Palaeogenomics of Upper Palaeolithic to Neolithic European hunter-gatherers.

Modern humans have populated Europe for more than 45,000 years1,2. Our knowledge of the genetic relatedness and structure of ancient hunter-gatherers is however limited, owing to the scarceness and poor molecular preservation of human remains from that period3. Here we analyse 356 ancient hunter-gatherer genomes, including new genomic data for 116 individuals from 14 countries in western and central Eurasia, spanning between 35,000 and 5,000 years ago. We identify a genetic ancestry profile in individuals associated with Upper Palaeolithic Gravettian assemblages from western Europe that is distinct from contemporaneous groups related to this archaeological culture in central and southern Europe4, but resembles that of preceding individuals associated with the Aurignacian culture. This ancestry profile survived during the Last Glacial Maximum (25,000 to 19,000 years ago) in human populations from southwestern Europe associated with the Solutrean culture, and with the following Magdalenian culture that re-expanded northeastward after the Last Glacial Maximum. Conversely, we reveal a genetic turnover in southern Europe suggesting a local replacement of human groups around the time of the Last Glacial Maximum, accompanied by a north-to-south dispersal of populations associated with the Epigravettian culture. From at least 14,000 years ago, an ancestry related to this culture spread from the south across the rest of Europe, largely replacing the Magdalenian-associated gene pool. After a period of limited admixture that spanned the beginning of the Mesolithic, we find genetic interactions between western and eastern European hunter-gatherers, who were also characterized by marked differences in phenotypically relevant variants.

Gravettian cranial morphology and human group affinities during the European Upper Palaeolithic.

Archaeologically defined Upper Palaeolithic (UP, 45,000-10,000 years ago) "cultures" are often used as proxies to designate fossil populations. While recent genomic studies have partly clarified the complex relationship between European UP "cultures" and past population dynamics, they leave open numerous questions regarding the biological characterization of these human groups, especially regarding the Mid-UP period (MUP, 33,000-24,000 years ago), which encompasses a pan-European cultural mosaic (Gravettian) with several regional facies. Here, we analyse a large database of well-dated and well-preserved UP crania, including MUP specimens from South-West France (SWF) and Moravia, using 3D geometric morphometrics to test for human group affinities. Our results show that the Gravettian makers from these two regions form a remarkably phenetically homogeneous sample which is different from, and more homogeneous than, the Late UP sample. Those results are congruent with genomic studies indicating a genetic continuity within the Gravettian manufacturers and a discontinuity marked by the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Moreover, our study expands the geographical range of the MUP phenetic continuity to SWF, for which aDNA data are scarce, and clarifies the post-LGM European population structure in SWF, with a possible dual ancestry stemming from different LGM refugia.