A 30,000-year-old genome traces Ice Age links between Europe’s east and west
A woman buried at Isturitz Cave in southwestern France carried mostly western European ancestry, alongside a component linked to central and eastern European populations, according to research led by the University of Vienna and published in Science Advances. The team also found evidence that western ancestry persisted in southwestern Europe through the Last Glacial Maximum, including in DNA recovered from cave sediment.
Bottom line — The Isturitz genome points to east-west gene flow around 32,500 to 31,500 years ago, alongside regional continuity.
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The woman’s genome is the oldest genome-wide dataset reported for a modern human from southwestern Europe, according to the University of Vienna research team.
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The estimated timing of gene flow assumes a single mixing event, the study notes.
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A previously studied individual from Ormesson, France, showed a similar mixed-ancestry signal.
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At El Mirón Cave in Cantabria, researchers identified western-related ancestry in human nuclear DNA from a layer dated to about 22,000 years ago, despite the absence of human bones or teeth.
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DNA from a Chufín Cave tooth also supported western-related ancestry in northern Spain around 26,000 years ago, though the sample yielded few usable markers.
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The researchers say the Isturitz woman’s ancestry does not establish that she herself travelled across Europe; the team also cannot rule out a deeper ancestral source for the eastern-related component.
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In southern Italy, a male fetus was most likely the son of a previously studied woman; the study found no evidence that his parents were closely related.