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Cited by 7Forensic and Genetic ResearchGenetic diversity and population structureAncient and Medieval Archaeology Studies

Spatially explicit paleogenomic simulations support cohabitation with limited admixture between Bronze Age Central European populations

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Rio, Jérémy, Quilodrán, Claudio S., Currat, Mathias·2021·Communications Biology
DOI 10.1038/s42003-021-02670-5PMC PMC8497574
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Abstract

The Bronze Age is a complex period of social, cultural and economic changes. Recent paleogenomic studies have documented a large and rapid genetic change in early Bronze Age populations from Central Europe. However, the detailed demographic and genetic processes involved in this change are still debated. Here we have used spatially explicit simulations of genomic components to better characterize the demographic and migratory conditions that may have led to this change. We investigated various scenarios representing the expansion of pastoralists from the Pontic steppe, potentially linked to the Yamnaya cultural complex, and their interactions with local populations in Central Europe, considering various eco-evolutionary factors, such as population admixture, competition and long-distance dispersal. Our results do not support direct competition but rather the cohabitation of pastoralists and farmers in Central Europe, with limited gene flow between populations. They also suggest occasional long-distance migrations accompanying the expansion of pastoralists and a demographic decline in both populations following their initial contact. These results link recent archaeological and paleogenomic observations and move further the debate of genomic changes during the early Bronze Age.

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  • During the Bronze Age, pastoralist populations from Eurasian steppes spread.

    “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 [38]

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Rio, J., Quilodrán, C. S., & Currat, M.
Affiliations
University of Geneva (CH)
Corresponding author
Currat, Mathias
ORCID
Venue
Communications Biology
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2021-10-07
Volume
4
Issue
1
Pages
1163-1163
ISSN
2399-3642 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1038/s42003-021-02670-5
PMC
PMC8497574
OpenAlex
W3204685099
Cited by
7
References
10
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2021: 1
FWCI
0.42
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Communications Biology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Archive ouverte UNIGE (University of Geneva) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
  • Archive ouverte UNIGE (University of Geneva) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • Institute of Genetics and Genomics in Geneva (IGE3), University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
  • Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung (P400PB_183930, 31003A_182577)
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
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology › Ancient and Medieval Archaeology Studies
Keywords
Bronze Age, Central Europe, paleogenomics, spatially explicit simulation, population admixture, Yamnaya, Pontic steppe, long-distance dispersal, population decline, cohabitation, gene flow, population competition, genomic changes
MeSH terms
Farmers, DNA, Ancient, Archaeology, Europe, Humans, Genome, Human, Human Migration

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