Ancient DNA reveals disease spread equally among farmers and foragers
Researchers analyzing 5,000-year-old remains from Sweden found that plague bacteria infected both Neolithic farmers and hunter-gatherers living side by side, suggesting pathogens crossed cultural boundaries regardless of lifestyle. The discovery reshapes understanding of how infectious diseases propagated in early societies and hints at closer contact between these groups than previously believed.
Originaltitel: Ancestry, admixture, and pathogens in contemporaneous Neolithic farmers and foragers on the Island of Gotland.
Genetisk forskning från Gotland under yngre stenåldern visar att såväl jordbrukare som fiskare var exponerade för pestbakterier — en upptäckt som kan omvärdera hur forskare modellerar patogeners spridning i förhistoriska samhällen. Uppsala universitet analyserade DNA från sex jordbrukare från traktbärkulturen och 19 fiskare från gropkeramikkulturen som levde parallellt omkring 3300–2800 f.Kr. Resultaten visar att olika stammar av Yersinia pestis cirkulerade bland båda grupperna trots skilda livsmedel och möjligen begränsad genetisk blandning. Magdalena Fraser och hennes team detekterade på grund av höga genomsekvenser att genflöde mellan grupperna var minimallt före deras koexistens. Upptäckten ställer nya krav på hur infektionsmodeller konstrueras för småsamhällen och möjliggör framtida studier av sjukdoms- och populationsdynamik i tidiga lantbrukssamhällen.
Two archaeological cultural complexes; the Neolithic Funnelbeaker culture (FBC) and the Pitted ware culture (PWC), coexisted on Gotland for over 500 years, between ~3300 and 2800 calBCE. The ancestry of the FBC farmers and PWC marine foragers largely aligns with European Neolithic Farmers and European Mesolithic foragers, respectively, but the direct interactions between the groups on Gotland is not understood. We present a Middle Neolithic (MN) high-coverage genome and a Late Neolithic (LN) low-coverage genome from the Ansarve FBC dolmen. We investigate ancestry, admixture, and pathogens among these MN farmers (n = 6), foragers (n = 19), and the LN individual. We find that recent gene-flow between farmers and foragers could have taken place, although most gene-flow happened prior to their coexistence on the island. We also find evidence of different Yersinia pestis strains in the three cultural groups, showing that the pestis was widespread among groups with different subsistence strategies.