Media release

From: Springer Nature

Genetics: Ancient genomic data shed light on the demise of the Copper Age

An analysis of ancient human genomic data suggests that Copper Age farmers and steppe pastoralists may have interacted 1,000 years earlier than previously thought. The findings, published in Nature, may aid our understanding of the demise of the Copper Age and expansion of pastoralist groups around 3300 BC.

Previous analyses of ancient genomic data have suggested that two major genetic turnover events occurred in Western Eurasia; one associated with the spread of farming around 7000–6000 BC and a second resulting from the expansion of pastoralist groups from the Eurasian steppe starting around 3300 BC. The period between these two events, the Copper Age, was characterized by a new economy based on metallurgy, wheel and wagon transportation, and horse domestication. However, what happened between the demise of Copper Age settlements (around 4250 BC) and the expansion of pastoralists is not well understood.

Wolfgang Haak and colleagues analysed genetic data from 135 ancient individuals, dating to between 5400 and 2400 BC, from eight sites across southeastern Europe and the northwestern Black Sea region. The authors found that while there was genetic continuity between the Neolithic and Copper Age groups, from around 4500 BC groups from the northwestern Black Sea region carried varying amounts of ancestry from Copper Age and steppe-zone populations. They suggest that this finding shows that the groups had cultural contact and mixed nearly 1,000 years earlier than previously thought. The transfer of technology between farmers and transitional hunters from different geographical zones was integral to the rise, formation and expansion of pastoralist groups around 3300 BC, the authors propose.