, Harald
- Cooper, Alan
- Bánffy, Eszter
- Alt, Kurt W.
- Haak, Wolfgang
- Reich, David
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 2017-11
- Volume
- 551
- Issue
- 7680
- Pages
- 368-372
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- PMC
- PMC5973800
- OpenAlex
- W2767440583
- Cited by
- 389
- References
- 49
- Citations by year
- 2026: 25 · 2025: 42 · 2024: 33 · 2023: 41 · 2022: 56 · 2021: 47 · 2020: 52 · 2019: 56 · 2018: 35 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 26.07
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Adelaide Research & Scholarship (AR&S) (University of Adelaide) (submittedVersion)
- Max Planck Digital Library (submittedVersion)
- ANU Open Research (Australian National University) (submittedVersion)
- MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of General Medical Sciences (R01GM100233)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Forensic and Genetic Research
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic diversity and population structure
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Archaeology and ancient environmental studies
- Keywords
- Neolithic transition, Neolithic farmers, gene flow, population dynamics, Chalcolithic, European prehistory, ancient DNA, Hungary, Germany, Spain
- MeSH terms
- Farmers, DNA, Ancient, Female, Germany, Humans, Hungary, Male, Population Dynamics, Spain, Genetic Variation, History, Ancient, Gene Flow, Spatio-Temporal Analysis, Human Migration, Datasets as Topic
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