Evolutionary biology

Biology

Physical geography

Glacial period

Paleontology

Geography

Ice age

Nature

Modern humans arrived in Europe ~45,000 years ago, but little is known about their genetic composition before the start of farming ~8,500 years ago. Here we analyse genome-wide data from 51 Eurasians from ~45,000–7,000 years ago. Over this time, the proportion of Neanderthal DNA decreased from 3–6% to around 2%, consistent with natural selection against Neanderthal variants in modern humans. Whereas there is no evidence of the earliest modern humans in Europe contributing to the genetic composition of present-day Europeans, all individuals between ~37,000 and ~14,000 years ago descended from a single founder population which forms part of the ancestry of present-day Europeans. An ~35,000-year-old individual from northwest Europe represents an early branch of this founder population which was then displaced across a broad region, before reappearing in southwest Europe at the height of the last Ice Age ~19,000 years ago. During the major warming period after ~14,000 years ago, a genetic component related to present-day Near Easterners became widespread in Europe. These results document how population turnover and migration have been recurring themes of European prehistory. Analysis of ancient genomic data of 51 humans from Eurasia dating from 45,000 to 7,000 years ago provides insight into the population history of pre-Neolithic Europe and support for recurring migration and population turnover in Europe during this period. David Reich, Svante Pääbo and colleagues analyse ancient genomic data from 51 Eurasian humans who lived between 45,000 and 7,000 years ago. The data provide the most comprehensive view to date of the population history of pre-Neolithic Europe, and provide support for recurring migration and population turnover in European populations during this period. Neanderthal ancestry has reduced during the past 45,000 years from 3–6% to the present day value of around 2%.

The genetic history of Ice Age Europe