Cosimo Posth’s research while affiliated with University of Tübingen and other places

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Publications (154)


Geographical distribution of modern human specimens older than 40 kyr that produced genome-wide data
Specimens with new genome-wide data produced in this study are shaded in pink. Ages give 95.4% CIs on calibrated radiocarbon dates except for Zlatý kůň, for which we give the estimated age on the basis of Neanderthal segment lengths. The Ranis specimens within the dashed circle belong to the same individual. Credits: photographs of the Ranis specimens are adapted from ref. ⁴, Springer Nature Limited, under a Creative Commons licence, CC BY 4.0; the photograph of the Zlatý kůň skull is adapted from the Department of Anthropology, National History Museum of Prague (photographer: Marek Jantač); photographs of the Oase and Bacho Kiro specimens, © MPI-EVA/Rosen Spasov (from www.mpg.de/16663512/genomes-earliest-europeans), and of a 40-kyr-old modern human jawbone, © MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology/Svante Pääbo (from www.mpg.de/9278783/modern-humans-neandertals-interbreeding-europe); photograph of the Ust’-Ishim specimen is adapted from ref. ⁹, Springer Nature Limited, under a Creative Commons licence, CC BY 4.0; the photograph of the Tianyuan specimen is reproduced from www.science.org/content/article/last-ice-age-wiped-out-people-east-asia-well-europe (Shaoguang Zhang/Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology). The base map was made with Natural Earth (www.naturalearthdata.com/).
Genetic relatedness between pairs of individuals
a, Biological kinship inferred from genomes of different specimens (prefix ‘RNI’ for Ranis and ‘ZKU’ for Zlatý kůň). The values within the squares indicate log-likelihood ratio between the two maximum likelihood models, for each pair. b, Heatmap representing the f3-outgroup statistics results with a subset of early modern humans older than 40 kyr. c, Pairwise IBD sharing (greater than 12 cM) for comparisons between individuals Ranis12–Ranis13 and Ranis12–Zlatý kůň. d, Total IBD sharing in three different length categories plotted for the ten Ranis/Zlatý kůň pairs with the highest IBD sharing. Ranis6 and Ranis10 were excluded due to low coverage.
Neanderthal ancestry
a,b, Segments in Ranis13 (a) and segments in Zlatý kůň (b). Colours indicate the state of the called segment: grey for the homozygous African state (AFR), and dark orange and dark blue for homozygous Denisovan (DEN) and Neanderthal (NEA) states, respectively. The remaining three colours indicate heterozygous states as stated in the colour legend (AFRDEN for African/Denisovan, AFRNEA for African/Neanderthal and NEADEN for Neanderthal/Denisovan heterozygous states). c, Decay curves using the longest 100 Neanderthal segments in each genome. d, Estimates of generations between the Neanderthal introgression event and the life of the individual, on the basis of the length of the called segments (n = 100). Error bars represent the 95% CI obtained from the chi-squared distribution.
Tree summarizing the main points of the study
The scheme includes timing of the main Neanderthal introgression event and order of the population separations from the Out-of-Africa lineage.
Earliest modern human genomes constrain timing of Neanderthal admixture
  • Article
  • Full-text available

December 2024

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622 Reads

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4 Citations

Nature

Arev P. Sümer

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Modern humans arrived in Europe more than 45,000 years ago, overlapping at least 5,000 years with Neanderthals1, 2, 3–4. Limited genomic data from these early modern humans have shown that at least two genetically distinct groups inhabited Europe, represented by Zlatý kůň, Czechia³ and Bacho Kiro, Bulgaria². Here we deepen our understanding of early modern humans by analysing one high-coverage genome and five low-coverage genomes from approximately 45,000-year-old remains from Ilsenhöhle in Ranis, Germany⁴, and a further high-coverage genome from Zlatý kůň. We show that distant familial relationships link the Ranis and Zlatý kůň individuals and that they were part of the same small, isolated population that represents the deepest known split from the Out-of-Africa lineage. Ranis genomes harbour Neanderthal segments that originate from a single admixture event shared with all non-Africans that we date to approximately 45,000–49,000 years ago. This implies that ancestors of all non-Africans sequenced so far resided in a common population at this time, and further suggests that modern human remains older than 50,000 years from outside Africa represent different non-African populations.

