Neolithic Calabria DNA!

[Jovialis]

Bioarchaeological and paleogenomic profiling of the unusual Neolithic burial from Grotta di Pietra Sant’Angelo (Calabria, Italy)

The Neolithic burial of Grotta di Pietra Sant’Angelo (CS) represents a unique archaeological finding for the prehistory of Southern Italy. The unusual placement of the inhumation at a rather high altitude and far from inhabited areas, the lack of funerary equipment and the prone deposition of the body find limited similarities in coeval Italian sites. These elements have prompted wider questions on mortuary customs during the prehistory of Southern Italy. This atypical case requires an interdisciplinary approach aimed to build an integrated bioarchaeological profile of the individual. The paleopathological investigation of the skeletal remains revealed the presence of numerous markers that could be associated with craft activities, suggesting possible interpretations of the individual’s lifestyle. CT analyses, carried out on the maxillary bones, showed the presence of a peculiar type of dental wear, but also a good density of the bone matrix. Biomolecular and micromorphological analyses of dental calculus highlight the presence of a rich Neolithic-like oral microbiome, the composition of which is consistent with the presence pathologies. Finally, paleogenomic data obtained from the individual were compared with ancient and modern Mediterranean populations, including unpublished high-resolution genome-wide data for 20 modern inhabitants of the nearby village of San Lorenzo Bellizzi, which provided interesting insights into the biodemographic landscape of the Neolithic in Southern Italy.

Right with Greece_N!

I was right!

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-39250-y

 

[Francesco]

A bit offtopic, but I'm a bit surprised by the position of modern San Lorenzo's inhabitants' position on the PCA, as it's quite west shifted

 

[Jovialis]

A bit offtopic, but I'm a bit surprised by the position of modern San Lorenzo's inhabitants' position on the PCA, as it's quite west shifted

You should read Raveane et al. 2022, it was not suprising to me, because I've been modeling south Italians with Minoan (Greece_N-like) since Maciamo put together the Ethnicity Checker. It was revealing to me, when I saw it in the 2-way analysis

 

[Jovialis]

I called it back in 2021

https://www.eupedia.com/forum/threa...nt-populations?p=621067&viewfull=1#post621067

I even mocked up a hypothetical PCA:

https://www.eupedia.com/forum/threa...nt-populations?p=621081&viewfull=1#post621081

 

[Jovialis]

You should read Raveane et al. 2022, it was not suprising to me, because I've been modeling south Italians with Minoan (Greece_N-like) since Maciamo put together the Ethnicity Checker. It was revealing to me, when I saw it in the 2-way analysis

PCA projection of the genetic data on the dataset of ancient samples shows how SLB falls into the variability of the Italian and Mediterranean Neolithic, near the Peloponnesian and Anatolian Neolithics. This Neolithic genetic signature finds support on the uniparental haplogroups recovered from SLB: both K1a branches of mitochondrial DNA and G2a Y-chromosome sub-lineages have been indicated as part of the Neolithic genetic component that reached the European continent 8000 years ago, with G2a sub-haplogroups being the most widely distributed uniparental lineages among Neolithic Europeans69,70 (Fig. 4c). When compared to modern populations, SLB shifts in proximity of the Sardinian cluster, which has been reported to retain the greatest proportion of Neolithic ancestry among all Italian samples71,72,73,74. On the basis of modern data, the genetic prehistory of SI has been proposed to be the result of different migratory events from those that shaped the Eastern and Central Europe ancestrality, with Mediterranean genetic links between Aegean populations and SI that have been traced back to Neolithic period75,76. The genetic contributions that linked SI with the Greek islands and Anatolia have suggested the possibility that the Mediterranean could have served as a complementary crossroad for migratory events that occurred during the Neolithic77, even though such possibility cannot be fully explored with a single individual from Calabria. Nevertheless, the paleogenomic landscape of prehistoric SI is far from being understood, and new data are needed to better understand the legacy of ancient migrations in this region. The paleogenomic results presented in this work are certainly affected by the low number of SNPs used, but they represent another important step for archeomolecular studies in the Southern regions of the Italian peninsula.


Yeah baby! :sun:

 

[Francesco]

You should read Raveane et al. 2022, it was not suprising to me, because I've been modeling south Italians with Minoan (Greece_N-like) since Maciamo put together the Ethnicity Checker. It was revealing to me, when I saw it in the 2-way analysis

Yes I know Raveane 2022, I found it to be quite informative.

