When the Waves of European Neolithization Met: First Paleogenetic Evidence from Early Farmers in the Southern Paris Basin

Abstract

An intense debate concerning the nature and mode of Neolithic transition in Europe has long received much attention. Recent publications of paleogenetic analyses focusing on ancient European farmers from Central Europe or the Iberian Peninsula have greatly contributed to this debate, providing arguments in favor of major migrations accompanying European Neolithization and highlighting noticeable genetic differentiation between farmers associated with two archaeologically defined migration routes: the Danube valley and the Mediterranean Sea. The aim of the present study was to fill a gap with the first paleogenetic data of Neolithic settlers from a region (France) where the two great currents came into both direct and indirect contact with each other. To this end, we analyzed the Gurgy 'Les Noisats' group, an Early/Middle Neolithic necropolis in the southern part of the Paris Basin. Interestingly, the archaeological record from this region highlighted a clear cultural influence from the Danubian cultural sphere but also notes exchanges with the Mediterranean cultural area. To unravel the processes implied in these cultural exchanges, we analyzed 102 individuals and obtained the largest Neolithic mitochondrial gene pool so far (39 HVS-I mitochondrial sequences and haplogroups for 55 individuals) from a single archaeological site from the Early/Middle Neolithic period. Pairwise F ST values, haplogroup frequencies and shared informative haplotypes were calculated and compared with ancient and modern European and Near Eastern populations. These descriptive analyses provided patterns resulting from different evolutionary scenarios; however, the archaeological data available for the region suggest that the Gurgy group was formed through equivalent genetic contributions of farmer descendants from the Danubian and Mediterranean Neolithization waves. However, these results, that would constitute the most ancient genetic evidence of admixture between farmers from both Central and Mediterranean migration routes in the European Neolithization debate, are subject to confirmation through appropriate model-based approaches.

Investigating mitochondrial DNA relationships in Neolithic Western Europe through serial coalescent simulations

“…Following Rivollat et al 2015, ancient mtDNA data were partitioned into four sample groups: (i) Gurgy Les Noisats necropolis (hereafter referred to as 'Gurgy', n = 39 sequences), (ii) Neolithic farmers from south Europe (group 'South-F', n = 56, partitioned into four chronological subgroups), (iii) Neolithic farmers from central Europe ('Central-F', n = 147, 5 subgroups) and (iv) hunter-gatherers ('HG', n = 40, 16 subgroups). Chronological subgroups were defined according to both shared geographic location and median calibrated C14 dates (see Figures 1 and 2).…”

“…In this context, the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) diversity of the Gurgy 'Les Noisats' site, located south of the Paris Basin and dated from 7000 to 6000 years ago, is striking since descriptive analyses 9 indicated affinities not only with early farmers associated with both the Danubian and Mediterranean migration routes but also with European HG. Notably, a relatively lower differentiation between Gurgy and European HG (F ST = 0.08) was observed when compared with other published levels of differentiation between Early Neolithic farmers and HG (eg, F ST = 0.0923 (ref.…”

A Multidisciplinary Approach to Neolithic Life Reconstruction

“…A combination of 18 mitochondrial and 10 Y chromosome SNPs, permitting the characterization of major maternal and paternal lineages known in European populations, were typed through one multiplex using MALDI-TOF MS-based SNP genotyping (iPLEXTM Gold technology, Sequenom, Inc., San Diego, CA, USA). All primers used for these experiments and procedure details are available in Rivollat et al (2015). The mitochondrial first hypervariable region (HVR-I, nps 16,024-16,380) was targeted using four overlapping fragments (HVR-Ia/b/c/d), following the procedures described in Rivollat et al (2015), to determine the maternal haplotypes of the individuals.…”

“…All primers used for these experiments and procedure details are available in Rivollat et al (2015). The mitochondrial first hypervariable region (HVR-I, nps 16,024-16,380) was targeted using four overlapping fragments (HVR-Ia/b/c/d), following the procedures described in Rivollat et al (2015), to determine the maternal haplotypes of the individuals. Samples were assigned to mitochondrial haplogroups and haplotypes using the combined information of HVR-I and coding region variation, following the phylogenetic classification updated by van Oven and Kayser (2009) (PhyloTree Build 17; http://www.phylotree.org).…”

Population history in third-millennium-BC Europe: assessing the contribution of genetics

“…Rivollat et al 2015) -can be identified, the genetic variety of modern European populations cannot be accounted for solely in those terms. In particular, modern admixture suggests a contribution, at one point in the past, of a population genetically related to Native Americans (Patterson et al 2012).…”