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The Middle Neolithic in western Europe is characterized by monumental funerary structures, known as megaliths, along the Atlantic façade. The first manifestations of this phenomenon occurred in modern-day France with the long mounds of the Cerny culture. Here, we present genome-wide data from the fifth-millennium BCE site of Fleury-sur-Orne in Normandy (France), famous for its impressively long monuments built for selected individuals. The site encompasses 32 monuments of variable sizes, containing the burials of 19 individuals from the Neolithic period. To address who was buried at the site, we generated genome-wide data for 14 individuals, of whom 13 are males, completing previously published data [M. Rivollat et al., Sci. Adv. 6, eaaz5344 (2020)]. Population genetic and Y chromosome analyses show that the Fleury-sur-Orne group fits within western European Neolithic genetic diversity and that the arrival of a new group is detected after 4,000 calibrated BCE. The results of analyzing uniparentally inherited markers and an overall low number of long runs of homozygosity suggest a patrilineal group practicing female exogamy. We find two pairs of individuals to be father and son, buried together in the same monument/grave. No other biological relationship can link monuments together, suggesting that each monument was dedicated to a genetically independent lineage. The combined data and documented father–son line of descent suggest a male-mediated transmission of sociopolitical authority. However, a single female buried with an arrowhead, otherwise considered a symbol of power of the male elite of the Cerny culture, questions a strictly biological sex bias in the burial rites of this otherwise “masculine” monumental cemetery. Data Overview Genetic Identity, Demographic History Genetic Relatedness, Spatial Organization, and Social Inferences Concluding Remarks Materials and Methods

The bacterial pathogen Yersinia pestis gave rise to devastating outbreaks throughout human history, and ancient DNA evidence has shown it afflicted human populations as far back as the Neolithic. Y. pestis genomes recovered from the Eurasian Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age (LNBA) period have uncovered key evolutionary steps that led to its emergence from a Yersinia pseudotuberculosis-like progenitor; however, the number of reconstructed LNBA genomes are too few to explore its diversity during this critical period of development. Here, we present 17 Y. pestis genomes dating to 5,000 to 2,500 y BP from a wide geographic expanse across Eurasia. This increased dataset enabled us to explore correlations between temporal, geographical, and genetic distance. Our results suggest a nonflea-adapted and potentially extinct single lineage that persisted over millennia without significant parallel diversification, accompanied by rapid dispersal across continents throughout this period, a trend not observed in other pathogens for which ancient genomes are available. A stepwise pattern of gene loss provides further clues on its early evolution and potential adaptation. We also discover the presence of the flea-adapted form of Y. pestis in Bronze Age Iberia, previously only identified in in the Caucasus and the Volga regions, suggesting a much wider geographic spread of this form of Y. pestis. Together, these data reveal the dynamic nature of plague’s formative years in terms of its early evolution and ecology.

In 2005 four outstanding multiple burials were discovered near Eulau, Germany. The 4,600-year-old graves contained groups of adults and children buried facing each other. Skeletal and artifactual evidence and the simultaneous interment of the individuals suggest the supposed families fell victim to a violent event. In a multidisciplinary approach, archaeological, anthropological, geochemical (radiogenic isotopes), and molecular genetic (ancient DNA) methods were applied to these unique burials. Using autosomal, mitochondrial, and Y-chromosomal markers, we identified genetic kinship among the individuals. A direct child-parent relationship was detected in one burial, providing the oldest molecular genetic evidence of a nuclear family. Strontium isotope analyses point to different origins for males and children versus females. By this approach, we gain insight into a Late Stone Age society, which appears to have been exogamous and patrilocal, and in which genetic kinship seems to be a focal point of social organization.

Lactase persistence (LP), the dominant Mendelian trait conferring the ability to digest the milk sugar lactose in adults, has risen to high frequency in central and northern Europeans in the last 20,000 years. This trait is likely to have conferred a selective advantage in individuals who consume appreciable amounts of unfermented milk. Some have argued for the “culture-historical hypothesis,” whereby LP alleles were rare until the advent of dairying early in the Neolithic but then rose rapidly in frequency under natural selection. Others favor the “reverse cause hypothesis,” whereby dairying was adopted in populations with preadaptive high LP allele frequencies. Analysis based on the conservation of lactase gene haplotypes indicates a recent origin and high selection coefficients for LP, although it has not been possible to say whether early Neolithic European populations were lactase persistent at appreciable frequencies. We developed a stepwise strategy for obtaining reliable nuclear ancient DNA from ancient skeletons, based on ( i ) the selection of skeletons from archaeological sites that showed excellent biomolecular preservation, ( ii ) obtaining highly reproducible human mitochondrial DNA sequences, and ( iii ) reliable short tandem repeat (STR) genotypes from the same specimens. By applying this experimental strategy, we have obtained high-confidence LP-associated genotypes from eight Neolithic and one Mesolithic human remains, using a range of strict criteria for ancient DNA work. We did not observe the allele most commonly associated with LP in Europeans, thus providing evidence for the culture-historical hypothesis, and indicating that LP was rare in early European farmers.