Nevertheless, It's surprising to see how a that particolar calabrian village plots, since it's shifted taway from the southern italian cluster. It makes me wonder how much the samples we use are actually representative on one specific region.

 

[Idontknowwhatimdoing]

You should read Raveane et al. 2022, it was not suprising to me, because I've been modeling south Italians with Minoan (Greece_N-like) since Maciamo put together the Ethnicity Checker. It was revealing to me, when I saw it in the 2-way analysis

Do you still think the 2 way Minoan + Yamnaya model applies to modern Italians after seeing my qpAdm models? The clines in modern populations are different from the Bronze age ones, most who falls between Minoan + Yamnaya on that PCA are coincidental.

 

[Riverman]

Do you still think the 2 way Minoan + Yamnaya model applies to modern Italians after seeing my qpAdm models? The clines in modern populations are different from the Bronze age ones, most who falls between Minoan + Yamnaya on that PCA are coincidental.

There are many modern European populations which end up on a similar spot of the PCA as ancient predecessors in the same region, but for different reasons than those. E.g. many French end up with Celts but have a significant amount of additional Southern Roman era-later Southern and Northern Germanic-German admixture.

 

[Jovialis]

Maybe not with Yamnaya, but I am confident the south has connection to this SLB sample and similar. The main thing it demonstrates to me is that Neolithic Southern Italy was indeed minoan/Greece_N-like. Raveane models it with something related to ancient North Western European. I would like to see Samnites modeled with SLB Neolithic one day. There has also be some admixture since the BA, but SLB should absolutely be regarded as a baseline at this point.

PCA projection of the genetic data on the dataset of ancient samples shows how SLB falls into the variability of the Italian and Mediterranean Neolithic, near the Peloponnesian and Anatolian Neolithics. This Neolithic genetic signature finds support on the uniparental haplogroups recovered from SLB: both K1a branches of mitochondrial DNA and G2a Y-chromosome sub-lineages have been indicated as part of the Neolithic genetic component that reached the European continent 8000 years ago, with G2a sub-haplogroups being the most widely distributed uniparental lineages among Neolithic Europeans69,70 (Fig. 4c). When compared to modern populations, SLB shifts in proximity of the Sardinian cluster, which has been reported to retain the greatest proportion of Neolithic ancestry among all Italian samples71,72,73,74. On the basis of modern data, the genetic prehistory of SI has been proposed to be the result of different migratory events from those that shaped the Eastern and Central Europe ancestrality, with Mediterranean genetic links between Aegean populations and SI that have been traced back to Neolithic period75,76. The genetic contributions that linked SI with the Greek islands and Anatolia have suggested the possibility that the Mediterranean could have served as a complementary crossroad for migratory events that occurred during the Neolithic77, even though such possibility cannot be fully explored with a single individual from Calabria. Nevertheless, the paleogenomic landscape of prehistoric SI is far from being understood, and new data are needed to better understand the legacy of ancient migrations in this region. The paleogenomic results presented in this work are certainly affected by the low number of SNPs used, but they represent another important step for archeomolecular studies in the Southern regions of the Italian peninsula.
Yeah baby! :sun:

Eastern European (Yamnaya) and Central European (Bell Beaker-derived). We see from the ChL paper in the Balkans, there's been interactions and admixture going back to thar time. We even see some overlap with south Italy, i.e. Kartal_B. At some point a coincidence becomes exhausted as a proposal. Particularly now that we have a sample in the south that resembles Greece_N. It is looking like the south of Italy was approximated before Magna Graecia, which likely served to maintain that genetic structure.

Once again, we can also refer to the C6 samples from Antonio et al. 2019, who I have long proposed are indigenous to Italy, and primarily come from the south. Once Italy was unified by the Romans, they were IMHO the primary factors that pulled the Italics to modern Italian approximation, from North to South. Take R437 for example.

Before the Romans, the south was more densely populated. I would think the initial waves of Italics that went to the south mixed with these people.

 

[Francesco]

Judginig by the few samples we have so for from late bronze age sicily, I believe the C6 cluster began to form itself only with the greek colonization in the archaic and classical period (VIII-V century BC). I'm absolutely open to change my mind though.
For sure, this new study proves once more how southern Italy was connected to Greece since the neolithic period.

 

[Jovialis]

For sure, this new study proves once more how southern Italy was connected to Greece since the neolithic period.

Definitely supported by archaeology:

 

[Anfänger]

Thanks for sharing Jovialis. Can anyone add the sample to amateur calculators? I wonder how much ANF and CHG it has.

