Author
Viktória Kiss
Other affiliations: University of Szeged
Bio: Viktória Kiss is an academic researcher from Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The author has contributed to research in topics: Bronze Age & Population. The author has an hindex of 10, co-authored 22 publications receiving 1569 citations. Previous affiliations of Viktória Kiss include University of Szeged.
Topics: Bronze Age, Population, Pottery, Chalcolithic, Mesolithic
Papers
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University of Copenhagen1, University of Gothenburg2, Technical University of Denmark3, Leiden University4, Lund University5, University of Oxford6, University of Wrocław7, University of Zurich8, Wrocław Medical University9, University of Toronto10, Gorno-Altaisk State University11, South Ural State University12, Polish Academy of Sciences13, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich14, Hungarian Natural History Museum15, Eötvös Loránd University16, Hungarian Academy of Sciences17, Masaryk University18, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic19, University of Tartu20, Yerevan State University21, University of Szeged22, Hungarian National Museum23, University of Wisconsin-Madison24, Russian Academy of Sciences25, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague26, Armenian National Academy of Sciences27, Moscow State University28, University of California, Berkeley29
TL;DR: It is shown that the Bronze Age was a highly dynamic period involving large-scale population migrations and replacements, responsible for shaping major parts of present-day demographic structure in both Europe and Asia.
Abstract: The Bronze Age of Eurasia (around 3000-1000 BC) was a period of major cultural changes. However, there is debate about whether these changes resulted from the circulation of ideas or from human migrations, potentially also facilitating the spread of languages and certain phenotypic traits. We investigated this by using new, improved methods to sequence low-coverage genomes from 101 ancient humans from across Eurasia. We show that the Bronze Age was a highly dynamic period involving large-scale population migrations and replacements, responsible for shaping major parts of present-day demographic structure in both Europe and Asia. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesized spread of Indo-European languages during the Early Bronze Age. We also demonstrate that light skin pigmentation in Europeans was already present at high frequency in the Bronze Age, but not lactose tolerance, indicating a more recent onset of positive selection on lactose tolerance than previously thought.
1,088 citations
TL;DR: Genome-wide data from 400 Neolithic, Copper Age and Bronze Age Europeans is presented, finding limited genetic affinity between Beaker-complex-associated individuals from Iberia and central Europe, and excludes migration as an important mechanism of spread between these two regions.
Abstract: From around 2750 to 2500 bc, Bell Beaker pottery became widespread across western and central Europe, before it disappeared between 2200 and 1800 bc. The forces that propelled its expansion are a matter of long-standing debate, and there is support for both cultural diffusion and migration having a role in this process. Here we present genome-wide data from 400 Neolithic, Copper Age and Bronze Age Europeans, including 226 individuals associated with Beaker-complex artefacts. We detected limited genetic affinity between Beaker-complex-associated individuals from Iberia and central Europe, and thus exclude migration as an important mechanism of spread between these two regions. However, migration had a key role in the further dissemination of the Beaker complex. We document this phenomenon most clearly in Britain, where the spread of the Beaker complex introduced high levels of steppe-related ancestry and was associated with the replacement of approximately 90% of Britain's gene pool within a few hundred years, continuing the east-to-west expansion that had brought steppe-related ancestry into central and northern Europe over the previous centuries.
479 citations
Hungarian Academy of Sciences1, University of Mainz2, University of Adelaide3, University of Szeged4, Eötvös Loránd University5, Salisbury University6, Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts7, University College Dublin8, University of Zagreb9, Hungarian National Museum10, University of West Hungary11
TL;DR: Comprehensive Y chromosomal and mitochondrial DNA population genetic analyses demonstrate a clear affinity of the early farmers to the modern Near East and Caucasus, tracing the expansion from that region through southeastern Europe and the Carpathian Basin into Central Europe.
Abstract: Farming was established in Central Europe by the Linearbandkeramik culture (LBK), a well-investigated archaeological horizon, which emerged in the Carpathian Basin, in today's Hungary. However, the...
