Genetic traces show inheritance of early Homo sapiens in Europe – 10/24/2023 – Science

Scientists have revealed a link between the genome of the first Homo sapiens that arrived in Europe 45 thousand years ago, of which there was thought to be no genetic inheritance, and that of much later populations from a Paleolithic period, known for its Venus figurines.

The discovery was made based on skull fragments from the archaeological site of Buran Kaya 3, on the Crimean peninsula, north of the Black Sea, excavated more than ten years ago.

They are the bones of two individuals from between 36,000 and 37,000 years ago, whose genome was recently extracted, thanks to new techniques, explains a study published this week in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.

An international team of researchers compared their genomes with DNA databases and with the genome of the oldest modern human being in Europe, sequenced from the skull of a woman from around 45,000 years ago, found in the territory of the Czech Republic.

During this period, the first Homo sapienscoming from Africa, landed on the Eurasian continent, whose population was formed in successive waves.

A part of this pioneering population settled in Asia, leaving a genetic legacy even among current populations.

The story was more chaotic for the European branch, of which so far no genetic fingerprint has been found.

This led to the assumption that such an impression had disappeared, until it was completely replaced, several thousand years later, by a new wave of migration, of which the humans of Buran Kaya 3, genetically close to the current one, are part. Homo sapiensthe research director of the French scientific body CNRS and co-author of the study, Eva María Geigl, explained to AFP.

Climate crisis

The decline was due to the cooling of the climate and aridification that occurred between 40,000 and 45,000 years ago, worsened by a gigantic eruption of the Campos Fedenos volcano (Italy) that covered part of Europe with a cloud of ash.

This ecological crisis was “severe enough to cause the disappearance of these first ‘sapiens’ and perhaps also the Neanderthals”, another human species that became extinct in the same period, continues the geneticist.

But the discovery of its trace in the genome of humans from the Crimean site suggests that a part of this pioneering settlement survived the catastrophe, “since they left part of their genes”, says CNRS research director and co-author of the study, Thierry Grange.

Their descendants “mingled with the newcomers after the climate warmed and became wetter,” Geigl adds.

The two humans from the Crimean site, who were also compared with more recent genomes, are genetically linked to Western European populations associated with the Gravettien culture, located between 31,000 and 23,000 years ago. This culture is known for the production of female figurines called Venus, or Lady of Brassempuy (ivory figure representing a human head).

The excavations at Buran Kaya 3 uncovered very similar objects (stone tools and mammoth ivory), but the link with this culture in the West was debated among archaeologists.

Both “were very distant geographically and were more than 5,000 years apart”, emphasizes Grange.

His works provide the genetic proof that allows us to affirm that the Gravettian culture had many origins in the East. And, likewise, it shows that Eastern European ancestors migrated to the West, “contributing to the genomes of modern-day Europeans”, concludes Geigl.