Northwest African Neolithic initiated by migrants from Iberia and Levant 2023

[Mediterranea]

In northwestern Africa, lifestyle transitioned from foraging to food production around 7,400 years ago but what sparked that change remains unclear. Archaeological data support conflicting views: (1) that migrant European Neolithic farmers brought the new way of life to North Africa^1,2,3 or (2) that local hunter-gatherers adopted technological innovations^4,5. The latter view is also supported by archaeogenetic data⁶. Here we fill key chronological and archaeogenetic gaps for the Maghreb, from Epipalaeolithic to Middle Neolithic, by sequencing the genomes of nine individuals (to between 45.8- and 0.2-fold genome coverage). Notably, we trace 8,000 years of population continuity and isolation from the Upper Palaeolithic, via the Epipaleolithic, to some Maghrebi Neolithic farming groups. However, remains from the earliest Neolithic contexts showed mostly European Neolithic ancestry. We suggest that farming was introduced by European migrants and was then rapidly adopted by local groups. During the Middle Neolithic a new ancestry from the Levant appears in the Maghreb, coinciding with the arrival of pastoralism in the region, and all three ancestries blend together during the Late Neolithic. Our results show ancestry shifts in the Neolithization of northwestern Africa that probably mirrored a heterogeneous economic and cultural landscape, in a more multifaceted process than observed in other regions.



SEE:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s415...06166-6#MOESM1

[Palermo Trapani]

Hi Mediterranea: Very interesting paper that clearly shows Neolithic Anatolian DNA via Iberia, along with Levant Neolithic clearly in the Maghreb in Neolithic period. This is a neat paper and in light of the pre-print paper by Moots et al 2023 "A Genetic History of Continuity and Mobility in the Iron Age Central Mediterranean" which clearly shows Iron Age Carthaginian samples have Late Neolithic North African, Anatolian Neolithic, Iran Neolithic, Steppe and even some WHG. The samples from Simoes et al 2023 paper linked above unfortunately were not yet available but would be interesting if the Moots et al paper could show that these new Neolithic samples can be used to model the Iron Age Carthaginians directly.

The Moots et al 2023 paper is a preprint at biorxiv.org. and is able to be downloaded.

Cheers PT

[Mediterranea]

Hi TP. These are both very good papers and seem to almost dovetail one another. Simoes 2023 ends in the Neolithic whereas Moots 2023 picks up at the Iron Age. The population at Kerkouane does show continuity from the Neolithic as well as recent inputs in its 400 year span. There seems to be a lack of "Phoenician" genetic ancestry in the population which is interesting as it was historically known as a Phoenician settlement, so more like a cultural and not genetic diffusion.

I need to add Moots 2023 to the forum.

Cheers!