131 citations
Harvard University1, Natural History Museum2, University of Copenhagen3, University of Bradford4, University of Gothenburg5, Hungarian Academy of Sciences6, University of Tübingen7, Leiden University Medical Center8, Broad Institute9, University College London10, University College Dublin11, Wessex Archaeology12, Danube Private University13, University of Murcia14, Autonomous University of Madrid15, University of Edinburgh16, University of Oxford17, University of Bristol18, University of York19, University of Strasbourg20, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic21, University of Cambridge22, Leiden University23, Newcastle University24, Jagiellonian University25, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich26, Paul Valéry University, Montpellier III27, University of Bordeaux28, Metz29, Autonomous University of Barcelona30, University of Florence31, Salisbury University32, Eötvös Loránd University33, University of Lisbon34, Polish Academy of Sciences35, University of Wisconsin-Madison36, University of Santiago de Compostela37, University of Savoy38, University of Valladolid39, Aix-Marseille University40, University of Coimbra41, Charles University in Prague42, National Museums Scotland43, Max Planck Society44, American Museum of Natural History45, Pompeu Fabra University46
TL;DR: It is shown that the spread of the Beaker Complex to Britain was mediated by migration from the continent that replaced >90% of Britain’s Neolithic gene pool within a few hundred years, continuing the process that brought Steppe ancestry into central and northern Europe 400 years earlier.
Abstract: Bell Beaker pottery spread across western and central Europe beginning around 2750 BCE before disappearing between 2200-1800 BCE. The mechanism of its expansion is a topic of long-standing debate, with support for both cultural diffusion and human migration. We present new genome-wide ancient DNA data from 170 Neolithic, Copper Age and Bronze Age Europeans, including 100 Beaker-associated individuals. In contrast to the Corded Ware Complex, which has previously been identified as arriving in central Europe following migration from the east, we observe limited genetic affinity between Iberian and central European Beaker Complex-associated individuals, and thus exclude migration as a significant mechanism of spread between these two regions. However, human migration did have an important role in the further dissemination of the Beaker Complex, which we document most clearly in Britain using data from 80 newly reported individuals dating to 3900-1200 BCE. British Neolithic farmers were genetically similar to contemporary populations in continental Europe and in particular to Neolithic Iberians, suggesting that a portion of the farmer ancestry in Britain came from the Mediterranean rather than the Danubian route of farming expansion. Beginning with the Beaker period, and continuing through the Bronze Age, all British individuals harboured high proportions of Steppe ancestry and were genetically closely related to Beaker-associated individuals from the Lower Rhine area. We use these observations to show that the spread of the Beaker Complex to Britain was mediated by migration from the continent that replaced >90% of Britain9s Neolithic gene pool within a few hundred years, continuing the process that brought Steppe ancestry into central and northern Europe 400 years earlier.
127 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors identify the Western Eurasian steppes, especially the lower Volga-Don region, as the homeland of modern domestic horses and map the population changes accompanying domestication from 273 ancient horse genomes.
Abstract: Domestication of horses fundamentally transformed long-range mobility and warfare1. However, modern domesticated breeds do not descend from the earliest domestic horse lineage associated with archaeological evidence of bridling, milking and corralling2–4 at Botai, Central Asia around 3500 bc3. Other longstanding candidate regions for horse domestication, such as Iberia5 and Anatolia6, have also recently been challenged. Thus, the genetic, geographic and temporal origins of modern domestic horses have remained unknown. Here we pinpoint the Western Eurasian steppes, especially the lower Volga-Don region, as the homeland of modern domestic horses. Furthermore, we map the population changes accompanying domestication from 273 ancient horse genomes. This reveals that modern domestic horses ultimately replaced almost all other local populations as they expanded rapidly across Eurasia from about 2000 bc, synchronously with equestrian material culture, including Sintashta spoke-wheeled chariots. We find that equestrianism involved strong selection for critical locomotor and behavioural adaptations at the GSDMC and ZFPM1 genes. Our results reject the commonly held association7 between horseback riding and the massive expansion of Yamnaya steppe pastoralists into Europe around 3000 bc8,9 driving the spread of Indo-European languages10. This contrasts with the scenario in Asia where Indo-Iranian languages, chariots and horses spread together, following the early second millennium bc Sintashta culture11,12. Analysis of 273 ancient horse genomes reveals that modern domestic horses originated in the Western Eurasian steppes, especially the lower Volga-Don region.