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Exploring the potential of dental calculus to shed light on past human migrations in Oceania

November 2024

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202 Reads

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1 Citation

The Pacific islands and Island Southeast Asia have experienced multiple waves of human migrations, providing a case study for exploring the potential of ancient microbiomes to study human migration. We perform a metagenomic study of archaeological dental calculus from 102 individuals, originating from 10 Pacific islands and 1 island in Island Southeast Asia spanning ~3000 years. Oral microbiome DNA preservation in calculus is far higher than that of human DNA in archaeological bone, and comparable to that of calculus from temperate regions. Oral microbial community composition is minimally driven by time period and geography in Pacific and Island Southeast Asia calculus, but is found to be distinctive compared to calculus from Europe, Africa, and Asia. Phylogenies of individual bacterial species in Pacific and Island Southeast Asia calculus reflect geography. Archaeological dental calculus shows good preservation in tropical regions and the potential to yield information about past human migrations, complementing studies of the human genome.



Archeological site and Epigravettian human remains
A Topographic map (geospatial data was downloaded using the giscoR package in R) of Italy where the location of the Riparo Tagliente site is indicated with a black dot; (B) Photograph of the rock shelter entrance; (C) Human hemimandible Tagliente 2; (D) Human burial Tagliente 1.
Direct dating
Newly generated radiocarbon date for Tagliente 1 (MAMS 62622.1.1) in red and published radiocarbon dates for Tagliente 2 (MAMS-27188)⁵ and for Tagliente 1 (OxA-10672)⁶ in gray with shorter and longer intervals representing 1σ and 2σ calibration ranges in years before present (cal BP), respectively.
Stable isotopes
Isotopic values of carbon and nitrogen isotopes (δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N) from the collagen of Epigravettian human and/or animal remains from Riparo Tagliente (RT) in northern Italy, Grotta del Romito (GR) in southern Italy, and Šandlja II (SD) in Croatia.
Genetic relatedness and affinity
A Pairwise Mismatch Rate (PMR) between Tagliente 1 and other Italian hunter-gatherers carrying “Villabruna” ancestry or Tagliente 2 only. In the box plot the orange line describes the PMR median and box limits the upper and lower quartiles (n = 10). B Pairwise f3-outgroup statistics between Tagliente 1 and other Italian hunter-gatherers associated with the “Villabruna” ancestry (Mbuti used as outgroup). Error bars represent one standard error.
Biomolecular analysis of the Epigravettian human remains from Riparo Tagliente in northern Italy

October 2024

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234 Reads

Communications Biology

The Epigravettian human remains from Riparo Tagliente in northern Italy represent some of the earliest evidence of human occupation in the southern Alpine slopes after the Last Glacial Maximum. Genomic analyses of the 17,000-year-old Tagliente 2 mandible revealed the oldest presence of a genetic profile with affinities to the Near East in the Italian peninsula, which later became the most widespread hunter-gatherer ancestry across Europe. However, a comparable biomolecular characterization of the Tagliente 1 burial remains unavailable, preventing us from defining its biological relationships with Tagliente 2. Here, we apply paleogenomic, isotopic, and radiocarbon dating analyses on a femur fragment of Tagliente 1 and compare the reconstructed data with previously reported results from Tagliente 2. Despite their different isotopic signatures and non-overlapping radiocarbon dates, we reveal that the two human remains belong to the same male individual. We determine that the distinct isotopic values can be explained by different dietary practices during lifetime, whereas the non-overlapping radiocarbon dates can be caused by minimal radiocarbon contamination, possibly deriving from chemical treatments for conservation purposes. These findings highlight the importance of interdisciplinary biomolecular studies in offering new perspectives on the Palaeolithic fossil record and addressing long-standing bioarchaeological questions.


