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

doi:10.1038/s41467-020-14523-6

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

Authors

Joseph H. Marcus

Cosimo Posth

Harald Ringbauer

Luca Lai

Professor Robin Skeates robin.skeates@durham.ac.uk
Professor

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

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