Population genomics of Bronze Age Eurasia

Morten E. Allentoft; Martin Sikora; Karl-Göran Sjögren; Simon Rasmussen; Morten Rasmussen; Jesper Stenderup; Peter B. Damgaard; Hannes Schroeder; Torbjorn Ahlström; Lasse Vinner; Anna-Sapfo Malaspinas; Ashot Margaryan; Niels Lynnerup; Lise Harvig; Karin Frei; Inga Merkyte; Ludovic Orlando; Thomas Sicheritz-Pontén; Søren Brunak; Eske Willerslev

doi:10.1038/nature14507

Population genomics of Bronze Age Eurasia

Morten E. Allentoft, Martin Sikora, Karl-Göran Sjögren, Simon Rasmussen, Morten Rasmussen, Jesper Stenderup, Peter B. Damgaard, Hannes Schroeder, Torbjorn Ahlström, Lasse Vinner, Anna-Sapfo Malaspinas, Ashot Margaryan, Niels Lynnerup, Lise Harvig, Karin Frei, Inga Merkyte, Ludovic Orlando, Thomas Sicheritz-Pontén, Søren Brunak, Eske Willerslev

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Abstract

The Bronze Age of Eurasia (around 3000-1000 BC) was a period of major cultural changes. However, there is debate about whether these changes resulted from the circulation of ideas or from human migrations, potentially also facilitating the spread of languages and certain phenotypic traits. We investigated this by using new, improved methods to sequence low-coverage genomes from 101 ancient humans from across Eurasia. We show that the Bronze Age was a highly dynamic period involving large-scale population migrations and replacements, responsible for shaping major parts of present-day demographic structure in both Europe and Asia. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesized spread of Indo-European languages during the Early Bronze Age. We also demonstrate that light skin pigmentation in Europeans was already present at high frequency in the Bronze Age, but not lactose tolerance, indicating a more recent onset of positive selection on lactose tolerance than previously thought.

Original language	English
Journal	Nature
Volume	522
Issue number	7555
Pages (from-to)	167-
Number of pages	17
ISSN	0028-0836
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14507
Publication status	Published - 2015

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Keywords

Population genetics

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Allentoft, M. E., Sikora, M., Sjögren, K.-G., Rasmussen, S., Rasmussen, M., Stenderup, J., Damgaard, P. B., Schroeder, H., Ahlström, T., Vinner, L., Malaspinas, A.-S., Margaryan, A., Lynnerup, N., Harvig, L., Frei, K., Merkyte, I., Orlando, L., Sicheritz-Pontén, T., Brunak, S., & Willerslev, E. (2015). Population genomics of Bronze Age Eurasia. Nature, 522(7555), 167-. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14507

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title = "Population genomics of Bronze Age Eurasia",

abstract = "The Bronze Age of Eurasia (around 3000-1000 BC) was a period of major cultural changes. However, there is debate about whether these changes resulted from the circulation of ideas or from human migrations, potentially also facilitating the spread of languages and certain phenotypic traits. We investigated this by using new, improved methods to sequence low-coverage genomes from 101 ancient humans from across Eurasia. We show that the Bronze Age was a highly dynamic period involving large-scale population migrations and replacements, responsible for shaping major parts of present-day demographic structure in both Europe and Asia. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesized spread of Indo-European languages during the Early Bronze Age. We also demonstrate that light skin pigmentation in Europeans was already present at high frequency in the Bronze Age, but not lactose tolerance, indicating a more recent onset of positive selection on lactose tolerance than previously thought.",

keywords = "Population genetics",

author = "Allentoft, {Morten E.} and Martin Sikora and Karl-G{\"o}ran Sj{\"o}gren and Simon Rasmussen and Morten Rasmussen and Jesper Stenderup and Damgaard, {Peter B.} and Hannes Schroeder and Torbjorn Ahlstr{\"o}m and Lasse Vinner and Anna-Sapfo Malaspinas and Ashot Margaryan and Niels Lynnerup and Lise Harvig and Karin Frei and Inga Merkyte and Ludovic Orlando and Thomas Sicheritz-Pont{\'e}n and S{\o}ren Brunak and Eske Willerslev",

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year = "2015",

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language = "English",

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Allentoft, ME, Sikora, M, Sjögren, K-G, Rasmussen, S, Rasmussen, M, Stenderup, J, Damgaard, PB, Schroeder, H, Ahlström, T, Vinner, L, Malaspinas, A-S, Margaryan, A, Lynnerup, N, Harvig, L, Frei, K, Merkyte, I, Orlando, L, Sicheritz-Pontén, T, Brunak, S & Willerslev, E 2015, 'Population genomics of Bronze Age Eurasia', Nature, vol. 522, no. 7555, pp. 167-. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14507

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T1 - Population genomics of Bronze Age Eurasia

AU - Allentoft, Morten E.

AU - Sikora, Martin

AU - Sjögren, Karl-Göran

AU - Rasmussen, Simon

AU - Rasmussen, Morten

AU - Stenderup, Jesper

AU - Damgaard, Peter B.

AU - Schroeder, Hannes

AU - Ahlström, Torbjorn

AU - Vinner, Lasse

AU - Malaspinas, Anna-Sapfo

AU - Margaryan, Ashot

AU - Lynnerup, Niels

AU - Harvig, Lise

AU - Frei, Karin

AU - Merkyte, Inga

AU - Orlando, Ludovic

AU - Sicheritz-Pontén, Thomas

AU - Brunak, Søren

AU - Willerslev, Eske

N1 - For a complete author list see article

PY - 2015

Y1 - 2015

N2 - The Bronze Age of Eurasia (around 3000-1000 BC) was a period of major cultural changes. However, there is debate about whether these changes resulted from the circulation of ideas or from human migrations, potentially also facilitating the spread of languages and certain phenotypic traits. We investigated this by using new, improved methods to sequence low-coverage genomes from 101 ancient humans from across Eurasia. We show that the Bronze Age was a highly dynamic period involving large-scale population migrations and replacements, responsible for shaping major parts of present-day demographic structure in both Europe and Asia. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesized spread of Indo-European languages during the Early Bronze Age. We also demonstrate that light skin pigmentation in Europeans was already present at high frequency in the Bronze Age, but not lactose tolerance, indicating a more recent onset of positive selection on lactose tolerance than previously thought.

AB - The Bronze Age of Eurasia (around 3000-1000 BC) was a period of major cultural changes. However, there is debate about whether these changes resulted from the circulation of ideas or from human migrations, potentially also facilitating the spread of languages and certain phenotypic traits. We investigated this by using new, improved methods to sequence low-coverage genomes from 101 ancient humans from across Eurasia. We show that the Bronze Age was a highly dynamic period involving large-scale population migrations and replacements, responsible for shaping major parts of present-day demographic structure in both Europe and Asia. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesized spread of Indo-European languages during the Early Bronze Age. We also demonstrate that light skin pigmentation in Europeans was already present at high frequency in the Bronze Age, but not lactose tolerance, indicating a more recent onset of positive selection on lactose tolerance than previously thought.

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VL - 522

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JO - Nature

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IS - 7555

ER -

Population genomics of Bronze Age Eurasia

Abstract

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