torzio
Well-known member
- Messages
- 4,097
- Reaction score
- 1,291
- Points
- 113
- Location
- Eastern Australia
- Ethnic group
- North East Italian
- Y-DNA haplogroup
- T1a2 - SK1480
- mtDNA haplogroup
- H95a
16 May 2022
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.05.15.491973v1.full.pdf
Ancient DNA research in the past decade has revealed that European population
structure changed dramatically in the prehistoric period (14,000-3,000 years before
present, YBP), reflecting the widespread introduction of Neolithic farmer and Bronze
Age Steppe ancestries. However, little is known about how population structure
changed in the historical period onward (3,000 YBP - present). To address this, we
collected whole genomes from 204 individuals from Europe and the Mediterranean,
many of which are the first historical period genomes from their region (e.g. Armenia,
France). We found that most regions show remarkable inter-individual heterogeneity.
Around 8% of historical individuals carry ancestry uncommon in the region where they
were sampled, some indicating cross-Mediterranean contacts. Despite this high level of
mobility, overall population structure across western Eurasia is relatively stable through
the historical period up to the present, mirroring the geographic map. We show that,
under standard population genetics models with local panmixia, the observed level of
dispersal would lead to a collapse of population structure. Persistent population
structure thus suggests a lower effective migration rate than indicated by the observed
dispersal. We hypothesize that this phenomenon can be explained by extensive
transient dispersal arising from drastically improved transportation networks and the
Roman Empire’s mobilization of people for trade, labor, and military. This work highlights
the utility of ancient DNA in elucidating finer scale human population dynamics in recent History.
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.05.15.491973v1.full.pdf
Ancient DNA research in the past decade has revealed that European population
structure changed dramatically in the prehistoric period (14,000-3,000 years before
present, YBP), reflecting the widespread introduction of Neolithic farmer and Bronze
Age Steppe ancestries. However, little is known about how population structure
changed in the historical period onward (3,000 YBP - present). To address this, we
collected whole genomes from 204 individuals from Europe and the Mediterranean,
many of which are the first historical period genomes from their region (e.g. Armenia,
France). We found that most regions show remarkable inter-individual heterogeneity.
Around 8% of historical individuals carry ancestry uncommon in the region where they
were sampled, some indicating cross-Mediterranean contacts. Despite this high level of
mobility, overall population structure across western Eurasia is relatively stable through
the historical period up to the present, mirroring the geographic map. We show that,
under standard population genetics models with local panmixia, the observed level of
dispersal would lead to a collapse of population structure. Persistent population
structure thus suggests a lower effective migration rate than indicated by the observed
dispersal. We hypothesize that this phenomenon can be explained by extensive
transient dispersal arising from drastically improved transportation networks and the
Roman Empire’s mobilization of people for trade, labor, and military. This work highlights
the utility of ancient DNA in elucidating finer scale human population dynamics in recent History.