83 citations
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TL;DR: Some of the key events in the peopling of the world in the light of the findings of work on ancient DNA are reviewed.
Abstract: Ancient DNA research is revealing a human history far more complex than that inferred from parsimonious models based on modern DNA. Here, we review some of the key events in the peopling of the world in the light of the findings of work on ancient DNA.
1,365 citations
University of Adelaide1, Harvard University2, Broad Institute3, Howard Hughes Medical Institute4, University of Mainz5, Max Planck Society6, University of Tübingen7, Hungarian Academy of Sciences8, Stockholm University9, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras10, The Heritage Foundation11, University of Basel12, Autonomous University of Barcelona13, University of Valladolid14, Hartwick College15
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors generated genome-wide data from 69 Europeans who lived between 8,000-3,000 years ago by enriching ancient DNA libraries for a target set of almost 400,000 polymorphisms.
Abstract: We generated genome-wide data from 69 Europeans who lived between 8,000-3,000 years ago by enriching ancient DNA libraries for a target set of almost 400,000 polymorphisms. Enrichment of these positions decreases the sequencing required for genome-wide ancient DNA analysis by a median of around 250-fold, allowing us to study an order of magnitude more individuals than previous studies and to obtain new insights about the past. We show that the populations of Western and Far Eastern Europe followed opposite trajectories between 8,000-5,000 years ago. At the beginning of the Neolithic period in Europe, ∼8,000-7,000 years ago, closely related groups of early farmers appeared in Germany, Hungary and Spain, different from indigenous hunter-gatherers, whereas Russia was inhabited by a distinctive population of hunter-gatherers with high affinity to a ∼24,000-year-old Siberian. By ∼6,000-5,000 years ago, farmers throughout much of Europe had more hunter-gatherer ancestry than their predecessors, but in Russia, the Yamnaya steppe herders of this time were descended not only from the preceding eastern European hunter-gatherers, but also from a population of Near Eastern ancestry. Western and Eastern Europe came into contact ∼4,500 years ago, as the Late Neolithic Corded Ware people from Germany traced ∼75% of their ancestry to the Yamnaya, documenting a massive migration into the heartland of Europe from its eastern periphery. This steppe ancestry persisted in all sampled central Europeans until at least ∼3,000 years ago, and is ubiquitous in present-day Europeans. These results provide support for a steppe origin of at least some of the Indo-European languages of Europe.
1,332 citations
Harvard University1, Broad Institute2, Howard Hughes Medical Institute3, University College Dublin4, Emory University5, University of Copenhagen6, Trinity College, Dublin7, University of Adelaide8, Russian Academy of Sciences9, Complutense University of Madrid10, Rovira i Virgili University11, University of Valladolid12, Max Planck Society13, University of Tübingen14, University of Basel15, Danube Private University16, Hartwick College17, Pompeu Fabra University18
TL;DR: A genome-wide scan for selection using ancient DNA is reported, capitalizing on the largest ancient DNA data set yet assembled: 230 West Eurasians who lived between 6500 and 300 bc, including 163 with newly reported data.