The rise and transformation of Bronze Age pastoralists in the Caucasus

October 2024

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733 Reads

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1 Citation

Nature

The Caucasus and surrounding areas, with their rich metal resources, became a crucible of the Bronze Age¹ and the birthplace of the earliest steppe pastoralist societies². Yet, despite this region having a large influence on the subsequent development of Europe and Asia, questions remain regarding its hunter-gatherer past and its formation of expansionist mobile steppe societies3–5. Here we present new genome-wide data for 131 individuals from 38 archaeological sites spanning 6,000 years. We find a strong genetic differentiation between populations north and south of the Caucasus mountains during the Mesolithic, with Eastern hunter-gatherer ancestry4,6 in the north, and a distinct Caucasus hunter-gatherer ancestry⁷ with increasing East Anatolian farmer admixture in the south. During the subsequent Eneolithic period, we observe the formation of the characteristic West Eurasian steppe ancestry and heightened interaction between the mountain and steppe regions, facilitated by technological developments of the Maykop cultural complex⁸. By contrast, the peak of pastoralist activities and territorial expansions during the Early and Middle Bronze Age is characterized by long-term genetic stability. The Late Bronze Age marks another period of gene flow from multiple distinct sources that coincides with a decline of steppe cultures, followed by a transformation and absorption of the steppe ancestry into highland populations.


Life history and ancestry of the late Upper Palaeolithic infant from Grotta delle Mura, Italy

September 2024

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685 Reads

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1 Citation

The biological aspects of infancy within late Upper Palaeolithic populations and the role of southern refugia at the end of the Last Glacial Maximum are not yet fully understood. This study presents a multidisciplinary, high temporal resolution investigation of an Upper Palaeolithic infant from Grotta delle Mura (Apulia, southern Italy) combining palaeogenomics, dental palaeohistology, spatially-resolved geochemical analyses, direct radiocarbon dating, and traditional anthropological studies. The skeletal remains of the infant – Le Mura 1 – were directly dated to 17,320-16,910 cal BP. The results portray a biological history of the infant’s development, early life, health and death (estimated at ~72 weeks). They identify, several phenotypic traits and a potential congenital disease in the infant, the mother’s low mobility during gestation, and a high level of endogamy. Furthermore, the genomic data indicates an early spread of the Villabruna-like components along the Italian peninsula, confirming a population turnover around the time of the Last Glacial Maximum, and highlighting a general reduction in genetic variability from northern to southern Italy. Overall, Le Mura 1 contributes to our better understanding of the early stages of life and the genetic puzzle in the Italian peninsula at the end of the Last Glacial Maximum.


The role of emerging elites in the formation and development of communities after the fall of the Roman Empire

August 2024

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356 Reads

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Elites played a pivotal role in the formation of post-Roman Europe on both macro- and microlevels during the Early Medieval period. History and archaeology have long focused on their description and identification based on written sources or through their archaeological record. We provide a different perspective on this topic by integrating paleogenomic, archaeological, and isotopic data to gain insights into the role of one such elite group in a Langobard period community near Collegno, Italy dated to the 6-8th centuries CE. Our analysis of 28 newly sequenced genomes together with 24 previously published ones combined with isotope (Sr, C, N) measurements revealed that this community was established by and organized around a network of biologically and socially related individuals likely composed of multiple elite families that over time developed into a single extended pedigree. The community also included individuals with diverse genetic ancestries, maintaining its diversity by integrating newcomers and groups in later stages of its existence. This study highlights how shifts in political power and migration impacted the formation and development of a small rural community within a key region of the former Western Roman Empire after its dissolution and the emergence of a new kingdom. Furthermore, it suggests that Early Medieval elites had the capacity to incorporate individuals from varied backgrounds and that these elites were the result of (political) agency rather than belonging to biologically homogeneous groups.


