Mysteries of early farmers unlocked using DNA: Samples reveal how Neolithic people spread agriculture across Europe
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The mystery of how farming techniques spread throughout Europe, signalling a significant shift away from hunting, has baffled scientists for decades.
Now, the DNA of the first Near Eastern farmers living 10,000 years ago has revealed migration, rather than cultural adoption, was to blame.
Experts believe genetic similarities between the DNA of the first Neolithic populations and the DNA of the first Catalan and German farmers, suggests small pioneering groups migrated across Europe, taking farming methods with them.
The mitochondrial DNA of the first Near Eastern farmers (remains pictured) living 10,000 years ago has been sequenced. Experts believe genetic similarities between this DNA, and the DNA of the first Catalan and German farmers, suggests small groups migrated across Europe, taking farming methods with them
THE NEOLITHIC REVOLUTION
The Neolithic Revolution was the world's first verifiable revolution in agriculture.
It saw the widespread transition of many disparate human cultures moving from hunting and gathering practices, to ones of farming and building small settlements.
Archaeological evidence suggests the domestication of a number of animals and the growing of plants, evolved in different locations around the world, perhaps beginning in what is now Turkey around 12,000 years ago.
The revolution was responsible for turning small groups of travelling men into settled communities who built villages and towns.
Some cultures used irrigation and made forest clearings to better their farming techniques.
Others stored food for times of hunger, and farming eventually created different roles and divisions of labour in societies as well as trading economies.
Scientists analysed samples dating to around 8,000BC from three sites located in the birthplace of Neolithic farming practices - in the Middle Euphrates basin and the oasis of Damascus, in modern Syria.
It is thought that agricultural practices originated in a region of the Near East known as the 'Fertile Crescent' in around 12,000BC.
These practices resulted in a profound social, cultural and economic transformation of human populations as communities became more settled and started founding the very first towns.
Eva Fernández, an author of the study from the University of Barcelona, said: 'The Neolithic Revolution rapidly expanded from these territories into Europe, where the hunter-gatherer subsistence economy - prevailing till then - was replaced by an agro pastoral (farming and livestock) producing system.'
For the past 50 years, scientists have debated whether knowledge spread as the result of population migration, or cultural adoption.
Different research fields including archaeology, physical anthropology, linguistics and human palaeogenetics have made contributions to the discussion.
Scientists analysed samples dating to around 8,000BC from three sites located in the birthplace of Neolithic farming practices - in the Middle Euphrates basin (marked with shading) and the oasis of Damascus, in modern Syria (also marked)
For the past 50 years, scientists have debated whether knowledge spread as the result of population migration, or cultural adoption. One of the sites from which the samples were taken is pictured
While there have been some breakthroughs in hinting at the genetic composition of first Neolithic populations, this latest study, published in the journal PLOS Genetics by experts at University of Barcelona, Liverpool John Moores University, the Spanish National Research Council and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, is the first to reveal their genetic makeup.
They studied maternally inherited DNA from the first Neolithic farmers taken from samples.
The sites are located in modern day Syria. Here, an archaeologist painstakingly reveals an ancient structure hidden by the earth
Professor Daniel Turbón, from the University of Barcelona, said the results 'are the first ones regarding first Near Eastern farmers - in other words, the genetic stock of original Neolithic.'
'Conclusions of previous studies are based on the comparison with current Near East populations, as first agricultural societies and genetics have remained unknown until now.'
Genetic similarities have been observed between the mitochondrial DNA of first Neolithic populations and the DNA of first Catalan and German farmers.
This suggests Neolithic expansion probably took place through pioneer migrations of small groups of people.
The two main migration routes - Mediterranean and European - might have been genetically linked, the experts explained.
Dr Fernández said: 'The most significant conclusion is that the degree of genetic similarity between the populations of the Fertile Crescent and the ones of Cyprus an Crete supports the hypothesis that Neolithic spread in Europe took place through pioneer seafaring colonisation, not through a land-mediated expansion through Anatolia, as it was thought until now.'
Other scientists have already challenged the notion that ancient man – a group living after the Ice Age known as Proto-Indo-Europeans – spread from Anatolia in modern Turkey.
Dr Turbón added: 'Recent archaeological finds have proved that the Neolithic arrived in Cyprus around 10,600 years ago, some years after the first documentation of agricultural practices in the Near East.'
Architecture and burial models found in Cyprus' sites are similar to the ones found in the Middle Euphrates basin, which 'indicates a direct colonisation of these territories,' he said.
Radiocarbon dating of different objects from Neolithic sites in the Near East and Europe also suggests that a journey by sea was first made via Cyprus.
The team of experts will analyse a larger number of human Neolithic samples from other regions of the Fertile Crescent in a bid to increase the number of genetic markers examined in the samples.
It is thought agricultural practices originated in a region of the Near East known as the 'Fertile Crescent' in around 12,000BC. This resulted in a profound social, cultural and economic transformation of human populations as communities became more settled. Samples were taken from the ancient site pictured
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