1. An integrative skeletal and paleogenomic analysis of prehistoric stature variation suggests relatively reduced health for early European farmers
- Author
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László Domboróczki, Müller W, Rimantas Jankauskas, Stephanie Marciniak, Joachim Wahl, Gunita Zariņa, David Reich, Krisztián Kiss, Beatriz Gamarra, Cristian Virag, Mario Novak, Longhi C, Angela Simalcsik, Ana Mercedes Herrero-Corral, Szeverényi, Agata Hałuszko, George H. Perry, Miliauskienė Ž, Ágnes Király, Tamás Szeniczey, Ron Pinhasi, Velemínský P, Rafael Garrido-Pena, Ana Maria Silva, Flores-Fernández R, Alison Sheridan, Moiseyev, Barbara Veselka, Kitti Köhler, Tamás Hajdu, Mirosław Furmanek, Magdolna Hellebrandt, Giuseppe Vercellotti, Olivia Cheronet, Jan Kolář, Zoffmann Zk, Christina M. Bergey, von Cramon-Taubadel N, and Judit Koós
- Subjects
2. Zero hunger ,0303 health sciences ,education.field_of_study ,060101 anthropology ,Osteology ,Population ,06 humanities and the arts ,Biology ,medicine.disease ,Prehistory ,03 medical and health sciences ,Ancient DNA ,Iron Age ,medicine ,Upper Paleolithic ,0601 history and archaeology ,education ,Mesolithic ,030304 developmental biology ,Porotic hyperostosis ,Demography - Abstract
Human culture, biology, and health were shaped dramatically by the onset of agriculture ~12,000 years before present (BP). Subsistence shifts from hunting and gathering to agriculture are hypothesized to have resulted in increased individual fitness and population growth as evidenced by archaeological and population genomic data alongside a simultaneous decline in physiological health as inferred from paleopathological analyses and stature reconstructions of skeletal remains. A key component of the health decline inference is that relatively shorter statures observed for early farmers may (at least partly) reflect higher childhood disease burdens and poorer nutrition. However, while such stresses can indeed result in growth stunting, height is also highly heritable, and substantial inter-individual variation in the height genetic component within a population is typical. Moreover, extensive migration and gene flow were characteristics of multiple agricultural transitions worldwide. Here, we consider both osteological and ancient DNA data from the same prehistoric individuals to comprehensively study the trajectory of human stature variation as a proxy for health across a transition to agriculture. Specifically, we compared ‘predicted’ genetic contributions to height from paleogenomic data and ‘achieved’ adult osteological height estimated from long bone measurements on a per-individual basis for n=160 ancient Europeans from sites spanning the Upper Paleolithic to the Iron Age (~38,000-2,400 BP). We found that individuals from the Neolithic were shorter than expected (given their individual polygenic height scores) by an average of −4.47 cm relative to individuals from the Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic (P=0.016). The average osteological vs. expected stature then increased relative to the Neolithic over the Copper (+2.67 cm, P=0.052), Bronze (+3.33 cm, P=0.032), and Iron Ages (+3.95 cm, P=0.094). These results were partly attenuated when we accounted for genome-wide genetic ancestry variation in our sample (which we note is partly duplicative with the individual polygenic score information). For example, in this secondary analysis Neolithic individuals were −3.48 cm shorter than expected on average relative to individuals from the Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic (P=0.056). We also incorporated observations of paleopathological indicators of non-specific stress that can persist from childhood to adulthood in skeletal remains (linear enamel hypoplasia, cribra orbitalia, and porotic hyperostosis) into our model. Overall, our work highlights the potential of integrating disparate datasets to explore proxies of health in prehistory.
- Published
- 2021