Archaeogenetic and palaeogenetic evidence for metal age mobility in Europe

Abstract

[Excerpt] Evolutionary genetics has undergone a staggering shift in the last decade, mainly due to a diverse range of new DNA sequencing technologies-usually referred to collectively as ‘next-generation sequencing’ (NGS) (Millar et al. 2008). This has impacted on two distinct areas of evolutionary genetics that have, as a result, been brought closely into alignment. The first is genomics-it is now possible to generate whole-genome sequences at a rate and cost that were undreamed of only a decade ago. The second is palaeogenetics, or the study of ‘ancient DNA’ (aDNA)—that is to say, DNA from long-dead remains. The potential for recovering aDNA has been boosted as much by the introduction of NGS as it was by the original 1980s invention of the polymerase chain reaction— arguably more so. Both are contributing enormously to our understanding of not only the human past (in the discipline of archaeogenetics) but to the evolutionary history of life on earth more broadly. Indeed, they have combined in some of the most spectacular scientific successes of modern times—the sequencing of whole genomes from extinct humans, such as Neanderthals and the so-called ‘Denisovans’, whose remains are so fragmentary they are currently known primarily from their genomes (Meyer et al. 2012; Prüfer et al. 2014). But they are also making a powerful contribution to our knowledge of the genetic make-up and demographic history of early modern humans. In sum, it is now possible to extract evolutionary information on an unprecedented scale. (...)