 

[Jovialis]

Thanks for sharing Jovialis. Can anyone add the sample to amateur calculators? I wonder how much ANF and CHG it has.

I PMed Salento, it is in FASTQ format, he's very adept in processing samples. He's like the John Wick of processing samples here. I myself only know how to process BAM in WGSExtract.

 

[Idontknowwhatimdoing]

Maybe not with Yamnaya, but I am confident the south has connection to this SLB sample and similar. The main thing it demonstrates to me is that Neolithic Southern Italy was indeed minoan/Greece_N-like. Raveane models it with something related to ancient North Western European. I would like to see Samnites modeled with SLB Neolithic one day. There has also be some admixture since the BA, but SLB should absolutely be regarded as a baseline at this point.

Didn't iron age Sicilians have more WHG and then it got diluted by Greeks? So Neolithic Italy was more Sardinian like than Minoan like. Tell me which ancient Italian samples you need qpAdm tested.

 

[Idontknowwhatimdoing]

There are many modern European populations which end up on a similar spot of the PCA as ancient predecessors in the same region, but for different reasons than those. E.g. many French end up with Celts but have a significant amount of additional Southern Roman era-later Southern and Northern Germanic-German admixture.

Yeah, its because the migrations often keep following the same paths and that recreates the similar profiles.

 

[Anfänger]

I PMed Salento, it is in FASTQ format, he's very adept in processing samples. He's like the John Wick of processing samples here. I myself only know how to process BAM in WGSExtract.

Okay, I see. Let’s wait for Salentos expertise

 

[Jovialis]

Didn't iron age Sicilians have more WHG and then it got diluted by Greeks? So Neolithic Italy was more Sardinian like than Minoan like. Tell me which ancient Italian samples you need qpAdm tested.

I have to advise against "Neolithic Italy", it is as broad as saying modern Italy. In the PCA they mean Central Italy.


It is clear that there are differences stretching far back in time. I don't think Italy has been homogeneous since the upper Paleolithic or since when it was solely populated by Neanderthals.


Again, the south Italian sample from the Reich lab comes from a Calabrian medical study, which yields erroneous results.


I recommend least analyze multiple regional samples that are more comprehensive.


Ancient Sicilians are just as geographically distant from places in the south as Greece. For example my part of Italy is physically closer to Albania than Sicily, and probably easier to get to, (directly from the Adriatic, and into a plain). You see direct migrations from Greece to Italy in the same time period as this SLB sample. Take a look at a physical map of Italy and you will see mountains standing in the way of many areas.


Furthermore, this is a Neolithic sample located directly in southern Italy, and clearly it is Greece_N-like not Sardinian. I always said we needed aDNA from Neolithic Southern Italy to resolve the issue; we now have it. I would be interested to see multiple regions of the south modeled with Calabria_N. Though the origins of the "northern" ancestry in the South would be interesting to explore. Frankly, I think most of it was Northwestern European mediated by Italics.


But also please don't forget that Sicily also have similar samples, such as Sicily_Beaker albeit a low cov. Sicliy_N was also found to be Greece_N-like, I don't have the paper on hand, but there is a thread on eupedia that demonstrates it.


There was a resurgence of WHG in ChL C_Italy, which brought up the levels from the Neolithic. Perhaps that could have spread to some parts of Sicily, but there are also samples that demonstrate it didn't, such as with the Bell Beaker from Sicily.

 

[Jovialis]

I emphasis the physical geography and pre-historic migrations.

The oldest neolithic migrations in Italy are in Apulia, and it is clear why. It is physically closer to Greece; it has an open sea route, and it has flat terrain. The migrations from there spread from Apulia into other parts.

Archaeology confirms, this and aDNA affirms it. As well as affirmation that Apulia has a high level of Greece_N affinity comparable to Deep Mani, etc.

 

[Angela]

Too much analysis of Southern Italian dna has taken as its starting point the Indo-Europeans, Magna-Graecia etc., as if the South was empty of people when the newcomers arrived.

 

[Jovialis]

Too much analysis of Southern Italian dna has taken as its starting point the Indo-Europeans, Magna-Graecia etc., as if the South was empty of people when the newcomers arrived.

Indeed, I brought this up in a Razib Khan subtrack, because some (wrongly) assume everyone in Italy was Latin/Etruscan-like, north to south, and became deviated by the Imperial era. This is plainly wrong.