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Neolithization of North Africa involved the migration of people from both the Levant and Europe

Rosa Fregel, Fernando L. Méndez, Youssef Bokbot, Dimas Martín-Socas, María D. Camalich-Massieu, María C. Ávila-Arcos, Peter A. Underhill, Beth Shapiro, Genevieve Wojcik, Morten Rasmussen, Andre E. R. Soares, Joshua Kapp, Alexandra Sockell, Francisco J. Rodríguez-Santos, Abdeslam Mikdad, Jonathan Santana, Aioze Trujillo-Mederos, Carlos D. Bustamante
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/191569
Rosa Fregel
1Department of Genetics, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, US
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Fernando L. Méndez
1Department of Genetics, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, US
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Youssef Bokbot
2Institut National des Sciences de l'Archéologie et du Patrimoine, Rabat, Morocco
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Dimas Martín-Socas
3Department of Prehistory, Faculty of History, Universidad de La Laguna, San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Spain
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María D. Camalich-Massieu
3Department of Prehistory, Faculty of History, Universidad de La Laguna, San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Spain
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María C. Ávila-Arcos
1Department of Genetics, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, US
4International Laboratory for Human Genome Research, National University of Mexico, Querétaro, Mexico
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Peter A. Underhill
1Department of Genetics, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, US
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Beth Shapiro
5Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, US
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Genevieve Wojcik
1Department of Genetics, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, US
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Morten Rasmussen
1Department of Genetics, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, US
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Andre E. R. Soares
5Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, US
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Joshua Kapp
5Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, US
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Alexandra Sockell
1Department of Genetics, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, US
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Francisco J. Rodríguez-Santos
6Instituto Internacional de Investigaciones Prehistóricas de Cantabria, Cantabria, Spain
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Abdeslam Mikdad
2Institut National des Sciences de l'Archéologie et du Patrimoine, Rabat, Morocco
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Jonathan Santana
7Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Arts and Humanities. Durham University, Durham, UK
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Aioze Trujillo-Mederos
3Department of Prehistory, Faculty of History, Universidad de La Laguna, San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Spain
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Carlos D. Bustamante
1Department of Genetics, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, US
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Abstract

One of the greatest transitions in the human story was the change from hunter-gatherer to farmer. How farming traditions expanded from their birthplace in the Fertile Crescent has always been a matter of contention. Two models were proposed, one involving the movement of people and the other based on the transmission of ideas. Over the last decade, paleogenomics has been instrumental in settling long-disputed archaeological questions1, including those surrounding the Neolithic revolution2. Compared to the extensive genetic work done on Europe and the Near East, the Neolithic transition in North Africa, including the Maghreb, remains largely uncharacterized. Archaeological evidence suggests this process may have happened through an in situ development from Epipaleolithic communities3,4, or by demic diffusion from the Eastern Mediterranean shores5 or Iberia6. In fact,Neolithic pottery in North Africa strongly resembles that of European cultures like Cardial and Andalusian Early Neolithic, the southern-most early farmer culture from Iberia. Here, we present the first analysis of individuals’ genome sequences from early and late Neolithic sites in Morocco, as well as Andalusian Early Neolithic individuals. We show that Early Neolithic Moroccans are distinct from any other reported ancient individuals and possess an endemic element retained in present-day Maghrebi populations, indicating long-term genetic continuity in the region. Among ancient populations, early Neolithic Moroccans share affinities with Levantine Natufian hunter-gatherers (∼9,000 BCE) and Pre-Pottery Neolithic farmers (∼6,500 BCE). Late Neolithic (∼3,000 BCE) Moroccan remains, in comparison, share an Iberian component of a prominent European-wide demic expansion, supporting theories of trans-Gibraltar gene flow. Finally, the Andalusian Early Neolithic samples share the same genetic composition as the Cardial Mediterranean Neolithic culture that reached Iberia ∼5,500 BCE. The cultural and genetic similarities of the Iberian Neolithic cultures with that of North African Neolithic sites further reinforce the model of an Iberian intrusion into the Maghreb.

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Posted September 21, 2017.
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Neolithization of North Africa involved the migration of people from both the Levant and Europe
Rosa Fregel, Fernando L. Méndez, Youssef Bokbot, Dimas Martín-Socas, María D. Camalich-Massieu, María C. Ávila-Arcos, Peter A. Underhill, Beth Shapiro, Genevieve Wojcik, Morten Rasmussen, Andre E. R. Soares, Joshua Kapp, Alexandra Sockell, Francisco J. Rodríguez-Santos, Abdeslam Mikdad, Jonathan Santana, Aioze Trujillo-Mederos, Carlos D. Bustamante
bioRxiv 191569; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/191569
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Neolithization of North Africa involved the migration of people from both the Levant and Europe
Rosa Fregel, Fernando L. Méndez, Youssef Bokbot, Dimas Martín-Socas, María D. Camalich-Massieu, María C. Ávila-Arcos, Peter A. Underhill, Beth Shapiro, Genevieve Wojcik, Morten Rasmussen, Andre E. R. Soares, Joshua Kapp, Alexandra Sockell, Francisco J. Rodríguez-Santos, Abdeslam Mikdad, Jonathan Santana, Aioze Trujillo-Mederos, Carlos D. Bustamante
bioRxiv 191569; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/191569

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