iScience (May 2022)
Genomic and dietary discontinuities during the Mesolithic and Neolithic in Sicily
- He Yu,
- Marieke S. van de Loosdrecht,
- Marcello A. Mannino,
- Sahra Talamo,
- Adam B. Rohrlach,
- Ainash Childebayeva,
- Vanessa Villalba-Mouco,
- Franziska Aron,
- Guido Brandt,
- Marta Burri,
- Cäcilia Freund,
- Rita Radzeviciute,
- Raphaela Stahl,
- Antje Wissgott,
- Helen Fewlass,
- Antonio Tagliacozzo,
- Marcello Piperno,
- Sebastiano Tusa,
- Carmine Collina,
- Vittoria Schimmenti,
- Rosaria Di Salvo,
- Kay Prüfer,
- Cosimo Posth,
- Jean-Jacques Hublin,
- Detlef Gronenborn,
- Didier Binder,
- Choongwon Jeong,
- Wolfgang Haak,
- Johannes Krause
Affiliations
- He Yu
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (MPI-SHH), Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany; Corresponding author
- Marieke S. van de Loosdrecht
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (MPI-SHH), Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
- Marcello A. Mannino
- Department of Archeology and Heritage Studies, Aarhus University, Moesgård Allé 20, 8270 Højbjerg, Denmark; Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (MPI-EVA), Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; Corresponding author
- Sahra Talamo
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (MPI-EVA), Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; Department of Chemistry G. Ciamician, Alma Mater Studiorum, Bologna University, Via Selmi 2, 40126 Bologna, Italy
- Adam B. Rohrlach
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (MPI-SHH), Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany; ARC Centre of Excellence for Mathematical and Statistical Frontiers, School of Mathematical Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia
- Ainash Childebayeva
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (MPI-SHH), Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
- Vanessa Villalba-Mouco
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (MPI-SHH), Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany; Institute of Evolutionary Biology, CSIC-Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
- Franziska Aron
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (MPI-SHH), Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
- Guido Brandt
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (MPI-SHH), Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
- Marta Burri
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (MPI-SHH), Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
- Cäcilia Freund
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (MPI-SHH), Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
- Rita Radzeviciute
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (MPI-SHH), Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
- Raphaela Stahl
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (MPI-SHH), Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
- Antje Wissgott
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (MPI-SHH), Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
- Helen Fewlass
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (MPI-EVA), Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
- Antonio Tagliacozzo
- Service of Bioarchaeology Museo delle Civiltà, Museo Preistorico Etnografico “Luigi Pigorini”, P.le G. Marconi 14, Rome, Italy
- Marcello Piperno
- Department of Ancient World Studies, Sapienza University of Rome, Via Palestro 63, 00185 Rome, Italy
- Sebastiano Tusa
- Soprintendenza del Mare, Via Lungarini 9, 90133 Palermo, Italy
- Carmine Collina
- Museo Civico Biagio Greco, Via Genova 2, 81034 Mondragone (Caserta), Italy
- Vittoria Schimmenti
- Museo Archeologico Regionale “Antonino Salinas”, Via Bara all’Olivella 24, 90133 Palermo, Italy
- Rosaria Di Salvo
- Collège de France, 11 Place Marcellin Berthelot, 75005 Paris, France
- Kay Prüfer
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (MPI-SHH), Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany; Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (MPI-EVA), Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
- Cosimo Posth
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (MPI-SHH), Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany; Institute for Archaeological Sciences, Archaeo- and Palaeogenetics, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany; Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment, University of Tübingen, Tübingen 72074, Germany
- Jean-Jacques Hublin
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (MPI-EVA), Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; Collège de France, 11 Place Marcellin Berthelot, 75005 Paris, France
- Detlef Gronenborn
- Leibniz Research Institute for Archaeology (Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum) Ernst-Ludwig-Platz 2, 55116 Mainz, Germany
- Didier Binder
- Université Côte d’Azur, CNRS, CEPAM, 06300 Nice, France
- Choongwon Jeong
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (MPI-SHH), Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany; School of Biological Sciences, Seoul National University, 1 Gwanak-ro, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea
- Wolfgang Haak
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (MPI-SHH), Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
- Johannes Krause
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (MPI-SHH), Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany; Corresponding author
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 25,
no. 5
p. 104244
Abstract
Summary: Sicily is a key region for understanding the agricultural transition in the Mediterranean because of its central position. Here, we present genomic and stable isotopic data for 19 prehistoric Sicilians covering the Mesolithic to Bronze Age periods (10,700–4,100 yBP). We find that Early Mesolithic hunter-gatherers (HGs) from Sicily are a highly drifted lineage of the Early Holocene western European HGs, whereas Late Mesolithic HGs carry ∼20% ancestry related to northern and (south) eastern European HGs, indicating substantial gene flow. Early Neolithic farmers are genetically most similar to farmers from the Balkans and Greece, with only ∼7% of ancestry from local Mesolithic HGs. The genetic discontinuities during the Mesolithic and Early Neolithic match the changes in material culture and diet. Three outlying individuals dated to ∼8,000 yBP; however, suggest that hunter-gatherers interacted with incoming farmers at Grotta dell’Uzzo, resulting in a mixed economy and diet for a brief interlude at the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition.
