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September 30, 2016.
"Familial migration of the Neolithic contrasts massive male migration during Bronze Age in Europe inferred from ancient X chromosomes"
http://www.biorxiv.org/content/biorx...78360.full.pdfDramatic events in human prehistory, such as the spread of agriculture to Europe from
Anatolia and the Late Neolithic/Bronze Age (LNBA) migration from the Pontic-Caspian steppe,
can be investigated using patterns of genetic variation among the people that lived in those times.
In particular, studies of differing female and male demographic histories on the basis of ancient
genomes can provide information about complexities of social structures and cultural
interactions in prehistoric populations. We use a mechanistic admixture model to compare the
sex-specifically-inherited X chromosome to the autosomes in 20 early Neolithic and 16 LNBA
human remains. Contrary to previous hypotheses suggested by the patrilocality of many
agricultural populations, we find no evidence of sex-biased admixture during the migration that
spread farming across Europe during the early Neolithic. For later migrations from the Pontic
steppe during the LNBA, however, we estimate a dramatic male bias, with ~5-14 migrating
males for every migrating female. We find evidence of ongoing, primarily male, migration from
the steppe to central Europe over a period of multiple generations, with a level of sex bias that
excludes a pulse migration during a single generation. The contrasting patterns of sex-specific
migration during these two migrations suggest a view of differing cultural histories in which the
Neolithic transition was driven by mass migration of both males and females in roughly equal
numbers, perhaps whole families, whereas the later Bronze Age migration and cultural shift were
instead driven by male migration, potentially connected to new technology and conquest.
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