Pleistocene mitochondrial genomes suggest a single major dispersal of non-Africans and a Late Glacial population turnover in Europe

• Authors: POSTH Cosimo; RENAUD Gabriel; MITTNIK Alissa; DRUCKER Dorothee; ROUGIER Helene; CUPILLARD Christophe; VALENTIN Frederique; THEVENET Corinne; FURTWANGLER Anja; WISSING Christoph; FRANCKEN Michael; MALINA Maria; BOLUS Michael; LARI Martina; GIGLI Elena; CAPECCHI Giulia; CREVECOEUR Isabelle; BEAUVAL Cedric; FLAS Damien; GERMONPRÉ Mietje; PLICHT VAN DER Johannes; COTTIAUX Richard; GÉLY Bernard; RINCHITELLI Annamaria; WERBERGER Kurt; GRIGORESCU Dan; SVOBODA Jiří; SEMAL Patrick; CARAMELLI David; BOCHERENS Hervé; HARVATI Katerina; CONARD Nicholas; HAAK Wolfgang; POWELL Adam; KRAUSE Johannes
• Year of publication: 2016
• Type: Article in Periodical
• Magazine / Source: Current Biology
• MU Faculty or unit: Faculty of Science
• Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2016.01.037
• Field: Archaeology, anthropology, ethnology
• Keywords: mitochondrial genomes; modern human dispersal; Pleistocene; Europe
• Description: This paper generates pre-Neolithic European mtDNA genomes triple the number available. It postulates a rapid single dispersal of all non-Africans less than 55.000 years ago and demonstrates a major population shift in Europe at the end of the Pleistocene.