Stable population structure in Europe since the Iron Age, despite high mobility

• DOI: 10.7554/elife.79714
• Publication Date: 2024-01-30T12:35:10Z
• Authors: Margaret L Antonio; Clemens L Weiß; Ziyue Gao; Susanna Sawyer; Victoria Oberreiter; Hannah M Moots; Jeffrey P Spence; Olivia Cheronet; Brina Zagorc; Elisa Praxmarer; Kadir Toykan Özdoğan; Lea Demetz; Pere Gelabert; Daniel Fernandes; Michaela Lucci; Timka Alihodžić; Selma Amrani; Pavel Avetisyan; Christèle Baillif...; Željka Bedić; Audrey Bertrand; Maja Bilić; Luca Bondioli; Paulina Borówka; Emmanuel Botte; Josip Burmaz; Domagoj Bužanić; Francesca Candilio; Mirna Cvetko; Daniela De Angelis; Ivan Drnić; Kristián Elschek; Mounir Fantar; Andrej Gaspari; Gabriella Gasperetti; Francesco Genchi; Snežana Golubović; Zuzana Hukeľová; Rimantas Jankauskas; Kristina Jelinčić...; Gordana Jeremić; Iva Kaić; Kevin Kazek; Hamazasp Khachatryan; Anahit Khudaverdyan; Sylvia Kirchengast; Miomir Korać; Valérie Kozlowski; Mária Krošláková; Dora Kušan Špalj; Francesco La Pastina; Marie Laguardia; Sandra Legrand; Tino Leleković; Tamara Leskovar; Wiesław Lorkiewicz; Dženi Los; Ana Maria Silva; Rene Masaryk; Vinka Matijević; Yahia Mehdi Seddi...; Nicolas Meyer; Ilija Mikić; Nataša Miladinovi...; Branka Milošević ...; Lina Nacouzi; Magdalena Natunie...; Alessia Nava; Christine Neugeba...; Jan Nováček; Anna Osterholtz; Julianne Paige; Lujana Paraman; Dominique Pieri; Karol Pieta; Stefan Pop-Lazić; Matej Ruttkay; Mirjana Sanader; Arkadiusz Sołtysiak; Alessandra Sperduti; Tijana Stankovic ...; Maria Teschler-Ni...; Iwona Teul; Domagoj Tončinić; Julien Trapp; Dragana Vulović; Tomasz Waliszewski; Diethard Walter; Miloš Živanović; Mohamed el Mostef...; Morana Čaušević-B...; Mario Šlaus; Dušan Borić; Mario Novak; Alfredo Coppa; Ron Pinhasi; Jonathan K Pritchard
• Keywords: Demographic history; Ancient DNA; Human migration; Panmixia

Ancient DNA research in the past decade has revealed that European population structure changed dramatically prehistoric period (14,000–3000 years before present, YBP), reflecting widespread introduction of Neolithic farmer and Bronze Age Steppe ancestries. However, little is known about how from historical onward (3000 YBP - present). To address this, we collected whole genomes 204 individuals Europe Mediterranean, many which are first their region (e.g. Armenia France). We found most regions show remarkable inter-individual heterogeneity. At least 7% carry ancestry uncommon where they were sampled, some indicating cross-Mediterranean contacts. Despite this high level mobility, overall across western Eurasia relatively stable through up to mirroring geography. that, under standard genetics models with local panmixia, observed dispersal would lead a collapse structure. Persistent thus suggests lower effective migration rate than indicated by dispersal. hypothesize phenomenon can be explained extensive transient arising drastically improved transportation networks Roman Empire’s mobilization people for trade, labor, military. This work highlights utility ancient elucidating finer scale human dynamics recent history.