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Skourtanioti E, Ringbauer H, Gnecchi Ruscone GA, Bianco RA, Burri M, Freund C, Furtwängler A, Gomes Martins NF, Knolle F, Neumann GU, Tiliakou A, Agelarakis A, Andreadaki-Vlazaki M, Betancourt P, Hallager BP, Jones OA, Kakavogianni O, Kanta A, Karkanas P, Kataki E, Kissas K, Koehl R, Kvapil L, Maran J, McGeorge PJP, Papadimitriou A, Papathanasiou A, Papazoglou-Manioudaki L, Paschalidis K, Polychronakou-Sgouritsa N, Preve S, Prevedorou EA, Price G, Protopapadaki E, Schmidt-Schultz T, Schultz M, Shelton K, Wiener MH, Krause J, Jeong C, Stockhammer PW. Ancient DNA reveals admixture history and endogamy in the prehistoric Aegean. Nat Ecol Evol 2023; 7:290-303. [PMID: 36646948 PMCID: PMC9911347 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-022-01952-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2022] [Accepted: 11/11/2022] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
Abstract
The Neolithic and Bronze Ages were highly transformative periods for the genetic history of Europe but for the Aegean-a region fundamental to Europe's prehistory-the biological dimensions of cultural transitions have been elucidated only to a limited extent so far. We have analysed newly generated genome-wide data from 102 ancient individuals from Crete, the Greek mainland and the Aegean Islands, spanning from the Neolithic to the Iron Age. We found that the early farmers from Crete shared the same ancestry as other contemporaneous Neolithic Aegeans. In contrast, the end of the Neolithic period and the following Early Bronze Age were marked by 'eastern' gene flow, which was predominantly of Anatolian origin in Crete. Confirming previous findings for additional Central/Eastern European ancestry in the Greek mainland by the Middle Bronze Age, we additionally show that such genetic signatures appeared in Crete gradually from the seventeenth to twelfth centuries BC, a period when the influence of the mainland over the island intensified. Biological and cultural connectedness within the Aegean is also supported by the finding of consanguineous endogamy practiced at high frequencies, unprecedented in the global ancient DNA record. Our results highlight the potential of archaeogenomic approaches in the Aegean for unravelling the interplay of genetic admixture, marital and other cultural practices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eirini Skourtanioti
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.
- Max Planck Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean (MHAAM), Leipzig, Germany.
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.
| | - Harald Ringbauer
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Max Planck Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean (MHAAM), Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Guido Alberto Gnecchi Ruscone
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Max Planck Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean (MHAAM), Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Raffaela Angelina Bianco
- Max Planck Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean (MHAAM), Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Marta Burri
- Max Planck Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean (MHAAM), Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Cäcilia Freund
- Max Planck Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean (MHAAM), Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Anja Furtwängler
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Max Planck Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean (MHAAM), Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Nuno Filipe Gomes Martins
- Max Planck Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean (MHAAM), Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Florian Knolle
- Max Planck Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean (MHAAM), Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Gunnar U Neumann
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Max Planck Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean (MHAAM), Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Anthi Tiliakou
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Max Planck Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean (MHAAM), Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | | | | | - Philip Betancourt
- Institute for Aegean Prehistory, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | | | - Olivia A Jones
- Department of Sociology and Anthropology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA
| | - Olga Kakavogianni
- Ephorate of Antiquities of East Attica, Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports, Athens, Greece
| | - Athanasia Kanta
- Antiquities for the Heraklion Prefecture (Director Emerita), Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports, Heraklion, Greece
| | - Panagiotis Karkanas
- Malcolm H. Wiener Laboratory for Archaeological Science, American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Athens, Greece
| | - Efthymia Kataki
- Ephorate of Antiquities of Chania, Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports, Chania, Greece
| | - Konstantinos Kissas
- Ephorate of Antiquities of Arcadia, Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports, Tripoli, Greece
| | - Robert Koehl
- Classical and Oriental Studies, Hunter College, New York, NY, USA
| | - Lynne Kvapil
- Department of History, Anthropology, and Classics, Butler University, Indianapolis, IN, USA
| | - Joseph Maran
- Institute for Prehistory, Protohistory and Near Eastern Archaeology, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | | | - Alkestis Papadimitriou
- Ephorate of Antiquities of Argolida, Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports, Nafplio, Greece
| | - Anastasia Papathanasiou
- Ephorate of Palaeoanthropology and Speleology, Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports, Athens, Greece
| | | | | | | | - Sofia Preve
- Ephorate of Antiquities of Chania, Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports, Chania, Greece
| | - Eleni-Anna Prevedorou
- Malcolm H. Wiener Laboratory for Archaeological Science, American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Athens, Greece
- School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | | | - Eftychia Protopapadaki
- Ephorate of Antiquities of Chania, Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports, Chania, Greece
| | | | - Michael Schultz
- Center of Anatomy, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- Department of Biology, University of Hildesheim, Hildesheim, Germany
| | - Kim Shelton
- Department of Ancient Greek and Roman Studies, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | | | - Johannes Krause
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.
- Max Planck Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean (MHAAM), Leipzig, Germany.
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.
| | - Choongwon Jeong
- School of Biological Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
| | - Philipp W Stockhammer
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.
- Max Planck Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean (MHAAM), Leipzig, Germany.
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.
- Institute for Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology and Archaeology of the Roman Provinces, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany.
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