Genetic history from the Middle Neolithic to present on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia
Joseph Marcus, Cosimo Posth, Harald Ringbauer, Luca Lai, Robin Skeates, Carlo Sidore, Jessica Beckett, Anja Furtwängler, Anna Olivieri, Charleston W. K. Chiang, Hussein Al-Asadi, Kushal K. Dey, Tyler Joseph, Chi‐Chun Liu, Clio Der Sarkissian, Rita Radzevičiūtė, Megan Michel, Maria Giuseppina Gradoli, Patrizia Marongiu, Salvatore Rubino, Vittorio Mazzarello, Daniela Rovina, Alessandra La Fragola, Rita Serra, Pasquale Bandiera, Raffaella Bianucci, Elisa Pompianu, Clizia Murgia, Michele Guirguis, Rosana Pla Orquin, Noreen Tuross, Peter van Dommelen, Wolfgang Haak, David Reich, David Schlessinger, Francesco Cucca, Johannes Krause, John Novembre
Abstract
The island of Sardinia has been of particular interest to geneticists for decades. The current model for Sardinia's genetic history describes the island as harboring a founder population that was established largely from the Neolithic peoples of southern Europe and remained isolated from later Bronze Age expansions on the mainland. To evaluate this model, we generate genome-wide ancient DNA data for 70 individuals from 21 Sardinian archaeological sites spanning the Middle Neolithic through the Medieval period. The earliest individuals show a strong affinity to western Mediterranean Neolithic populations, followed by an extended period of genetic continuity on the island through the Nuragic period (second millennium BCE). Beginning with individuals from Phoenician/Punic sites (first millennium BCE), we observe spatially-varying signals of admixture with sources principally from the eastern and northern Mediterranean. Overall, our analysis sheds light on the genetic history of Sardinia, revealing how relationships to mainland populations shifted over time.