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Unraveling ancestry, kinship, and violence in a Late Neolithic mass grave

The third millennium BCE was a period of major cultural and demographic changes in Europe that signaled the beginning of the Bronze Age. People from the Pontic steppe expanded westward, leading to the formation of the Corded Ware complex and transforming the genetic landscape of Europe. At the time,...

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Autores principales: Schroeder, Hannes, Margaryan, Ashot, Szmyt, Marzena, Theulot, Bertrand, Włodarczak, Piotr, Rasmussen, Simon, Gopalakrishnan, Shyam, Szczepanek, Anita, Konopka, Tomasz, Jensen, Theis Z. T., Witkowska, Barbara, Wilk, Stanisław, Przybyła, Marcin M., Pospieszny, Łukasz, Sjögren, Karl-Göran, Belka, Zdzislaw, Olsen, Jesper, Kristiansen, Kristian, Willerslev, Eske, Frei, Karin M., Sikora, Martin, Johannsen, Niels N., Allentoft, Morten E.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: National Academy of Sciences 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6561172/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31061125
http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1820210116
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author Schroeder, Hannes
Margaryan, Ashot
Szmyt, Marzena
Theulot, Bertrand
Włodarczak, Piotr
Rasmussen, Simon
Gopalakrishnan, Shyam
Szczepanek, Anita
Konopka, Tomasz
Jensen, Theis Z. T.
Witkowska, Barbara
Wilk, Stanisław
Przybyła, Marcin M.
Pospieszny, Łukasz
Sjögren, Karl-Göran
Belka, Zdzislaw
Olsen, Jesper
Kristiansen, Kristian
Willerslev, Eske
Frei, Karin M.
Sikora, Martin
Johannsen, Niels N.
Allentoft, Morten E.
author_facet Schroeder, Hannes
Margaryan, Ashot
Szmyt, Marzena
Theulot, Bertrand
Włodarczak, Piotr
Rasmussen, Simon
Gopalakrishnan, Shyam
Szczepanek, Anita
Konopka, Tomasz
Jensen, Theis Z. T.
Witkowska, Barbara
Wilk, Stanisław
Przybyła, Marcin M.
Pospieszny, Łukasz
Sjögren, Karl-Göran
Belka, Zdzislaw
Olsen, Jesper
Kristiansen, Kristian
Willerslev, Eske
Frei, Karin M.
Sikora, Martin
Johannsen, Niels N.
Allentoft, Morten E.
author_sort Schroeder, Hannes
collection PubMed
description The third millennium BCE was a period of major cultural and demographic changes in Europe that signaled the beginning of the Bronze Age. People from the Pontic steppe expanded westward, leading to the formation of the Corded Ware complex and transforming the genetic landscape of Europe. At the time, the Globular Amphora culture (3300–2700 BCE) existed over large parts of Central and Eastern Europe, but little is known about their interaction with neighboring Corded Ware groups and steppe societies. Here we present a detailed study of a Late Neolithic mass grave from southern Poland belonging to the Globular Amphora culture and containing the remains of 15 men, women, and children, all killed by blows to the head. We sequenced their genomes to between 1.1- and 3.9-fold coverage and performed kinship analyses that demonstrate that the individuals belonged to a large extended family. The bodies had been carefully laid out according to kin relationships by someone who evidently knew the deceased. From a population genetic viewpoint, the people from Koszyce are clearly distinct from neighboring Corded Ware groups because of their lack of steppe-related ancestry. Although the reason for the massacre is unknown, it is possible that it was connected with the expansion of Corded Ware groups, which may have resulted in competition for resources and violent conflict. Together with the archaeological evidence, these analyses provide an unprecedented level of insight into the kinship structure and social behavior of a Late Neolithic community.
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spelling pubmed-65611722019-06-17 Unraveling ancestry, kinship, and violence in a Late Neolithic mass grave Schroeder, Hannes Margaryan, Ashot Szmyt, Marzena Theulot, Bertrand Włodarczak, Piotr Rasmussen, Simon Gopalakrishnan, Shyam Szczepanek, Anita Konopka, Tomasz Jensen, Theis Z. T. Witkowska, Barbara Wilk, Stanisław Przybyła, Marcin M. Pospieszny, Łukasz Sjögren, Karl-Göran Belka, Zdzislaw Olsen, Jesper Kristiansen, Kristian Willerslev, Eske Frei, Karin M. Sikora, Martin Johannsen, Niels N. Allentoft, Morten E. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A Social Sciences The third millennium BCE was a period of major cultural and demographic changes in Europe that signaled the beginning of the Bronze Age. People from the Pontic steppe expanded westward, leading to the formation of the Corded Ware complex and transforming the genetic landscape of Europe. At the time, the Globular Amphora culture (3300–2700 BCE) existed over large parts of Central and Eastern Europe, but little is known about their interaction with neighboring Corded Ware groups and steppe societies. Here we present a detailed study of a Late Neolithic mass grave from southern Poland belonging to the Globular Amphora culture and containing the remains of 15 men, women, and children, all killed by blows to the head. We sequenced their genomes to between 1.1- and 3.9-fold coverage and performed kinship analyses that demonstrate that the individuals belonged to a large extended family. The bodies had been carefully laid out according to kin relationships by someone who evidently knew the deceased. From a population genetic viewpoint, the people from Koszyce are clearly distinct from neighboring Corded Ware groups because of their lack of steppe-related ancestry. Although the reason for the massacre is unknown, it is possible that it was connected with the expansion of Corded Ware groups, which may have resulted in competition for resources and violent conflict. Together with the archaeological evidence, these analyses provide an unprecedented level of insight into the kinship structure and social behavior of a Late Neolithic community. National Academy of Sciences 2019-05-28 2019-05-06 /pmc/articles/PMC6561172/ /pubmed/31061125 http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1820210116 Text en Copyright © 2019 the Author(s). Published by PNAS. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/This open access article is distributed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Social Sciences
Schroeder, Hannes
Margaryan, Ashot
Szmyt, Marzena
Theulot, Bertrand
Włodarczak, Piotr
Rasmussen, Simon
Gopalakrishnan, Shyam
Szczepanek, Anita
Konopka, Tomasz
Jensen, Theis Z. T.
Witkowska, Barbara
Wilk, Stanisław
Przybyła, Marcin M.
Pospieszny, Łukasz
Sjögren, Karl-Göran
Belka, Zdzislaw
Olsen, Jesper
Kristiansen, Kristian
Willerslev, Eske
Frei, Karin M.
Sikora, Martin
Johannsen, Niels N.
Allentoft, Morten E.
Unraveling ancestry, kinship, and violence in a Late Neolithic mass grave
title Unraveling ancestry, kinship, and violence in a Late Neolithic mass grave
title_full Unraveling ancestry, kinship, and violence in a Late Neolithic mass grave
title_fullStr Unraveling ancestry, kinship, and violence in a Late Neolithic mass grave
title_full_unstemmed Unraveling ancestry, kinship, and violence in a Late Neolithic mass grave
title_short Unraveling ancestry, kinship, and violence in a Late Neolithic mass grave
title_sort unraveling ancestry, kinship, and violence in a late neolithic mass grave
topic Social Sciences
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6561172/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31061125
http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1820210116
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