2000 years of parallel societies in Stone Age Central Europe.

Bibliographic Collection: 
APE
Publication Type: Journal Article
Authors: Bollongino, Ruth; Nehlich, Olaf; Richards, Michael P; Orschiedt, Jörg; Thomas, Mark G; Sell, Christian; Fajkosová, Zuzana; Powell, Adam; Burger, Joachim
Year of Publication: 2013
Journal: Science
Volume: 342
Issue: 6157
Pagination: 479-81
Date Published: 2013 Oct 25
Publication Language: eng
ISSN: 1095-9203
Keywords: Agriculture, Animal Feed, Animals, Animals, Domestic, Anthropology, Base Sequence, DNA, Mitochondrial, Europe, Evolution, Molecular, History, Ancient, Humans, Molecular Sequence Data
Abstract:

Debate on the ancestry of Europeans centers on the interplay between Mesolithic foragers and Neolithic farmers. Foragers are generally believed to have disappeared shortly after the arrival of agriculture. To investigate the relation between foragers and farmers, we examined Mesolithic and Neolithic samples from the Blätterhöhle site. Mesolithic mitochondrial DNA sequences were typical of European foragers, whereas the Neolithic sample included additional lineages that are associated with early farmers. However, isotope analyses separate the Neolithic sample into two groups: one with an agriculturalist diet and one with a forager and freshwater fish diet, the latter carrying mitochondrial DNA sequences typical of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers. This indicates that the descendants of Mesolithic people maintained a foraging lifestyle in Central Europe for more than 2000 years after the arrival of farming societies.

DOI: 10.1126/science.1245049
Alternate Journal: Science