Researchers are digging into the 7,500 or so years of modern Europe's genetic history. Scientists at the University of Adelaide's Australian Centre for Ancient DNA (ACAD) have recently recovered "ancient DNA" from a number of skeletons in central Germany, material that has led them to new discoveries concerning a genetic shift that occurred about 4,500 years ago.
The ACAD team's findings revealed a series of events in ancient Europe that had far reaching effects on human evolution.
"This is the first high-resolution genetic record of these lineages through time, and it is fascinating that we can directly observe both human DNA evolving in 'real-time', and the dramatic population changes that have taken place in Europe," said author Wolfgang Haak in a press release. "We can follow over 4000 years of prehistory, from the earliest farmers through the early Bronze Age to modern times."
Apparently, thousands of years ago an inherited genetic group known as "Haplogroup H" was comprised of the first farmers in Central Europe. This group of people were the result of a mass migration that took place in Turkey and the Near East, arriving in Germany around 7,500 years ago.
The scientists are still searching for a evidence concerning an elusive genetic shift that occurred about 3,000 years later.
"What is intriguing is that the genetic markers of this first pan-European culture, which was clearly very successful, were then suddenly replaced about 4,500 years ago, and we don't know why," said researcher Alan Cooper. "Something major happened, and the hunt is now on to find out what that was."
This shift somehow led to the genetic foundations of modern Europe, making it important that the researchers continue to dig further. To conduct this research, the ACAD team has been developing entirely new methods of molecular biology to sequence the mitochondrial genomes in the skeletons.
The study was published in the journal Nature Communications.