Matter
Ancient DNA Reveals History of Hunter-Gatherers in Europe
Looking at DNA gleaned from ancient remains, researchers identified at least eight previously unknown populations of early Europeans.
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Carl Zimmer has reported on studies of ancient DNA from Neanderthals, mammoths and many other vanished forms of life.
In the 1800s, archaeologists began reconstructing the deep history of Europe from the bones of ancient hunter-gatherers and the iconic art they left behind, like cave paintings, fertility figurines and “lion-man” statues.
Over the past decade, geneticists have added a new dimension to that history by extracting DNA from teeth and bones.
And now, in a pair of studies published on Wednesday, researchers have produced the most robust analysis yet of the genetic record of prehistoric Europe.
Looking at DNA gleaned from the remains of 357 ancient Europeans, researchers discovered that several waves of hunter-gatherers migrated into Europe. The studies identified at least eight populations, some more genetically distinct from each other than modern-day Europeans and Asians. They coexisted in Europe for thousands of years, apparently trading tools and sharing cultures. Some groups survived the Ice Age, while others vanished, perhaps wiped out by other groups.
“We are finally understanding the dynamics of European hunter-gatherers,” said Vanessa Villalba-Mouco, a paleogeneticist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, and an author of both studies.
The new genetic analysis suggests that when farmers arrived in Europe about 8,000 years ago, they encountered the descendants of this long history, with light-skinned, dark-eyed people to the east, and possibly dark-skinned and blue-eyed people to the west.
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