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Genetic history from the Middle Neolithic to present on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia

Marcus, Joseph H.; Posth, Cosimo; Ringbauer, Harald; Lai, Luca; Skeates, Robin; Sidore, Carlo; Beckett, Jessica; Furtwängler, Anja; Olivieri, Anna; Chiang, Charleston W.K.; Al-Asadi, Hussein; Dey, Kushal; Joseph, Tyler A.; Liu, Chi-Chun; Der Sarkissian, Clio; Radzevičiūtė, Rita; Michel, Megan; Gradoli, Maria Giuseppina; Marongiu, Patrizia; Rubino, Salvatore; Mazzarello, Vittorio; Rovina, Daniela; La Fragola, Alessandra; Serra, Rita Maria; Bandiera, Pasquale; Bianucci, Raffaella; Pompianu, Elisa; Murgia, Clizia; Guirguis, Michele; Orquin, Rosana Pla; Tuross, Noreen; van Dommelen, Peter; Haak, Wolfgang; Reich, David; Schlessinger, David; Cucca, Francesco; Krause, Johannes; Novembre, John

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Authors

Joseph H. Marcus

Cosimo Posth

Harald Ringbauer

Luca Lai

Carlo Sidore

Jessica Beckett

Anja Furtwängler

Anna Olivieri

Charleston W.K. Chiang

Hussein Al-Asadi

Kushal Dey

Tyler A. Joseph

Chi-Chun Liu

Clio Der Sarkissian

Rita Radzevičiūtė

Megan Michel

Maria Giuseppina Gradoli

Patrizia Marongiu

Salvatore Rubino

Vittorio Mazzarello

Daniela Rovina

Alessandra La Fragola

Rita Maria Serra

Pasquale Bandiera

Raffaella Bianucci

Elisa Pompianu

Clizia Murgia

Michele Guirguis

Rosana Pla Orquin

Noreen Tuross

Peter van Dommelen

Wolfgang Haak

David Reich

David Schlessinger

Francesco Cucca

Johannes Krause

John Novembre



Abstract

The island of Sardinia has been of particular interest to geneticists for decades. The current model for Sardinia’s genetic history describes the island as harboring a founder population that was established largely from the Neolithic peoples of southern Europe and remained isolated from later Bronze Age expansions on the mainland. To evaluate this model, we generate genome-wide ancient DNA data for 70 individuals from 21 Sardinian archaeological sites spanning the Middle Neolithic through the Medieval period. The earliest individuals show a strong affinity to western Mediterranean Neolithic populations, followed by an extended period of genetic continuity on the island through the Nuragic period (second millennium BCE). Beginning with individuals from Phoenician/Punic sites (first millennium BCE), we observe spatially-varying signals of admixture with sources principally from the eastern and northern Mediterranean. Overall, our analysis sheds light on the genetic history of Sardinia, revealing how relationships to mainland populations shifted over time.

Citation

Marcus, J. H., Posth, C., Ringbauer, H., Lai, L., Skeates, R., Sidore, C., …Novembre, J. (2020). Genetic history from the Middle Neolithic to present on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia. Nature Communications, 11(1), Article 939. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-14523-6

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jan 8, 2020
Online Publication Date Feb 24, 2020
Publication Date 2020
Deposit Date Mar 4, 2020
Publicly Available Date Mar 11, 2020
Journal Nature Communications
Publisher Nature Research
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 11
Issue 1
Article Number 939
DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-14523-6
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1306534

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This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.






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