Ancient Plasmodium genomes shed light on the history of human malaria

June 2024

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747 Reads

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8 Citations

Nature

Malaria-causing protozoa of the genus Plasmodium have exerted one of the strongest selective pressures on the human genome, and resistance alleles provide biomolecular footprints that outline the historical reach of these species¹. Nevertheless, debate persists over when and how malaria parasites emerged as human pathogens and spread around the globe1,2. To address these questions, we generated high-coverage ancient mitochondrial and nuclear genome-wide data from P. falciparum, P. vivax and P. malariae from 16 countries spanning around 5,500 years of human history. We identified P. vivax and P. falciparum across geographically disparate regions of Eurasia from as early as the fourth and first millennia bce, respectively; for P. vivax, this evidence pre-dates textual references by several millennia³. Genomic analysis supports distinct disease histories for P. falciparum and P. vivax in the Americas: similarities between now-eliminated European and peri-contact South American strains indicate that European colonizers were the source of American P. vivax, whereas the trans-Atlantic slave trade probably introduced P. falciparum into the Americas. Our data underscore the role of cross-cultural contacts in the dissemination of malaria, laying the biomolecular foundation for future palaeo-epidemiological research into the impact of Plasmodium parasites on human history. Finally, our unexpected discovery of P. falciparum in the high-altitude Himalayas provides a rare case study in which individual mobility can be inferred from infection status, adding to our knowledge of cross-cultural connectivity in the region nearly three millennia ago.


Fine-scale familial relationships and patterns of individual mobility between early Celtic sites
The map shows the locations of the reported sites in Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany (n = 7). The ellipses and arrows on the map indicate the approximate geographical origin areas and general directions of individual mobility based on new and previously published strontium and oxygen isotope values from 67 individuals³⁷. Supplementary data can be found in Supplementary Fig. 2.8. Additionally, the site plans of Magdalenenberg (MBG), Eberdingen-Hochdorf (HOC) and Asperg-Grafenbühl (APG) are shown, as well as the dates of their respective central burials (red colour at MBG indicates cremation burials). The sex of the sampled individuals, the respective sample IDs (without site prefixes) and detected familial relationships are indicated. Supplementary data can be found in Supplementary Figs. 2.1–2.3 and Supplementary Tables 2.1–2.4.
Latent pedigree model connecting the princely graves of Hochdorf (HOC001) and Asperg (APG001)
a, We analyse several plausible pedigrees connecting the two individuals and compute a posterior probability (shown on the x axis) given priors from genetic, archaeological and anthropological evidence, including, for example, plausible ages for motherhood (Supplementary Note 3). Females are shown as circles and males as squares; HOC001 is shown in red and APG001 in blue. The labels on the x axis correspond to the tested models: (1) HOC001 is the uncle of APG001. (2) HOC001 is the maternal grandfather of APG001, which requires cryptic background relatedness on the mitochondrial lineage. MT, mitochondrial. (3) HOC001 and APG001 are double first cousins. (4) HOC001 is the paternal grandfather of APG001. (5) HOC001 and APG001 are half-siblings. (6) HOC001 is the father of APG001. (7) HOC001 and APG001 are full siblings. (8) APG001 is the uncle of HOC001. (9) APG001 is the father of HOC001. (10) APG001 is the maternal grandfather of HOC001. (11) APG001 is the paternal grandfather of HOC001. An avuncular relationship between the two individuals is the most likely scenario, with 86% posterior weight. b, Marginal posterior distributions obtained using Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling for burial dates (unobserved but constrained by priors), birth dates as well as the birth date of their respective mother are shown as kernel-density smoothed histograms.
Spatial inferences on the origin of Hallstatt individuals
a, MOBEST predictions of the geographic regions where the ancestors of Iron Age individuals (n = 24) from southwestern Germany originated. Shown are the points of maximum probability at search time 0 (the mean date of the respective individual). The symbols and colours correspond to Fig. 1. b, Genetic similarity probability map for MBG004. The filled shape shows the burial location and the black dot the point of maximum probability. c, The same as b for LAN001. d, The same as b for MBG007.
Population genetic affinities across space and time
a, Mean supervised ADMIXTURE components at K = 12 (Supplementary Note 4) aggregated across 5,142 individuals from 342 sites dating between 3,150 and 1,750 years BP. b, P values from generalized-likelihood ratio tests implemented in qpWave for testing genetic similarity between southern German Hallstatt individuals and diverse Bronze and Iron Age populations across Europe. Higher P values correspond to higher genetic similarity. c, Overview about population genetic changes in Germany from the Late Neolithic to the present day. The arrows indicate P values from generalized-likelihood ratio tests in qpWave for genetic continuity between temporally preceding and succeeding groups in northern Germany (Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern; symbols in blue) and southern Germany (Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria; symbols in orange), respectively (Supplementary Fig. 5.6). Discontinuities are explicitly marked as interrupted arrows. The pie charts depict the averaged ancestry composition derived from supervised ADMIXTURE (Supplementary Note 4) for each group used in qpWave analysis. The sources are WBI (Britain and Ireland), CNE (North Sea zone), NOR (Scandinavia), CWE (Western Europe and Iberia), WAS (Northern Levant), NEA (Southern Levant, Arabia and North Africa), BAL (Baltics), FIN (Finland), SAS (South Asia), EAS (East Asia) and NAS (North Asia).
Evidence for dynastic succession among early Celtic elites in Central Europe

