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Ancient genomes show social and reproductive behavior of early Upper Palaeolithic foragers

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

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Type

Article

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Authors

Sikora, M 
Seguin-Orlando, A 
Sousa, VC 
Albrechtsen, A 
Korneliussen, T 

Abstract

Present-day hunter-gatherers (HGs) live in multilevel social groups essential to sustain a population structure characterized by limited levels of within-band relatedness and inbreeding. When these wider social networks evolved among HGs is unknown. Here, we investigate whether the contemporary HG strategy was already present in the Upper Paleolithic (UP), using complete genome sequences from Sunghir, a site dated to ~34 thousand years BP (kya) containing multiple anatomically modern human (AMH) individuals. Wedemonstrate that individuals at Sunghir derive from a population of small effective size, with limited kinship and levels of inbreeding similar to HG populations. Our findings suggest that UP social organization was similar to that of living HGs, with limited relatedness within residential groups embedded in a larger mating network.

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Keywords

DNA, Ancient, Genome, Human, History, Ancient, Humans, Population Density, Reproductive Behavior, Russia, Social Behavior

Journal Title

Science

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0036-8075
1095-9203

Volume Title

358

Publisher

American Association for the Advancement of Science
Sponsorship
European Research Council (295907)
European Commission Horizon 2020 (H2020) Marie Sk?odowska-Curie actions (656325)
European Research Council (647787)
European Commission (322261)