By sequencing 727 ancient individuals from the Southern Arc (Anatolia and its neighbors in Southeastern Europe and West Asia) over 10,000 years, we contextualize its Chalcolithic period and Bronze Age (about 5000 to 1000 BCE), when extensive gene flow entangled it with the Eurasian steppe. Two streams of migration transmitted Caucasus and Anatolian/Levantine ancestry northward, and the Yamnaya pastoralists, formed on the steppe, then spread southward into the Balkans and across the Caucasus into Armenia, where they left numerous patrilineal descendants. Anatolia was transformed by intra–West Asian gene flow, with negligible impact of the later Yamnaya migrations. This contrasts with all other regions where Indo-European languages were spoken, suggesting that the homeland of the Indo-Anatolian language family was in West Asia, with only secondary dispersals of non-Anatolian Indo-Europeans from the steppe.

We present the first ancient DNA data from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic of Mesopotamia (Southeastern Turkey and Northern Iraq), Cyprus, and the Northwestern Zagros, along with the first data from Neolithic Armenia. We show that these and neighboring populations were formed through admixture of pre-Neolithic sources related to Anatolian, Caucasus, and Levantine hunter-gatherers, forming a Neolithic continuum of ancestry mirroring the geography of West Asia. By analyzing Pre-Pottery and Pottery Neolithic populations of Anatolia, we show that the former were derived from admixture between Mesopotamian-related and local Epipaleolithic-related sources, but the latter experienced additional Levantine-related gene flow, thus documenting at least two pulses of migration from the Fertile Crescent heartland to the early farmers of Anatolia.

The seismic activity of the middle strand of the North Anatolian Fault (MNAF), Northwestern Turkey, is debated because of its quiescence during the instrumental period, in contrast to a significant historical activity documented by several chronicles over the last two millennia. Here, we focus on Lake Iznik, bordered by the MNAF, to get a new insight into its long-term seismicity and its tectonic setting. The study of lacustrine sediment cores reveals 14 earthquake-induced turbidites since their ages correspond to seismic events during the past two millennia. Bathymetry and high-resolution seismic reflection data allow to describe two hitherto unknown subaquatic active fault structures (the South Boyalica and Iznik faults) that belong to the MNAF system. Sediment cores sampled on both sides of the Iznik Fault document an event deposit and a sedimentary unit vertically offset of~40 cm interpreted as the last rupture during the 1065 CE destructive earthquake. Older events are supposed on this fault more than thousand years ago. Further studies will help to estimate the horizontal co-seismic offset of this oblique-slip fault and the calendar of older ruptures. The current seismic gap of thousand years on this segment greatly increases the seismic hazard in this region and must be considered in the seismic risk assessment of the NAF system. Plain Language Summary During large earthquakes, sediments are generally transported from lake slopes to the lake basin. The resulting event deposits can provide information on the recurrence of past regional earthquakes, which is crucial for seismic hazard assessment. In this study, we discovered two underwater fault structures in Lake Iznik, using geophysical methods. Studying the sedimentation on both sides of the southernmost fault, we observed an increased sedimentation rate on the hanging wall of the fault immediately after an event deposit, dated to 1077 ± 77 cal. CE. We interpreted these indicators as resulting from a co-seismic displacement along the fault plane, linked to the 1065 CE historical earthquake, which had significantly impacted the city of Iznik. We also show that most of the other event deposits in the sediment cores are confidently associated to 14 historical earthquakes since 2,000 years.

<p>Lake Iznik (NW Turkey), is bordered by the middle strand of the North Anatolian Fault (MNAF), whose seismic activity is debated because of its quiescence during the instrumental period. In contrast, significant historical activity is documented by several chronicles over the last two millennia.</p><p>This study aims to get a new insight into its long-term seismicity and its tectonic setting. Lacustrine sediment cores reveal fourteen earthquake-induced turbidites since their ages correspond to seismic events during the past two millennia. Bathymetry and high-resolution seismic reflection data allow describing two hitherto unknown subaquatic active fault structures (the South Boyalica and Iznik faults), belonging to the MNAF system. Sediment cores sampled on both sides of the Iznik Fault document an event deposit and a sedimentary unit vertically offset of ∼ 40 cm interpreted as the last rupture during the 1065 CE destructive earthquake. Older events are supposed on this fault more than a thousand years ago. Further studies will help to estimate the horizontal coseismic offset of this oblique-slip fault and the calendar of older ruptures. The current seismic gap of thousand years on this segment greatly increases the seismic hazard in this region and must be considered in the seismic risk assessment of the NAF system.</p>

Literary and archaeological sources have preserved a rich history of Southern Europe and West Asia since the Bronze Age that can be complemented by genetics. Mycenaean period elites in Greece did not differ from the general population and included both people with some steppe ancestry and others, like the Griffin Warrior, without it. Similarly, people in the central area of the Urartian Kingdom around Lake Van lacked the steppe ancestry characteristic of the kingdom’s northern provinces. Anatolia exhibited extraordinary continuity down to the Roman and Byzantine periods, with its people serving as the demographic core of much of the Roman Empire, including the city of Rome itself. During medieval times, migrations associated with Slavic and Turkic speakers profoundly affected the region.