The maternal genetic make-up of the Iberian Peninsula between the Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age.
Anna Szécsényi-NagyChristina RothGuido BrandtCristina Rihuete-HerradaCristina Tejedor-RodríguezPetra HeldÍñigo García-Martínez-de-LagránHéctor Arcusa MagallónStephanie ZeschCorina KnipperEszter BánffySusanne FriederichHarald MellerPrimitiva Bueno RamírezRosa Barroso BermejoRodrigo de Balbín BehrmannAna M Herrero-CorralRaúl Flores FernándezCarmen Alonso FernándezJavier Jiménez EchevarriaLaura RindlisbacherCamila OliartMaría-Inés FregeiroIgnacio SorianoOriol VicenteRafael MicóVicente LullJorge Soler DíazJuan Antonio López PadillaConsuelo Roca de Togores MuñozMauro S Hernández PérezFrancisco Javier Jover MaestreJoaquín Lomba MaurandiAzucena Avilés FernándezKatina T LilliosAna Maria SilvaMiguel Magalhães RamalhoLuiz Miguel OosterbeekClaudia CunhaAnna J WatermanJordi Roig BuxóAndrés MartínezJuana Ponce MartínezMark Hunt OrtizJuan Carlos Mejías-GarcíaJuan Carlos Pecero EspínRosario Cruz-Auñón BrionesTiago ToméEduardo Carmona BallesteroJoão Luís CardosoAna Cristina AraújoCorina Liesau von Lettow-VorbeckConcepción Blasco BosquedPatricia Ríos MendozaAna PujanteJosé I Royo-GuillénMarco Aurelio Esquembre BeviáVictor Manuel Dos Santos GoncalvesRui ParreiraElena Morán HernándezElena Méndez IzquierdoJorge Vega Y MiguelRoberto Menduiña GarcíaVictoria Martínez CalvoOscar López JiménezJohannes KrauseSandra L PichlerRafael Garrido-PenaMichael KunstRoberto RischManuel A Rojo-GuerraWolfgang HaakKurt W AltPublished in: Scientific reports (2017)
Agriculture first reached the Iberian Peninsula around 5700 BCE. However, little is known about the genetic structure and changes of prehistoric populations in different geographic areas of Iberia. In our study, we focus on the maternal genetic makeup of the Neolithic (~ 5500-3000 BCE), Chalcolithic (~ 3000-2200 BCE) and Early Bronze Age (~ 2200-1500 BCE). We report ancient mitochondrial DNA results of 213 individuals (151 HVS-I sequences) from the northeast, central, southeast and southwest regions and thus on the largest archaeogenetic dataset from the Peninsula to date. Similar to other parts of Europe, we observe a discontinuity between hunter-gatherers and the first farmers of the Neolithic. During the subsequent periods, we detect regional continuity of Early Neolithic lineages across Iberia, however the genetic contribution of hunter-gatherers is generally higher than in other parts of Europe and varies regionally. In contrast to ancient DNA findings from Central Europe, we do not observe a major turnover in the mtDNA record of the Iberian Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age, suggesting that the population history of the Iberian Peninsula is distinct in character.