View in EDS

A western route of prehistoric human migration from Africa into the Iberian Peninsula.

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Title:	A western route of prehistoric human migration from Africa into the Iberian Peninsula.
Authors:	González-Fortes, G.¹ gnzgrm@unife.it, Tassi, F.¹, Trucchi, E.¹, Henneberger, K.², Paijmans, J. L. A.², Díez-del-Molino, D.³, Schroeder, H.⁴, Susca, R. R.¹, Barroso-Ruíz, C.⁵, Bermudez, F. J.⁵, Barroso-Medina, C.⁵, Bettencourt, A. M. S.⁶, Sampaio, H. A.⁷, Grandal-d'Anglade, A.⁸, Salas, A.⁹, de Lombera-Hermida, A.¹⁰, Valcarce, R. Fabregas¹⁰, Vaquero, M.^11,12, Alonso, S.^11,12, Lozano, M.^11,12
Source:	Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 1/30/2019, Vol. 286 Issue 1895, p1-10. 10p.
Subjects:	Human migrations, Human DNA, Gene flow, Neolithic Period
Geographic Terms:	Iberian Peninsula
Abstract:	Being at thewestern fringe of Europe, Iberia had a peculiar prehistoryand acomplex pattern of Neolithization. A few studies, all based onmodern populations, reported the presence of DNA of likely African origin in this region, generally concluding it was the result of recent gene flow, probably during the Islamic period. Here, we provide evidence of much older gene flow from Africa to Iberia by sequencing whole genomes from four human remains from northern Portugal and southern Spain dated around 4000 years BP (from the Middle Neolithic to the Bronze Age). We found one of them to carry an unequivocal sub-Saharan mitogenome of most probably West or West-Central African origin, to our knowledge never reported before in prehistoric remains outside Africa. Our analyses of ancient nuclear genomes show small but significant levels of sub-Saharan African affinity in several ancient Iberian samples, which indicates that what we detected was not an occasional individual phenomenon, but an admixture event recognizable at the population level. We interpret this result as evidence of an early migration process from Africa into the Iberian Peninsula through a western route, possibly across the Strait of Gibraltar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
	Copyright of Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences is the property of Royal Society and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database:	Engineering Source

Description
Abstract:	Being at thewestern fringe of Europe, Iberia had a peculiar prehistoryand acomplex pattern of Neolithization. A few studies, all based onmodern populations, reported the presence of DNA of likely African origin in this region, generally concluding it was the result of recent gene flow, probably during the Islamic period. Here, we provide evidence of much older gene flow from Africa to Iberia by sequencing whole genomes from four human remains from northern Portugal and southern Spain dated around 4000 years BP (from the Middle Neolithic to the Bronze Age). We found one of them to carry an unequivocal sub-Saharan mitogenome of most probably West or West-Central African origin, to our knowledge never reported before in prehistoric remains outside Africa. Our analyses of ancient nuclear genomes show small but significant levels of sub-Saharan African affinity in several ancient Iberian samples, which indicates that what we detected was not an occasional individual phenomenon, but an admixture event recognizable at the population level. We interpret this result as evidence of an early migration process from Africa into the Iberian Peninsula through a western route, possibly across the Strait of Gibraltar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:	09628452
DOI:	10.1098/rspb.2018.2288