A study combining archaeology and genetics, published in Science, reveals that the spread of Neolithic practices from Anatolia wasn't solely due to migration. Researchers found evidence of significant genetic continuity in West Anatolia over 7,000 years, despite cultural shifts like the adoption of agriculture and settled lifestyles. This suggests ideas and technologies spread without large-scale population movement in many areas. Some regions did experience migration and genetic mixing around 7,000 BCE, and later in the Aegean, but the overall picture is one of cultural diffusion occurring alongside, and often independently of, population shifts. The study highlights the importance of supporting research in the regions directly related to the questions being investigated and demonstrates a new methodology for integrating genomic and archaeological data.
Recent archaeological discoveries in southeast Iran reveal the Jiroft Civilization, a Bronze Age society that may have predated Mesopotamia as a cultural hub and potentially the source of early writing, urban planning, and ziggurat architecture.
Harvard researchers traced the origins of the vast Indo-European language family to the Caucasus-Lower Volga region, identifying the ancestral population known as the Yamnaya, who appeared around 3300 BCE and spread from Hungary to western China.
Analysis of dozens of ancient genomes reveals that close encounters between Neanderthals and humans took place in a narrow time window. The high-resolution analysis also allowed the authors to track when certain Neanderthal DNA sequences appeared in the H. sapiens genome and determine whether they were retained.
