Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 11 November 2005:
Vol. 310. no. 5750, pp. 1016 - 1018
DOI: 10.1126/science.1118725
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Ancient DNA from the First European Farmers in 7500-Year-Old Neolithic Sites

Wolfgang Haak,1* Peter Forster,2 Barbara Bramanti,1 Shuichi Matsumura,2 Guido Brandt,1 Marc Tänzer,1 Richard Villems,3 Colin Renfrew,2 Detlef Gronenborn,4 Kurt Werner Alt,1 Joachim Burger1

The ancestry of modern Europeans is a subject of debate among geneticists, archaeologists, and anthropologists. A crucial question is the extent to which Europeans are descended from the first European farmers in the Neolithic Age 7500 years ago or from Paleolithic hunter-gatherers who were present in Europe since 40,000 years ago. Here we present an analysis of ancient DNA from early European farmers. We successfully extracted and sequenced intact stretches of maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from 24 out of 57 Neolithic skeletons from various locations in Germany, Austria, and Hungary. We found that 25% of the Neolithic farmers had one characteristic mtDNA type and that this type formerly was widespread among Neolithic farmers in Central Europe. Europeans today have a 150-times lower frequency (0.2%) of this mtDNA type, revealing that these first Neolithic farmers did not have a strong genetic influence on modern European female lineages. Our finding lends weight to a proposed Paleolithic ancestry for modern Europeans.

1 Institut für Anthropologie, Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz, Saarstrasse 21, D-55099 Mainz, Germany.
2 McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3ER, UK.
3 Estonian Biocentre, Tartu University, 23 Riia Str, Tartu, 51010, Estonia.
4 Römisch-Germanisches Zentral-museum, Ernst-Ludwig-Platz 2, D-55116 Mainz, Germany.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed at the Molecular Archaeology Group, Institute of Anthropology, Colonel Kleinmann Weg 2, SBII 02, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz D-55128, Mainz, Germany. E-mail: haakw{at}uni-mainz.de

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Preferential access to genetic information from endogenous hominin ancient DNA and accurate quantitative SNP-typing via SPEX.
P. Brotherton, J. J. Sanchez, A. Cooper, and P. Endicott (2009)
Nucleic Acids Res.
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Genetic Discontinuity Between Local Hunter-Gatherers and Central Europe's First Farmers.
B. Bramanti, M. G. Thomas, W. Haak, M. Unterlaender, P. Jores, K. Tambets, I. Antanaitis-Jacobs, M. N. Haidle, R. Jankauskas, C.-J. Kind, et al. (2009)
Science 326, 137-140
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Genetic identification of putative remains of the famous astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus.
W. Bogdanowicz, M. Allen, W. Branicki, M. Lembring, M. Gajewska, and T. Kupiec (2009)
PNAS 106, 12279-12282
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Ancient DNA, Strontium isotopes, and osteological analyses shed light on social and kinship organization of the Later Stone Age.
W. Haak, G. Brandt, H. N. d. Jong, C. Meyer, R. Ganslmeier, V. Heyd, C. Hawkesworth, A. W. G. Pike, H. Meller, and K. W. Alt (2008)
PNAS 105, 18226-18231
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Y-chromosomal evidence of a pastoralist migration through Tanzania to southern Africa.
B. M. Henn, C. Gignoux, A. A. Lin, P. J. Oefner, P. Shen, R. Scozzari, F. Cruciani, S. A. Tishkoff, J. L. Mountain, and P. A. Underhill (2008)
PNAS 105, 10693-10698
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Ancient human mtDNA genotypes from England reveal lost variation over the last millennium.
A.L Topf, M.T.P Gilbert, R.C Fleischer, and A.R Hoelzel (2007)
Biol Lett 3, 550-553
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Novel high-resolution characterization of ancient DNA reveals C > U-type base modification events as the sole cause of post mortem miscoding lesions.
P. Brotherton, P. Endicott, J. J. Sanchez, M. Beaumont, R. Barnett, J. Austin, and A. Cooper (2007)
Nucleic Acids Res. 35, 5717-5728
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
From the Cover: Ancient DNA, pig domestication, and the spread of the Neolithic into Europe.
G. Larson, U. Albarella, K. Dobney, P. Rowley-Conwy, J. Schibler, A. Tresset, J.-D. Vigne, C. J. Edwards, A. Schlumbaum, A. Dinu, et al. (2007)
PNAS 104, 15276-15281
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Palaeogenetic evidence supports a dual model of Neolithic spreading into Europe.
M.L Sampietro, O Lao, D Caramelli, M Lari, R Pou, M Marti, J Bertranpetit, and C Lalueza-Fox (2007)
Proc R Soc B 274, 2161-2167
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
From the Cover: Cultural hitchhiking on the wave of advance of beneficial technologies.
G. J. Ackland, M. Signitzer, K. Stratford, and M. H. Cohen (2007)
PNAS 104, 8714-8719
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The mystery of Etruscan origins: novel clues from Bos taurus mitochondrial DNA.
M. Pellecchia, R. Negrini, L. Colli, M. Patrini, E. Milanesi, A. Achilli, G. Bertorelle, L. L Cavalli-Sforza, A. Piazza, A. Torroni, et al. (2007)
Proc R Soc B 274, 1175-1179
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
More on Contamination: The Use of Asymmetric Molecular Behavior to Identify Authentic Ancient Human DNA.
H. Malmstrom, E. M. Svensson, M. T. P. Gilbert, E. Willerslev, A. Gotherstrom, and G. Holmlund (2007)
Mol. Biol. Evol. 24, 998-1004
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Absence of the lactase-persistence-associated allele in early Neolithic Europeans.
J. Burger, M. Kirchner, B. Bramanti, W. Haak, and M. G. Thomas (2007)
PNAS 104, 3736-3741
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Origin and Expansion of Haplogroup H, the Dominant Human Mitochondrial DNA Lineage in West Eurasia: The Near Eastern and Caucasian Perspective.
U Roostalu, I Kutuev, E-L Loogvali, E Metspalu, K Tambets, M Reidla, E. Khusnutdinova, E Usanga, T Kivisild, and R Villems (2007)
Mol. Biol. Evol. 24, 436-448
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Origins and evolution of the Europeans' genome: evidence from multiple microsatellite loci.
E. M.S Belle, P.-A. Landry, and G. Barbujani (2006)
Proc R Soc B 273, 1595-1602
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Comment on "Ancient DNA from the First European Farmers in 7500-Year-Old Neolithic Sites".
A. J. Ammerman, R. Pinhasi, and E. Banffy (2006)
Science 312, 1875a
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Response to Comment on "Ancient DNA from the First European Farmers in 7500-Year-Old Neolithic Sites".
J. Burger, D. Gronenborn, P. Forster, S. Matsumura, B. Bramanti, and W. Haak (2006)
Science 312, 1875b
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)