# Population Genetics > Paleogenetics > Paleolithic & Mesolithic >  Neolithic Farmers and Mesolithic Hunter-Gatherers in the Lower Danube Basin

## Sile

http://www.cell.com/current-biology/...17)30559-6.pdf

Paleogenomic Evidence for Multi-generational
Mixing between Neolithic Farmers and Mesolithic
Hunter-Gatherers in the Lower Danube Basin

The transition from hunting and gathering to
farming involved profound cultural and technological
changes. In Western and Central Europe, these
changes occurred rapidly and synchronously after
the arrival of early farmers of Anatolian origin [1–3],who largely replaced the local Mesolithic hunter-
gatherers [1, 4–6]. Further east, in the Baltic region,
the transition was gradual, with little or no genetic
input from incoming farmers [7]. Here we use ancient
DNA to investigate the relationship between hunter-
gatherers and farmers in the Lower Danube basin, a
geographically intermediate area that is character-
ized by a rapid Neolithic transition but also by the
presence of archaeological evidence that points to
cultural exchange, and thus possible admixture, be-
tween hunter-gatherers and farmers. We recovered
four human paleogenomes (1.13to 4.13coverage)
from Romania spanning a time transect between
8.8 thousand years ago (kya) and 5.4 kya and supple-
mented them with two Mesolithic genomes (1.73
and5.33) from Spain to provide further context on
the genetic background of Mesolithic Europe.

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## bicicleur

I've told several times about the HG in the Danube Gorge who were better fed than the early farmers.
For once, in this case, DNA seems to confirm archeological conclusions.

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## Promenade

Interesting things I read on a quick read through:

-The Romanian Hunter Gatherers were all R1 or R1b(Author notes that he believes it was still spread to the rest of Europe during the Bronze Age and has a steppe origin for most of Europe)

-The Romanian Hunter Gatherers all had dark eyes, yet the Eneolithic Romanian had light eyes

-The Eneolithic individual from Romania is the first example we have of a person with mixed Anotolian farmer and Western Hunter Gatherer ancestry to have the WHG ancestry in the majority and EEF ancestry in the minority 

-Western Hunter Gatherer contact with Early farmers changed their eating habits but did not influence their culture 

Also if anyone could tell me what the non WHG(blue) components in Chan Meso are supposed to represent id appreciate it.

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## LeBrok

Again we see this mysterious rise of WHG admixture in Late Neolithic. Were WHG coming en masse from Latvia and Belarus area, being pushed out by growing Yamnaya? In Hungarian BA we see huge increase of WHG genes, and also very far in Iberia. Can some of it be attributed to natural selection, Neolithic Farmers "getting used to" European environment?

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## MOESAN

Natural selection? Perhaps, not sure. But we can suppose ex-mesolithical groups were stayed there around the farmers settlements. in central-eastern Europe in the LN We have both auDNA dominantly "EEF" with numerous Y-I2a associated to farmers mt-DNA and almost pure offsprings of Mesolithic pops with Y (Y-I2a+Y-R1b) and mt-DNA from pre-farmers, so surely the auDNA associated to it, as in Ukraina. The penetration in Hungary of human types of the Mésolithic ones preceded the supposed Steppes people "invasion" of Chalcolithic times. Were they already I-E speaking, I don't know. it's a so debated question. Aside, this could explain the HG DA increase without CHG. But it shows people moved into EEF territories from elsewhere even if on relatively short distances and that it isn't a specific internal selection process.

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## LeBrok

> Natural selection? Perhaps, not sure. But we can suppose ex-mesolithical groups were stayed there around the farmers settlements. in central-eastern Europe in the LN We have both auDNA dominantly "EEF" with numerous Y-I2a associated to farmers mt-DNA and almost pure offsprings of Mesolithic pops with Y (Y-I2a+Y-R1b) and mt-DNA from pre-farmers, so surely the auDNA associated to it, as in Ukraina. The penetration in Hungary of human types of the Mésolithic ones preceded the supposed Steppes people "invasion" of Chalcolithic times. Were they already I-E speaking, I don't know. it's a so debated question. Aside, this could explain the HG DA increase without CHG. But it shows people moved into EEF territories from elsewhere even if on relatively short distances and that it isn't a specific internal selection process.


 Yes, this is how I see it. This is most likely explanation, in light that Mesolithic WHG were found in area of Ukraine/Belarus/Latvia just before Bronze Age.

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## hrvclv

Maybe the HGs were already there, hiding in whatever mountains or wasteland could shelter them from the newcomers, more numerous and better equipped than themselves. And, again "maybe", the HGs had no tradition of formal burial : the bodies were not preserved and geneticists today can't find any trace of them - which does not mean they weren't around.
Then the communities got used to each other, and the HGs could see for themselves the benefits of agriculture, such as it was in those days. They may have converted to the new way of life and indeed sought the proximity of their new neighbours. They were assimilated over time and contributed to the common DNA. The burials went on as before, preserving the newly-incorporated share of HG dna, which had previously been lost for science.

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## Angela

The biggest reservoir of WHG and SHG in Europe was in the far northeast where the climate was not conducive to the adoption of the then agricultural package, and where marine protein was abundant.

In the rest of Europe the adoption of hunter-gatherers into the Neolithic farming communities was slow and gradual, as was pointed out again in the recent talk by Reich, Lazaridis and Krause, and took about 2,000 years to reach a total of about 25%. It also seems to have been more male than female.

We can see the results of that in calculators comparing modern Europeans to ancient samples, such as the K12 ancient samples test at geneplaza, where Western Europeans like the British or French may have 13-18% of that ancestry, and places like Finland and Estonia, where the number can reach 30% or more.

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## bicicleur

In postcardial Iberia the admixture with WHG seems to have evolved quicker, especially in megalithic societies where WHG-specifc Y and mtDNA became a majority over a minority of EEF-specific DNA.
In the Birtish neolithic which was megalithic, no G2a2 Y-DNA has been found, it was exclusively I2.

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