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, Torbjörn Ahlström, Lasse Vinner, Anna-Sapfo Malaspinas, Ashot Margaryan, Tom Higham, David Chivall, Niels Lynnerup, Lise Harvig, Justyna Baron, Philippe Della Casa, Paweł Dąbrowski, Paul R. Duffy, Alexander V. Ebel, Andrey Epimakhov, Karin Frei, Mirosław Furmanek, Tomasz Gralak, Andrey Gromov, Stanisław Gronkiewicz, Gisela Grupe, Tamás Hajdu, Radosław Jarysz, Valeri Khartanovich, Alexandr Khokhlov, Viktória Kiss, Jan Kolář, Aivar Kriiska, Irena Lasak, Cristina Longhi, George McGlynn, Algimantas Merkevicius, Inga Merkyte, Mait Metspalu, Ruzan Mkrtchyan, Vyacheslav Moiseyev, László Paja, György Pálfi, Dalia Pokutta, Łukasz Pospieszny, T. Douglas Price, Lehti Saag, Mikhail Sablin, Natalia Shishlina, Václav Smrčka, Vasilii I. Soenov, Vajk Szeverényi, Gusztáv Tóth, Synaru V. Trifanova, Liivi Varul, Magdolna Vicze, Levon Yepiskoposyan, Vladislav Zhitenev, Ludovic Orlando, Thomas Sicheritz-Pontén, Søren Brunak, Rasmus Nielsen, Kristian Kristiansen and Eske Willerslev ()
Additional contact information
Morten E. Allentoft: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen
Martin Sikora: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen
Karl-Göran Sjögren: University of Gothenburg
Simon Rasmussen: Center for Biological Sequence Analysis, Technical University of Denmark
Morten Rasmussen: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen
Jesper Stenderup: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen
Peter B. Damgaard: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen
Hannes Schroeder: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen
Torbjörn Ahlström: Lund University
Lasse Vinner: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen
Anna-Sapfo Malaspinas: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen
Ashot Margaryan: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen
Tom Higham: Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, University of Oxford
David Chivall: Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, University of Oxford
Niels Lynnerup: Unit of Forensic Anthropology, University of Copenhagen
Lise Harvig: Unit of Forensic Anthropology, University of Copenhagen
Justyna Baron: Institute of Archaeology, University of Wrocław
Philippe Della Casa: Archaeological Institute, University of Zurich
Paweł Dąbrowski: Wrocław Medical University
Paul R. Duffy: University of Toronto
Alexander V. Ebel: Gorno-Altaisk State University
Andrey Epimakhov: South Ural State University
Karin Frei: Environmental Research and Material Science and Centre for Textile Research, The National Museum of Denmark
Mirosław Furmanek: Institute of Archaeology, University of Wrocław
Tomasz Gralak: Institute of Archaeology, University of Wrocław
Andrey Gromov: Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) RAS
Stanisław Gronkiewicz: Polish Academy of Sciences
Gisela Grupe: Biocentre of the Ludwig-Maximilian-University München
Tamás Hajdu: Institute of Biology, Eötvös Loránd University
Radosław Jarysz: The Archaeological Museum of Wrocław
Valeri Khartanovich: Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) RAS
Alexandr Khokhlov: Samara State Academy of Social Science and Humanities
Viktória Kiss: Institute of Archaeology of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Research Center for the Humanities
Jan Kolář: Institute of Archaeology and Museology, Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University
Aivar Kriiska: University of Tartu
Irena Lasak: Institute of Archaeology, University of Wrocław
Cristina Longhi: Archaeological Superintendence of Lombardy
George McGlynn: Biocentre of the Ludwig-Maximilian-University München
Algimantas Merkevicius: University of Vilnius
Inga Merkyte: The SAXO Institute, University of Copenhagen
Mait Metspalu: Estonian Biocentre and University of Tartu
Ruzan Mkrtchyan: Yerevan State University
Vyacheslav Moiseyev: Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) RAS
László Paja: Hungarian National Museum
György Pálfi: University of Szeged
Dalia Pokutta: University of Gothenburg
Łukasz Pospieszny: Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences
T. Douglas Price: Laboratory for Archaeological Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Lehti Saag: Estonian Biocentre and University of Tartu
Mikhail Sablin: Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Natalia Shishlina: State Historical Museum
Václav Smrčka: Institute for History of Medicine and Foreign Languages of the First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University
Vasilii I. Soenov: Research Center for the History and Culture of the Turkic Peoples, Gorno-Altaisk State University
Vajk Szeverényi: Institute of Archaeology of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Research Center for the Humanities
Gusztáv Tóth: Institute of Archaeological Sciences, Faculty of Humanities, Eötvös Loránd University
Synaru V. Trifanova: Research Center for the History and Culture of the Turkic Peoples, Gorno-Altaisk State University
Liivi Varul: University of Tartu
Magdolna Vicze: Matrica Museum
Levon Yepiskoposyan: Laboratory of Ethnogenomics, Institute of Molecular Biology, National Academy of Sciences
Vladislav Zhitenev: Faculty of History, Moscow State University
Ludovic Orlando: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen
Thomas Sicheritz-Pontén: Center for Biological Sequence Analysis, Technical University of Denmark
Søren Brunak: Center for Biological Sequence Analysis, Technical University of Denmark
Rasmus Nielsen: Center for Theoretical Evolutionary Genetics, University of California
Kristian Kristiansen: University of Gothenburg
Eske Willerslev: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen

Nature, 2015, vol. 522, issue 7555, 167-172

Abstract: 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.

Date: 2015
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DOI: 10.1038/nature14507

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