The Genomic History of the Bronze Age Southern Levant

Lily Agranat-Tamir; Shamam Waldman; Mario A S Martin; David Gokhman; Nadav Mishol; Tzilla Eshel; Olivia Cheronet; Nadin Rohland; Swapan Mallick; Nicole Adamski; Ann Marie Lawson; Matthew Mah; Megan Michel; Jonas Oppenheimer; Kristin Stewardson; Francesca Candilio; Denise Keating; Beatriz Gamarra; Shay Tzur; Mario Novak; Rachel Kalisher; Shlomit Bechar; Vered Eshed; Douglas J Kennett; Marina Faerman; Naama Yahalom-Mack; Janet M Monge; Yehuda Govrin; Yigal Erel; Benjamin Yakir; Ron Pinhasi; Shai Carmi; Israel Finkelstein; Liran Carmel; David Reich

doi:10.1016/j.cell.2020.04.024

The Genomic History of the Bronze Age Southern Levant

Cell. 2020 May 28;181(5):1146-1157.e11. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2020.04.024.

Authors

Lily Agranat-Tamir¹, Shamam Waldman², Mario A S Martin³, David Gokhman⁴, Nadav Mishol⁴, Tzilla Eshel⁵, Olivia Cheronet⁶, Nadin Rohland⁷, Swapan Mallick⁸, Nicole Adamski⁹, Ann Marie Lawson⁹, Matthew Mah¹⁰, Megan Michel⁹, Jonas Oppenheimer⁹, Kristin Stewardson⁹, Francesca Candilio¹¹, Denise Keating¹², Beatriz Gamarra¹³, Shay Tzur², Mario Novak¹⁴, Rachel Kalisher¹⁵, Shlomit Bechar¹⁶, Vered Eshed¹⁷, Douglas J Kennett¹⁸, Marina Faerman¹⁹, Naama Yahalom-Mack¹⁶, Janet M Monge²⁰, Yehuda Govrin²¹, Yigal Erel⁵, Benjamin Yakir²², Ron Pinhasi²³, Shai Carmi²⁴, Israel Finkelstein²⁵, Liran Carmel²⁶, David Reich²⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Genetics, The Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, Faculty of Science, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Edmond J. Safra Campus, Givat Ram, Jerusalem 9190401, Israel; Department of Statistics, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 9190501, Israel.
² Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.
³ Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel.
⁴ Department of Genetics, The Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, Faculty of Science, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Edmond J. Safra Campus, Givat Ram, Jerusalem 9190401, Israel.
⁵ The Fredy and Nadine Herrmann Institute of Earth Sciences, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Edmond J. Safra Campus, Givat Ram, Jerusalem 9190401, Israel.
⁶ Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
⁷ Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
⁸ Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
⁹ Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
¹¹ School of Archaeology and Earth Institute, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland; Soprintendenza ABAP per la città metropolitana di Cagliari e le province di Oristano e Sud Sardegna, Cagliari, Italy.
¹² School of Archaeology and Earth Institute, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
¹³ School of Archaeology and Earth Institute, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland; Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social, Tarragona, Spain; Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Àrea de Prehistòria, Tarragona, Spain.
¹⁴ Institute for Anthropological Research, Zagreb, Croatia. Electronic address: mario.novak@inantro.hr.
¹⁵ Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA.
¹⁶ The Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 9190501, Israel.
¹⁷ Israel Antiquities Authority, P.O.B 586, Jerusalem 91004, Israel.
¹⁸ Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA.
¹⁹ Laboratory of Bioanthropology and Ancient DNA, Institute of Dental Sciences, Faculty of Dental Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 9112001, Israel.
²⁰ University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
²¹ The Nelson Glueck School of Biblical Archaeology, Hebrew Union College, Jerusalem 9410125, Israel.
²² Department of Statistics, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 9190501, Israel.
²³ Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria. Electronic address: ron.pinhasi@univie.ac.at.
²⁴ Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel. Electronic address: shai.carmi@mail.huji.ac.il.
²⁵ Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel. Electronic address: fink2@tauex.tau.ac.il.
²⁶ Department of Genetics, The Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, Faculty of Science, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Edmond J. Safra Campus, Givat Ram, Jerusalem 9190401, Israel. Electronic address: liran.carmel@huji.ac.il.
²⁷ Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. Electronic address: reich@genetics.med.harvard.edu.

Abstract

We report genome-wide DNA data for 73 individuals from five archaeological sites across the Bronze and Iron Ages Southern Levant. These individuals, who share the "Canaanite" material culture, can be modeled as descending from two sources: (1) earlier local Neolithic populations and (2) populations related to the Chalcolithic Zagros or the Bronze Age Caucasus. The non-local contribution increased over time, as evinced by three outliers who can be modeled as descendants of recent migrants. We show evidence that different "Canaanite" groups genetically resemble each other more than other populations. We find that Levant-related modern populations typically have substantial ancestry coming from populations related to the Chalcolithic Zagros and the Bronze Age Southern Levant. These groups also harbor ancestry from sources we cannot fully model with the available data, highlighting the critical role of post-Bronze-Age migrations into the region over the past 3,000 years.

Keywords: Abel Beth Maacah; Baq‛ah; Tel Megiddo; Tel Shadud; Yehud; ancient DNA; archaeology; demographic inference; genetic ancestry; population genetics.

Publication types

Historical Article
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Archaeology / methods
DNA, Ancient / analysis*
DNA, Mitochondrial / genetics
Ethnicity / genetics*
Ethnicity / history
Gene Flow / genetics*
Gene Flow / physiology
Genetic Variation / genetics
Genetics, Population / methods
Genome, Human / genetics
Genomics / methods
Haplotypes
History, Ancient
Human Migration / history
Humans
Mediterranean Region
Middle East
Sequence Analysis, DNA

Substances

DNA, Ancient
DNA, Mitochondrial

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

Grants and funding