June 2024

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822 Reads

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4 Citations

Nature Human Behaviour

The early Iron Age (800 to 450 BCE) in France, Germany and Switzerland, known as the ‘West-Hallstattkreis’, stands out as featuring the earliest evidence for supra-regional organization north of the Alps. Often referred to as ‘early Celtic’, suggesting tentative connections to later cultural phenomena, its societal and population structure remain enigmatic. Here we present genomic and isotope data from 31 individuals from this context in southern Germany, dating between 616 and 200 BCE. We identify multiple biologically related groups spanning three elite burials as far as 100 km apart, supported by trans-regional individual mobility inferred from isotope data. These include a close biological relationship between two of the richest burial mounds of the Hallstatt culture. Bayesian modelling points to an avuncular relationship between the two individuals, which may suggest a practice of matrilineal dynastic succession in early Celtic elites. We show that their ancestry is shared on a broad geographic scale from Iberia throughout Central-Eastern Europe, undergoing a decline after the late Iron Age (450 BCE to ~50 CE).


The location and age of studied ancient individuals from Thailand
Previously published sites are marked in orange8,10, bars denote archaeological age and symbols denote direct calibrated ¹⁴C dates, plotted with ggmap v.4.0.0⁶⁹ and DataGraph v.4.4. The error bars show one standard error. Map tiles by Stamen Design (CC BY 3.0), data by OpenStreetMap (ODbL). Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
Regional and local connectivity of the Log Coffin-associated genomes
a PCA calculated on present-day individuals from East and Southeast Asia8,31–35, individuals from Southeast Asia (SEA) are coloured by language family, ancient individuals are projected7–10,32,36–38, full legend is available in Supplementary Fig. 5. b Admixture proportions modelling Log Coffin culture-associated individuals from northwestern Thailand, including Long Long Rak⁸, and Bronze and Iron Age individuals from Ban Chiang, northeastern Thailand¹⁰ as a combination of ancient Hòabìnhian-⁸, Yellow River-³⁸ and Yangtze River-associated⁹ ancient individuals, plotted values denote the best-fitting proportions as calculated by qpAdm v.1520³⁵, error bars in grey show ± 1 standard error as calculated with block jackknife in qpAdm v.1520³⁵, p-values are printed within the bars, p-values in white indicate an unsatisfactory fit (p < 0.05). c Shared IBD block lengths between newly generated ancient genomes plotted in the geographical location of the respective sites; individuals from Yappa Nhae 2 have been artificially spread out to show within-site connections (Supplementary Data 4), plotted with ggmap v.4.0.0 using map tiles by Stamen Design (CC BY 4.0) and data by OpenStreetMap (ODbL). Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
Differential affinities of ancient and present-day genomes
a Map of mainland Southeast Asia showing the presence (black) and absence (white) of northern East Asian ancestry in ancient individuals7,8,10 (Supplementary Data 5), plotted with ggmap v.4.0.0⁶⁹, map tiles by Stamen Design (CC BY 3.0), data by OpenStreetMap (ODbL); b ADMIXTURE components of ancient and present-day groups from Thailand8,10,31, represented at K = 8, separated by language family (AN = Austronesian, TK = Tai-Kadai; Supplementary Fig. 16). Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
Genomic portrait and relatedness patterns of the Iron Age Log Coffin culture in northwestern Thailand

