A Common Genetic Origin for Early Farmers from Mediterranean Cardial and Central European LBK Cultures

Iñigo Olalde, Hannes Schroeder, Marcela Sandoval-Velasco, Lasse Vinner, Irene Lobón, Oscar Ramirez, Sergi Civit, Pablo García Borja, Domingo C. Salazar-García, Sahra Talamo, Josep María Fullola, Francesc Xavier Oms, Mireia Pedro, Pablo Martínez, Montserrat Sanz, Joan Daura, João Zilhão, Tomàs Marquès-Bonet, M. Thomas P. Gilbert, Carles Lalueza-Fox

The spread of farming out of the Balkans and into the rest of Europe followed two distinct routes: an initial expansion represented by the Impressa and Cardial traditions, which followed the Northern Mediterranean coastline; and another expansion represented by the LBK tradition, which followed the Danube River into Central Europe. While genomic data now exist from samples representing the second migration, such data have yet to be successfully generated from the initial Mediterranean migration. To address this, we generated the complete genome of a 7,400 year-old Cardial individual (CB13) from Cova Bonica in Vallirana (Barcelona), as well as partial nuclear data from five others excavated from different sites in Spain and Portugal. CB13 clusters with all previously sequenced early European farmers and modern-day Sardinians. Furthermore, our analyses suggest that both Cardial and LBK peoples derived from a common ancient population located in or around the Balkan Peninsula. The Iberian Cardial genome also carries a discernible hunter-gatherer genetic signature that likely was not acquired by admixture with local Iberian foragers. Our results indicate that retrieving ancient genomes from similarly warm Mediterranean environments such as the Near East is technically feasible.