2000 Years of Parallel Societies in Stone Age Central Europe

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 342; no. 6157; pp. 479 - 481
• Main Authors: Bollongino, Ruth, Nehlich, Olaf, Richards, Michael P., Orschiedt, Jörg, Thomas, Mark G., Sell, Christian, Fajkošová, Zuzana, Powell, Adam, Burger, Joachim
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Association for the Advancement of Science 25.10.2013; The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: Agricultural Occupations; Agriculture; Agriculture - history; Animal Feed - history; Animals; Animals, Domestic; Anthropology; Base Sequence; Boundaries; Caves; Culture; Displacement; DNA, Mitochondrial - genetics; DNA, Mitochondrial - history; Epipalaeolithic and mesolithic; Europe; Evolution, Molecular; Farmers; Farming; Freshwater fishes; Genetics; History, Ancient; Human; Humans; Hunter gatherers; Isotopes; Lifestyle; Mitochondrial DNA; Molecular Sequence Data; Neolithic; Neolithic and chalcolithic; North West Europe; Palaeolithic and mesolithic; Population genetics; Populations; Prehistoric era; Prehistory and protohistory; Radiocarbon; Stone Age; Mesolithic; Neolithic; Central Europe; Europe; Germany; Hunter-gatherer; Economy; Diet; DNA; Genetic; Anthropology; Agriculture; Society; Isotope Analysis
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.1245049

Debate on the ancestry of Europeans centers on the interplay between Mesolithic foragers and Neolithic farmers. Foragers are generally believed to have disappeared shortly after the arrival of agriculture. To investigate the relation between foragers and farmers, we examined Mesolithic and Neolithic samples from the Blätterhöhle site. Mesolithic mitochondrial DNA sequences were typical of European foragers, whereas the Neolithic sample included additional lineages that are associated with early farmers. However, isotope analyses separate the Neolithic sample into two groups: one with an agriculturalist diet and one with a forager and freshwater fish diet, the latter carrying mitochondrial DNA sequences typical of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers. This indicates that the descendants of Mesolithic people maintained a foraging lifestyle in Central Europe for more than 2000 years after the arrival of farming societies.