December 2023

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316 Reads

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4 Citations

The Iron Age of highland Pang Mapha, northwestern Thailand, is characterised by a mortuary practice known as Log Coffin culture. Dating between 2300 and 1000 years ago, large coffins carved from individual teak trees have been discovered in over 40 caves and rock shelters. While previous studies focussed on the cultural development of the Log Coffin-associated sites, the origins of the practice, connections with other wooden coffin-using groups in Southeast Asia, and social structure within the region remain understudied. Here, we present genome-wide data from 33 individuals from five Log Coffin culture sites to study genetic ancestry profiles and genetic interconnectedness. The Log Coffin-associated genomes can be modelled as an admixture between Hòabìnhian hunter-gatherer-, Yangtze River farmer-, and Yellow River farmer-related ancestry. This indicates different influence spheres from Bronze and Iron Age individuals from northeastern Thailand as reflected by cultural practices. Our analyses also identify close genetic relationships within the sites and more distant connections between sites in the same and different river valleys. In combination with high mitochondrial haplogroup diversity and genome-wide homogeneity, the Log Coffin-associated groups from northwestern Thailand seem to have been a large, well-connected community, where genetic relatedness played a significant role in the mortuary ritual.


Citations (47)


... Recently, Sümer et al. (2024) sequenced six ancient humans from ~45,000-year-old remains from Germany and calculated their interbreeding with Neanderthals using IBD. During this time (60,000-43,000), Neanderthals were the predominant human species in Europe (Richter 2016), so it was expected that this group would have experienced multiple interbreeding events, as the authors noted. ...

Reference:

Unexpected D-tour Ahead: Why the D-Statistic, applied to Humans, Measures Mutation Rate Variation not Neanderthal Introgression
Earliest modern human genomes constrain timing of Neanderthal admixture

Nature

... 14, 15). In ancient dental calculus and modern non-industrial plaque samples where Sanguinis was the dominant clade, S. sinensis was the most abundant Sanguinis clade species (282/361-78%, Fig. 6A, and 32/67-48%, Fig. 6B, respectively), which was unexpected given that we had previously noted that S. sanguinis is the most abundant Sanguinis clade species in these samples 6,7,10,12,20 . In the ancient dental calculus samples in which the Anginosus clade had higher relative abundance, S. constellatus was the most abundant species in this clade (97/109, 89%). ...

Exploring the potential of dental calculus to shed light on past human migrations in Oceania

... Furthermore, tooth enamel is considered largely resistant to diagenetic alterations (i. e., post-burial elemental uptake Kohn et al., 1999;Chiaradia et al., 2003;Hoppe et al., 2003;Bentley, 2006;Montgomery, 2010) over both archaeological (e.g., Budd et al., 2000;Nielsen-Marsh and Hedges, 2000;Price et al., 2002;Trickett et al., 2003;Montgomery, 2010;Montgomery et al., 2010;Madgwick et al., 2012) and geological timescales (e.g., Bocherens et al., 1994;Horn et al., 1994;Michel et al., 1996), although complete resistance to diagenesis cannot be unconditionally assured Kubat et al., 2023;Kowalik et al., 2023;Higgins et al., 2024). ...

Life history and ancestry of the late Upper Palaeolithic infant from Grotta delle Mura, Italy

... In each of these cases, the sources indicate a pathogen with a strong spatial (swamps and marshes) and temporal (after the rise of Sirius-the Dog Star-in late July) character, coupled with specific symptoms (intermittent fevers, head and body aches, anemic hair loss) that altogether suggests some form of malaria as the underlying culprit. Malaria species existed in various parts of the Mediterranean basin as early as the third millennium BCE, and while there is much written evidence of endemic malaria impacting various lowland regions of the Mediterranean from classical antiquity onward, evidence for long-term continuity remains wanting (Grmek 1989;Sallares 2002;Michel et al. 2024;Snowden 2006, pp. 7-27). ...

