UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

Reconstructing Prehistoric African Population Structure

Skoglund, P; Thompson, JC; Prendergast, ME; Mittnik, A; Sirak, K; Hajdinjak, M; Salie, T; ... Reich, D; + view all (2017) Reconstructing Prehistoric African Population Structure. Cell , 171 (1) 59-71.e21. 10.1016/j.cell.2017.08.049. Green open access

[thumbnail of Skoglund_Reconstructing_Prehistoric_African_Population_Structure.pdf]
Preview
Text
Skoglund_Reconstructing_Prehistoric_African_Population_Structure.pdf - Accepted Version

Download (3MB) | Preview

Abstract

We assembled genome-wide data from 16 prehistoric Africans. We show that the anciently divergent lineage that comprises the primary ancestry of the southern African San had a wider distribution in the past, contributing approximately two-thirds of the ancestry of Malawi hunter-gatherers ∼8,100–2,500 years ago and approximately one-third of the ancestry of Tanzanian hunter-gatherers ∼1,400 years ago. We document how the spread of farmers from western Africa involved complete replacement of local hunter-gatherers in some regions, and we track the spread of herders by showing that the population of a ∼3,100-year-old pastoralist from Tanzania contributed ancestry to people from northeastern to southern Africa, including a ∼1,200-year-old southern African pastoralist. The deepest diversifications of African lineages were complex, involving either repeated gene flow among geographically disparate groups or a lineage more deeply diverging than that of the San contributing more to some western African populations than to others. We finally leverage ancient genomes to document episodes of natural selection in southern African populations.

Type: Article
Title: Reconstructing Prehistoric African Population Structure
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2017.08.049
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2017.08.049
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: Africa, population history, hunter-gatherers, ancient DNA, population genetics, adaptation, natural selection
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > Div of Biosciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > Div of Biosciences > Genetics, Evolution and Environment
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS > Institute of Archaeology
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS > Institute of Archaeology > Institute of Archaeology Gordon Square
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10022853
Downloads since deposit
205Downloads
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item