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Population genomics of Bronze Age Eurasia

Allentoft, Morten E ; Sikora, Martin ; Sjögren, Karl-Göran ; Rasmussen, Simon ; Rasmussen, Morten ; Stenderup, Jesper ; Damgaard, Peter B ; Schroeder, Hannes ; Ahlström, Torbjörn LU orcid and Vinner, Lasse , et al. (2015) In Nature 522(7555). p.167-172
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.... (More)
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. (Less)
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Nature
volume
522
issue
7555
pages
167 - 172
publisher
Nature Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • pmid:26062507
  • wos:000356016700029
  • scopus:84930940396
  • pmid:26062507
ISSN
0028-0836
DOI
10.1038/nature14507
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
bca7f169-437f-4f7d-93c6-5ead94a69139 (old id 7486934)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 10:05:23
date last changed
2023-04-03 02:56:27
@article{bca7f169-437f-4f7d-93c6-5ead94a69139,
  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.}},
  author       = {{Allentoft, Morten E and Sikora, Martin and Sjögren, Karl-Göran and Rasmussen, Simon and Rasmussen, Morten and Stenderup, Jesper and Damgaard, Peter B and Schroeder, Hannes and Ahlström, Torbjörn and Vinner, Lasse and Malaspinas, Anna-Sapfo and Margaryan, Ashot and Higham, Tom and Chivall, David and Lynnerup, Niels and Harvig, Lise and Baron, Justyna and Della Casa, Philippe and Dąbrowski, Paweł and Duffy, Paul R and Ebel, Alexander V and Epimakhov, Andrey and Frei, Karin and Furmanek, Mirosław and Gralak, Tomasz and Gromov, Andrey and Gronkiewicz, Stanisław and Grupe, Gisela and Hajdu, Tamás and Jarysz, Radosław and Khartanovich, Valeri and Khokhlov, Alexandr and Kiss, Viktória and Kolář, Jan and Kriiska, Aivar and Lasak, Irena and Longhi, Cristina and McGlynn, George and Merkevicius, Algimantas and Merkyte, Inga and Metspalu, Mait and Mkrtchyan, Ruzan and Moiseyev, Vyacheslav and Paja, László and Pálfi, György and Pokutta, Dalia and Pospieszny, Łukasz and Price, T Douglas and Saag, Lehti and Sablin, Mikhail and Shishlina, Natalia and Smrčka, Václav and Soenov, Vasilii I and Szeverényi, Vajk and Tóth, Gusztáv and Trifanova, Synaru V and Varul, Liivi and Vicze, Magdolna and Yepiskoposyan, Levon and Zhitenev, Vladislav and Orlando, Ludovic and Sicheritz-Pontén, Thomas and Brunak, Søren and Nielsen, Rasmus and Kristiansen, Kristian and Willerslev, Eske}},
  issn         = {{0028-0836}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{7555}},
  pages        = {{167--172}},
  publisher    = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{Nature}},
  title        = {{Population genomics of Bronze Age Eurasia}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature14507}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/nature14507}},
  volume       = {{522}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}