Ancient Plasmodium genomes shed light on the history of human malaria

Nature

... It is possible that the pervasive matrilocal traditions of Iron Age Britain were also introduced from the continent, but, notably, reduced mtDNA diversity is pronounced in our peripheral populations ( Fig. 2 and Extended Data Fig. 1). Matrilineal succession has previously been proposed for continental Celtic societies, on the basis of the discovery of a likely avuncular relationship between two 'princely' burials of the Hallstatt elites in Central Europe 43 . Matrilineal institutions may also have been present in the British Iron Age, given that social units based on unilineal descent are common in large agricultural societies that practise unilocal residence 4 . ...

Evidence for dynastic succession among early Celtic elites in Central Europe

Nature Human Behaviour

... We utilized the "bmerge" function in PLINK version 1.90b5.2 to combine our newly genotyped Palaungicspeaking data with genome-wide SNP data obtained from modern and ancient populations in East and Southeast Asia, as well as to combine reference populations like the Mbuti and French from the Allen Ancient DNA Resource (AADR) version 54.1 [16]. Additionally, we incorporated data obtained from previous studies [12,[17][18][19][20][21][22]. We then assessed the data quality using PLINK version 1.90b5.2 ...

Genomic portrait and relatedness patterns of the Iron Age Log Coffin culture in northwestern Thailand

... The new findings and their implications to the late stage of human evolution have been explored by different studies recently, all dedicated to some extent to understanding the trajectory of human evolution from the Chibanian to the present, focusing on specific topics like the origins of our species Mirazón Lahr, 2016, 2019), the evolution of the human brain (Neubauer et al., 2018;Beaudet et al., 2022), and the recent discussions about how to classify and contextualize the relationship among the fossils that are known from the period (Roksandic et al., 2022;Bae et al., 2023). These studies showcase at the same time the importance of the topic within paleoanthropology, and demonstrate how the field is far from having established a working paradigm for the later periods of the evolution of the hominin lineage. ...

Moving away from "the Muddle in the Middle" toward solving the Chibanian puzzle

Evolutionary Anthropology Issues News and Reviews

... Dioscorea pentaphylla (five-fingered yam), all C3 photosynthetic pathway plants. Analysis of micro particles preserved in human dental calculus of recent individuals from Futuna island indicates the presence of starch granules attributable to several root and tree crops including Polynesian Tacca leontopetaloides (arrow root) and Zea mays (corn) (Velsko et al., 2024). Islanders have also raised domestic chicken and pigs, hunted wild fauna, and exploited surrounding marine resources (Flexner et al. 2019b;Garabedian, 2018;Sarvanu, 2019). ...

Exploring archaeogenetic studies of dental calculus to shed light on past human migrations in Oceania

... Talvez, essa região tenha sido ocupada de maneira fugaz, ou tardiamente; cabe lembrar a presença de um considerável adensamento de sítios Umbu na região nesse mesmo período. Um estudo recente sugere que a ocupação Je no litoral meridional catarinense é proveniente do litoral setentrional, e não do planalto (Ferraz et al., 2023). Se assim for, a área da encosta pode mesmo ter desempenhado um papel periférico nos padrões de territorialidade Je do Sul em época pré-colonial, com grupos distintos no planalto e no litoral. ...

Genomic history of coastal societies from eastern South America

Nature Ecology & Evolution

... Besides these large scale accounts, there are also studies of individual biographies of violence or the so-called mass finds with traumata (e.g. Sparacello et al. 2023;Schroeder et al. 2019;Furholt et al. 2023). Moreover, in order to get a clearer picture on how and what kind of violence was performed in different periods (feud, war, ritual), non-anthropological parameters such as the frequency of fortifications or weaponry, are increasingly being taken into account (Kneisel et al. 2024). ...

A history of violence in the Mesolithic female skeleton from Mezzocorona-Borgonuovo (Trento, northeastern Italy)
  • Citing Article
  • July 2023

Quaternary Science Reviews