Articles
5 articles on neolithic, ancient-DNA research written up for readers who want the evidence, not just the headline.
The Neolithic is the age of the first farmers. In western Eurasia it begins with Anatolian farmers whose descendants spread across Europe from about 6500 BC and became the largest single component in most southern Europeans; elsewhere, farming arose on different genetic bases, in North China around Beijing and among the pastoralists of a Sahara that was still green. A farmer share is a measurement of descent from those populations and carries no ethnic or national identity with it.
The articles explain who the Anatolian Neolithic farmers were and how to measure your share, use qpAdm to estimate Neolithic farmer against Bronze Age steppe proportions in present-day Balkan populations, report the study of 15,836 ancient and modern West Eurasians that found hundreds of genes under strong selection over the past ten thousand years, describe the unknown deep northern East Asian lineage at 11,000-year-old Donghulin, and read the Takarkori genomes that suggest Saharan pastoralism spread mainly through culture.
Fit farmer and steppe sources in the free admixture lab
Who the Anatolian Neolithic farmers were, how their ancestry spread across Europe from 6500 BC and became the largest component in most southern Europeans, what 'early European farmer' means in a model, and how to measure your share.
DNA from two women at Takarkori reveals a deeply rooted North African lineage and suggests Saharan pastoralism spread mainly through culture.
A study of 15,836 ancient and modern West Eurasians finds hundreds of genes under strong directional selection over the past ten thousand years.
Genomes from an 11,000-year-old site near Beijing reveal an unknown deep northern East Asian lineage and 2,000 years of change at one place.
qpAdm modeling shows modern Balkan populations carry varying proportions of Neolithic farmer and Bronze Age steppe ancestry, reflecting long-term regional continuity.