Abstract: Ancient DNA makes it possible to observe natural selection directly by analysing samples from populations before, during and after adaptation events. Here we report a genome-wide scan for selection using ancient DNA, capitalizing on the largest ancient DNA data set yet assembled: 230 West Eurasians who lived between 6500 and 300 bc, including 163 with newly reported data. The new samples include, to our knowledge, the first genome-wide ancient DNA from Anatolian Neolithic farmers, whose genetic material we obtained by extracting from petrous bones, and who we show were members of the population that was the source of Europe's first farmers. We also report a transect of the steppe region in Samara between 5600 and 300 bc, which allows us to identify admixture into the steppe from at least two external sources. We detect selection at loci associated with diet, pigmentation and immunity, and two independent episodes of selection on height.
1,083 citations
University of Graz1, Joanneum Research2, Institute of Molecular Biotechnology3, Research Institute of Molecular Pathology4, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna5, Foundation for Research & Technology – Hellas6, Austrian Academy of Sciences7, University of Salzburg8, University of Basel9, University of St Andrews10
TL;DR: Administration of spermidine markedly extended the lifespan of yeast, flies and worms, and human immune cells and inhibited oxidative stress in ageing mice, and found that enhanced autophagy is crucial for polyamine-induced suppression of necrosis and enhanced longevity.
Abstract: Ageing results from complex genetically and epigenetically programmed processes that are elicited in part by noxious or stressful events that cause programmed cell death Here, we report that administration of spermidine, a natural polyamine whose intracellular concentration declines during human ageing, markedly extended the lifespan of yeast, flies and worms, and human immune cells In addition, spermidine administration potently inhibited oxidative stress in ageing mice In ageing yeast, spermidine treatment triggered epigenetic deacetylation of histone H3 through inhibition of histone acetyltransferases (HAT), suppressing oxidative stress and necrosis Conversely, depletion of endogenous polyamines led to hyperacetylation, generation of reactive oxygen species, early necrotic death and decreased lifespan The altered acetylation status of the chromatin led to significant upregulation of various autophagy-related transcripts, triggering autophagy in yeast, flies, worms and human cells Finally, we found that enhanced autophagy is crucial for polyamine-induced suppression of necrosis and enhanced longevity
974 citations
Broad Institute1, Whitman College2, Simon Fraser University3, Howard Hughes Medical Institute4, University of Coimbra5, University College Dublin6, Emory University7, Chinese Academy of Sciences8, University of Ferrara9, University of Miskolc10, Armenian National Academy of Sciences11, University of Pennsylvania12, University of Winnipeg13, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University14, University of Edinburgh15, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland16, Spanish National Research Council17, Imperial College London18, Max Planck Society19, Binghamton University20, University of Huddersfield21, University of Pavia22, Yerevan State University23
TL;DR: This paper reported genome-wide ancient DNA from 44 ancient Near Easterners ranging in time between ~12,000 and 1,400 bc, from Natufian hunter-gatherers to Bronze Age farmers, showing that the earliest populations of the Near East derived around half their ancestry from a 'Basal Eurasian' lineage that had little if any Neanderthal admixture and that separated from other non-African lineages before their separation from each other.
Abstract: We report genome-wide ancient DNA from 44 ancient Near Easterners ranging in time between ~12,000 and 1,400 bc, from Natufian hunter–gatherers to Bronze Age farmers. We show that the earliest populations of the Near East derived around half their ancestry from a ‘Basal Eurasian’ lineage that had little if any Neanderthal admixture and that separated from other non-African lineages before their separation from each other. The first farmers of the southern Levant (Israel and Jordan) and Zagros Mountains (Iran) were strongly genetically differentiated, and each descended from local hunter–gatherers. By the time of the Bronze Age, these two populations and Anatolian-related farmers had mixed with each other and with the hunter–gatherers of Europe to greatly reduce genetic differentiation. The impact of the Near Eastern farmers extended beyond the Near East: farmers related to those of Anatolia spread westward into Europe; farmers related to those of the Levant spread southward into East Africa; farmers related to those of Iran spread northward into the Eurasian steppe; and people related to both the early farmers of Iran and to the pastoralists of the Eurasian steppe spread eastward into South Asia.
695 citations