Early contact between late farming and pastoralist societies in southeastern Europe

Sandra Penske; Adam B. Rohrlach; Ainash Childebayeva; Guido Gnecchi-Ruscone; Clemens Schmid; Maria A. Spyrou; Gunnar U. Neumann; Nadezhda Atanassova; Katrin Beutler; Kamen Boyadzhiev; Yavor Boyadzhiev; Igor Bruyako; Alexander Chohadzhiev; Blagoje Govedarica; Mehmet Karaucak; Raiko Krauss; Maleen Leppek; Igor Manzura; Karen Privat; Shawn Ross; Vladimir Slavchev; Adéla Sobotkova; Meda Toderaş; Todor Valchev; Harald Ringbauer; Philipp W. Stockhammer; Svend Hansen; Johannes Krause; Wolfgang Haak

doi:10.1038/s41586-023-06334-8

Early contact between late farming and pastoralist societies in southeastern Europe

Sandra Penske^*, Adam B. Rohrlach, Ainash Childebayeva, Guido Gnecchi-Ruscone, Clemens Schmid, Maria A. Spyrou, Gunnar U. Neumann, Nadezhda Atanassova, Katrin Beutler, Kamen Boyadzhiev, Yavor Boyadzhiev, Igor Bruyako, Alexander Chohadzhiev, Blagoje Govedarica, Mehmet Karaucak, Raiko Krauss, Maleen Leppek, Igor Manzura, Karen Privat, Shawn RossVladimir Slavchev, Adéla Sobotkova, Meda Toderaş, Todor Valchev, Harald Ringbauer, Philipp W. Stockhammer, Svend Hansen, Johannes Krause, Wolfgang Haak^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Culture and Society - History, subject

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review

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Abstract

Archaeogenetic studies have described two main genetic turnover events in prehistoric western Eurasia: one associated with the spread of farming and a sedentary lifestyle starting around 7000–6000 bc (refs. ^1–3) and a second with the expansion of pastoralist groups from the Eurasian steppes starting around 3300 bc (refs. ^4,5). The period between these events saw new economies emerging on the basis of key innovations, including metallurgy, wheel and wagon and horse domestication^6–9. However, what happened between the demise of the Copper Age settlements around 4250 bc and the expansion of pastoralists remains poorly understood. To address this question, we analysed genome-wide data from 135 ancient individuals from the contact zone between southeastern Europe and the northwestern Black Sea region spanning this critical time period. While we observe genetic continuity between Neolithic and Copper Age groups from major sites in the same region, from around 4500 bc on, groups from the northwestern Black Sea region carried varying amounts of mixed ancestries derived from Copper Age groups and those from the forest/steppe zones, indicating genetic and cultural contact over a period of around 1,000 years earlier than anticipated. We propose that the transfer of critical innovations between farmers and transitional foragers/herders from different ecogeographic zones during this early contact was integral to the formation, rise and expansion of pastoralist groups around 3300 bc.

Original language	English
Journal	Nature
Volume	620
Issue	7973
Pages (from-to)	358-365
Number of pages	8
ISSN	0028-0836
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06334-8
Publication status	Published - Aug 2023

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Early contact between late farming and pastoralist societies in southeastern EuropeFinal published version, 12.4 MBLicence: CC BY

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Penske, S., Rohrlach, A. B., Childebayeva, A., Gnecchi-Ruscone, G., Schmid, C., Spyrou, M. A., Neumann, G. U., Atanassova, N., Beutler, K., Boyadzhiev, K., Boyadzhiev, Y., Bruyako, I., Chohadzhiev, A., Govedarica, B., Karaucak, M., Krauss, R., Leppek, M., Manzura, I., Privat, K., ... Haak, W. (2023). Early contact between late farming and pastoralist societies in southeastern Europe. Nature, 620(7973), 358-365. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06334-8

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title = "Early contact between late farming and pastoralist societies in southeastern Europe",

abstract = "Archaeogenetic studies have described two main genetic turnover events in prehistoric western Eurasia: one associated with the spread of farming and a sedentary lifestyle starting around 7000–6000 bc (refs. 1–3) and a second with the expansion of pastoralist groups from the Eurasian steppes starting around 3300 bc (refs. 4,5). The period between these events saw new economies emerging on the basis of key innovations, including metallurgy, wheel and wagon and horse domestication 6–9. However, what happened between the demise of the Copper Age settlements around 4250 bc and the expansion of pastoralists remains poorly understood. To address this question, we analysed genome-wide data from 135 ancient individuals from the contact zone between southeastern Europe and the northwestern Black Sea region spanning this critical time period. While we observe genetic continuity between Neolithic and Copper Age groups from major sites in the same region, from around 4500 bc on, groups from the northwestern Black Sea region carried varying amounts of mixed ancestries derived from Copper Age groups and those from the forest/steppe zones, indicating genetic and cultural contact over a period of around 1,000 years earlier than anticipated. We propose that the transfer of critical innovations between farmers and transitional foragers/herders from different ecogeographic zones during this early contact was integral to the formation, rise and expansion of pastoralist groups around 3300 bc.",

