The genetic prehistory of the Baltic Sea region

Alissa Mittnik (), Chuan-Chao Wang, Saskia Pfrengle, Mantas Daubaras, Gunita Zariņa, Fredrik Hallgren, Raili Allmäe, Valery Khartanovich, Vyacheslav Moiseyev, Mari Tõrv, Anja Furtwängler, Aida Andrades Valtueña, Michal Feldman, Christos Economou, Markku Oinonen, Andrejs Vasks, Elena Balanovska, David Reich, Rimantas Jankauskas, Wolfgang Haak, Stephan Schiffels and Johannes Krause ()
Additional contact information
Alissa Mittnik: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Chuan-Chao Wang: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Saskia Pfrengle: University of Tübingen
Mantas Daubaras: Lithuanian Institute of History
Gunita Zariņa: University of Latvia
Fredrik Hallgren: The Cultural Heritage Foundation
Raili Allmäe: Tallinn University
Valery Khartanovich: Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) RAS
Vyacheslav Moiseyev: Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) RAS
Mari Tõrv: University of Tartu
Anja Furtwängler: University of Tübingen
Aida Andrades Valtueña: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Michal Feldman: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Christos Economou: Stockholm University
Markku Oinonen: University of Helsinki
Andrejs Vasks: University of Latvia
Elena Balanovska: Research Centre for Medical Genetics
David Reich: Harvard Medical School
Rimantas Jankauskas: Vilnius University
Wolfgang Haak: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Stephan Schiffels: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Johannes Krause: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History

Nature Communications, 2018, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract While the series of events that shaped the transition between foraging societies and food producers are well described for Central and Southern Europe, genetic evidence from Northern Europe surrounding the Baltic Sea is still sparse. Here, we report genome-wide DNA data from 38 ancient North Europeans ranging from ~9500 to 2200 years before present. Our analysis provides genetic evidence that hunter-gatherers settled Scandinavia via two routes. We reveal that the first Scandinavian farmers derive their ancestry from Anatolia 1000 years earlier than previously demonstrated. The range of Mesolithic Western hunter-gatherers extended to the east of the Baltic Sea, where these populations persisted without gene-flow from Central European farmers during the Early and Middle Neolithic. The arrival of steppe pastoralists in the Late Neolithic introduced a major shift in economy and mediated the spread of a new ancestry associated with the Corded Ware Complex in Northern Europe.

Date: 2018
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:9:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-018-02825-9

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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-02825-9

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