Late Neolithic collective burial reveals admixture dynamics during the third millennium BCE and the shaping of the European genome.

The third millennium BCE was a pivotal period of profound cultural and genomic transformations in Europe associated with migrations from the Pontic-Caspian steppe, which shaped the ancestry patterns in the present-day European genome. We performed a high-resolution whole-genome analysis including haplotype phasing of seven individuals of a collective burial from ~2500 cal BCE and of a Bell Beaker individual from ~2300 cal BCE in the Paris Basin in France. The collective burial revealed the arrival in real time of steppe ancestry in France. We reconstructed the genome of an unsampled individual through its relatives' genomes, enabling us to shed light on the early-stage admixture patterns, dynamics, and propagation of steppe ancestry in Late Neolithic Europe. We identified two major Neolithic/steppe-related ancestry admixture pulses around 3000/2900 BCE and 2600 BCE. These pulses suggest different population expansion dynamics with striking links to the Corded Ware and Bell Beaker cultural complexes.

Origin and mobility of Iron Age Gaulish groups in present-day France revealed through archaeogenomics.

The Iron Age period occupies an important place in French history because the Gauls are regularly presented as the direct ancestors of the extant French population. We documented here the genomic diversity of Iron Age communities originating from six French regions. The 49 acquired genomes permitted us to highlight an absence of discontinuity between Bronze Age and Iron Age groups in France, lending support to a cultural transition linked to progressive local economic changes rather than to a massive influx of allochthone groups. Genomic analyses revealed strong genetic homogeneity among the regional groups associated with distinct archaeological cultures. This genomic homogenization appears to be linked to individuals' mobility between regions and gene flow with neighbouring groups from England and Spain. Thus, the results globally support a common genomic legacy for the Iron Age population of modern-day France that could be linked to recurrent gene flow between culturally differentiated communities.

Glenoid retroversion: The palaeopathological perspective.

Retroversion of the glenoid articular plane has not received sufficient attention in palaeopathological studies. Occasionally mentioned in severe forms of osteoarthritis, exceptionally studied in extreme congenital forms isolated or in the context of malformation syndromes and overlooked in cases of minor dysplasia, it is nonetheless a valuable marker for identifying debilitating pathological conditions, abnormal shoulder laxity or sequelae of obstetric palsy. It is sometimes associated with other anomalies of the shoulder, the acromion or the coracoid processes of the scapula or the proximal end of the humerus. In this contribution, we first define a new method for measuring glenoid retroversion based on recent embryological and anatomical findings. This new method is particularly well adapted to archaeological remains for its simplicity and the possibility of using it with very fragmentary scapulae. We then applied it to eight pathological cases of various origins, dysplasias or acquired forms of glenoid retroversion; semiological analysis enabled the definition of diagnostic criteria for the main aetiologies. Several new diagnostic features are described, in particular for sequelae of obstetric palsy in adults.