author = "Sandra Penske and Rohrlach, {Adam B.} and Ainash Childebayeva and Guido Gnecchi-Ruscone and Clemens Schmid and Spyrou, {Maria A.} and Neumann, {Gunnar U.} and Nadezhda Atanassova and Katrin Beutler and Kamen Boyadzhiev and Yavor Boyadzhiev and Igor Bruyako and Alexander Chohadzhiev and Blagoje Govedarica and Mehmet Karaucak and Raiko Krauss and Maleen Leppek and Igor Manzura and Karen Privat and Shawn Ross and Vladimir Slavchev and Ad{\'e}la Sobotkova and Meda Todera{\c s} and Todor Valchev and Harald Ringbauer and Stockhammer, {Philipp W.} and Svend Hansen and Johannes Krause and Wolfgang Haak",

year = "2023",

month = aug,

doi = "10.1038/s41586-023-06334-8",

language = "English",

volume = "620",

pages = "358--365",

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issn = "0028-0836",

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Penske, S, Rohrlach, AB, Childebayeva, A, Gnecchi-Ruscone, G, Schmid, C, Spyrou, MA, Neumann, GU, Atanassova, N, Beutler, K, Boyadzhiev, K, Boyadzhiev, Y, Bruyako, I, Chohadzhiev, A, Govedarica, B, Karaucak, M, Krauss, R, Leppek, M, Manzura, I, Privat, K, Ross, S, Slavchev, V, Sobotkova, A, Toderaş, M, Valchev, T, Ringbauer, H, Stockhammer, PW, Hansen, S, Krause, J & Haak, W 2023, 'Early contact between late farming and pastoralist societies in southeastern Europe', Nature, vol. 620, no. 7973, pp. 358-365. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06334-8

TY - JOUR

T1 - Early contact between late farming and pastoralist societies in southeastern Europe

AU - Penske, Sandra

AU - Rohrlach, Adam B.

AU - Childebayeva, Ainash

AU - Gnecchi-Ruscone, Guido

AU - Schmid, Clemens

AU - Spyrou, Maria A.

AU - Neumann, Gunnar U.

AU - Atanassova, Nadezhda

AU - Beutler, Katrin

AU - Boyadzhiev, Kamen

AU - Boyadzhiev, Yavor

AU - Bruyako, Igor

AU - Chohadzhiev, Alexander

AU - Govedarica, Blagoje

AU - Karaucak, Mehmet

AU - Krauss, Raiko

AU - Leppek, Maleen

AU - Manzura, Igor

AU - Privat, Karen

AU - Ross, Shawn

AU - Slavchev, Vladimir

AU - Sobotkova, Adéla

AU - Toderaş, Meda

AU - Valchev, Todor

AU - Ringbauer, Harald

AU - Stockhammer, Philipp W.

AU - Hansen, Svend

AU - Krause, Johannes

AU - Haak, Wolfgang

PY - 2023/8

Y1 - 2023/8

N2 - Archaeogenetic studies have described two main genetic turnover events in prehistoric western Eurasia: one associated with the spread of farming and a sedentary lifestyle starting around 7000–6000 bc (refs. 1–3) and a second with the expansion of pastoralist groups from the Eurasian steppes starting around 3300 bc (refs. 4,5). The period between these events saw new economies emerging on the basis of key innovations, including metallurgy, wheel and wagon and horse domestication 6–9. However, what happened between the demise of the Copper Age settlements around 4250 bc and the expansion of pastoralists remains poorly understood. To address this question, we analysed genome-wide data from 135 ancient individuals from the contact zone between southeastern Europe and the northwestern Black Sea region spanning this critical time period. While we observe genetic continuity between Neolithic and Copper Age groups from major sites in the same region, from around 4500 bc on, groups from the northwestern Black Sea region carried varying amounts of mixed ancestries derived from Copper Age groups and those from the forest/steppe zones, indicating genetic and cultural contact over a period of around 1,000 years earlier than anticipated. We propose that the transfer of critical innovations between farmers and transitional foragers/herders from different ecogeographic zones during this early contact was integral to the formation, rise and expansion of pastoralist groups around 3300 bc.

AB - Archaeogenetic studies have described two main genetic turnover events in prehistoric western Eurasia: one associated with the spread of farming and a sedentary lifestyle starting around 7000–6000 bc (refs. 1–3) and a second with the expansion of pastoralist groups from the Eurasian steppes starting around 3300 bc (refs. 4,5). The period between these events saw new economies emerging on the basis of key innovations, including metallurgy, wheel and wagon and horse domestication 6–9. However, what happened between the demise of the Copper Age settlements around 4250 bc and the expansion of pastoralists remains poorly understood. To address this question, we analysed genome-wide data from 135 ancient individuals from the contact zone between southeastern Europe and the northwestern Black Sea region spanning this critical time period. While we observe genetic continuity between Neolithic and Copper Age groups from major sites in the same region, from around 4500 bc on, groups from the northwestern Black Sea region carried varying amounts of mixed ancestries derived from Copper Age groups and those from the forest/steppe zones, indicating genetic and cultural contact over a period of around 1,000 years earlier than anticipated. We propose that the transfer of critical innovations between farmers and transitional foragers/herders from different ecogeographic zones during this early contact was integral to the formation, rise and expansion of pastoralist groups around 3300 bc.

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U2 - 10.1038/s41586-023-06334-8

DO - 10.1038/s41586-023-06334-8

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 37468624

AN - SCOPUS:85165194722

SN - 0028-0836

VL - 620

SP - 358

EP - 365

JO - Nature

JF - Nature

IS - 7973

ER -

Early contact between late farming and pastoralist societies in southeastern Europe

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