Ancient genomes show social and reproductive behavior of early Upper Paleolithic foragers

• DOI: 10.1126/science.aao1807
• Publication Date: 2017-10-06T01:00:19Z
• Authors: Martin Sikora; Andaine Seguin-Or...; Vitor C. Sousa; Anders Albrechtsen; Thorfinn Korneliu...; Amy Ko; Simon Rasmussen; Isabelle Dupanloup; Philip R. Nigst; Marjolein D. Bosch; Gabriel Renaud; Morten E. Allentoft; Ashot Margaryan; Sergey V. Vasilyev; Elizaveta V. Vese...; Svetlana B. Borut...; Thibaut Deviese; Dan Comeskey; Tom Higham; Andrea Manica; Robert Foley; David J. Meltzer; Rasmus Nielsen; Laurent Excoffier; Marta Mirazon Lahr; Ludovic Orlando; Eske Willerslev
• Keywords: [SDE] Environmental Sciences; Population Density; 570; History; 0303 health sciences; Genome; General Science & Technology; Genome, Human; Reproductive Behavior; DNA; Biological Sciences; Ancient; Russia; Human Society; 03 medical and health sciences; Anthropology; [SDE]Environmental Sciences; Genetics; Humans; DNA, Ancient; Social Behavior; History, Ancient; Human

How early human groups were organized

Sequencing ancient hominid remains has provided insights into the relatedness between individuals. However, it is not clear whether ancient humans bred among close relatives, as is common in some modern human cultures. Sikora et al. report genome sequences from four early humans buried close together in western Russia about 34,000 years ago (see the Perspective by Bergström and Tyler-Smith). The individuals clustered together genetically and came from a population with a small effective size, but they were not very closely related. Thus, these people may represent a single social group that was part of a larger mating network, similar to contemporary hunter-gatherers. The lack of close inbreeding might help to explain the survival advantage of anatomically modern humans.

Science , this issue p. 659 ; see also p. 586