Mesolithic central/eastern Mediterranean was already "Neolithic farmer"-like

[nightrider+]

At least this is what this new paper hints at and I don't think it's that surprising.

Important gaps remain in our understanding of the spread of farming into Europe, due partly to apparent contradictions between studies of contemporary genetic variation and ancient DNA. It seems clear that farming was introduced into central, northern, and eastern Europe from the south by pioneer colonization. It is often argued that these dispersals originated in the Near East, where the potential source genetic pool resembles that of the early European farmers, but clear ancient DNA evidence from Mediterranean Europe is lacking, and there are suggestions that Mediterranean Europe may have resembled the Near East more than the rest of Europe in the Mesolithic. Here, we test this proposal by dating mitogenome founder lineages from the Near East in different regions of Europe. We find that whereas the lineages date mainly to the Neolithic in central Europe and Iberia, they largely date to the Late Glacial period in central/eastern Mediterranean Europe. This supports a scenario in which the genetic pool of Mediterranean Europe was partly a result of Late Glacial expansions from a Near Eastern refuge, and that this formed an important source pool for subsequent Neolithic expansions into the rest of Europe.

http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.o.../1851/20161976

[XenophobicPrussian]

Not central, there's already a full WHG in far southern Italy from the SEE paper. Greece, most likely. They already have some mtDNA from mesolithic Greece, not typical to WHGs.

[Sikeliot]

"Neolithic farmer" meaning Sardinian-like?

[nightrider+]

Not central, there's already a full WHG in far southern Italy from the SEE paper. Greece, most likely. They already have some mtDNA from mesolithic Greece, not typical to WHGs.

Like I said in the other thread, it could have been different populations co-existing (the Grotta d'Oriente sample are from far northwest Sicily), it could have been right before or during the transition, there are many possibilities, especially since we don't have exact dates. This paper clearly states "central Mediterranean" too. If it's not Sicily, it's Calabria or something, can't be anything else.

"Neolithic farmer" meaning Sardinian-like?

Sardinians are very WHG shifted compared to early Anatolian/Greek farmers, how many times does this need to be said?

[Kelmendasi]

Like I said in the other thread, it could have been different populations co-existing (the Grotta d'Oriente sample are from far northwest), it could have been right before or during the transition, there are many possibilities, especially since we don't have exact dates. This paper clearly states "central Mediterranean". If it's not Sicily, it's Calabria or something, can't be anything else.



Sardinians are very WHG shifted compared to early Anatolian/Greek farmers, how many times does this need to be said?

Exactly, people keep on forgetting that the Sardinians have a good amount of WHG and that the "Sardinian-Like" component contains WHG as well as Neolithic