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Ancient Dog diversity for five regions of Eurasia for pre-Neolithic period and during/after the Neolithic transition

Near Eastern Neolithic farmers introduced several species of domestic plants and animals as they dispersed into Europe. Dogs were the only domestic species present in both Europe and the Near East prior to the Neolithic. Here, we assessed whether early Near Eastern dogs possessed a unique mitochondrial lineage that differentiated them from Mesolithic European populations. We then analysed mitochondrial DNA sequences from 99 ancient European and Near Eastern dogs spanning the Upper Palaeolithic to the Bronze Age to assess if incoming farmers brought Near Eastern dogs with them, or instead primarily adopted indigenous European dogs after they arrived. Our results show that European pre-Neolithic dogs all possessed the mitochondrial haplogroup C, and that the Neolithic and Post-Neolithic dogs associated with farmers from Southeastern Europe mainly possessed haplogroup D. Thus, the appearance of haplogroup D most probably resulted from the dissemination of dogs from the Near East into Europe. In Western and Northern Europe, the turnover is incomplete and C haplogroup persists well into the Chalcolithic at least. These results suggest that dogs were an integral component of the Neolithic farming package and a mitochondrial lineage associated with the Near East was introduced into Europe alongside pigs, cows, sheep and goats. It got diluted into the native dog population when reaching the Western and Northern margins of Europe.

Confidence intervals (according to Simon's method) of observed frequencies of Hg D in Europe and Southeastern Europe, before and during/after the neolithization

Archaeological sites, location, radiometric and cultural dating and ancient DNA results for the 99 ancient dogs analyzed in this study

Ancient Dog population structure for five regions of Eurasia for pre-Neolithic period and during/after the Neolithic transition

Supplementary text S1 - S1, supplementary tables S1 - S3 and supplementary figures S1 - S2

Archeological sites distribution in seven subgroups following chrono-cultural and geographical sub-division. Numbers refer to archeological sites defined in Table S1.

This paper discusses an aquatic reservoir effect present in Mesolithic human bone samples from the Iron Gates section of the River Danube. Its magnitude has been calculated from a comparison of the 14C ages of human bones and terrestrial mammal bones from Schela Cladovei, equivalent to 545±70 years for a 100% aquatic diet. From this, using the δ15N value of human bone collagen to estimate the proportion of aquatic food in diet, a correction factor can be applied to the human bone 14C ages. Reservoir correction makes the resultant 14C age less precise but more accurate. The reservoir effect is derived from the inclusion of aquatic resources from the River Danube in the diets of the Mesolithic inhabitants. On the basis that the Black Sea became marine around 7400 cal BC, the possibility that part of the reservoir effect derives from anadromous fish species cannot be discounted. Human remains are abundant in the Iron Gates sites and therefore potentially important for construction of archaeological chronologies. Our ability to correct for the aquatic reservoir affect has important implications for establishing accurate chronologies, especially at the Mesolithic–Neolithic transition, which was marked by a significant change in diet and subsistence.