HONG KONG: For the first time, researchers have analysed ancient DNA taken from humans who lived before, during, and after the agricultural revolution, allowing them to map how our ancestors’ genomes changed in response to societal shifts.
It’s long been known that farming changed humans forever, right down to our DNA, but until now those changes have been pieced together by looking at genetic variations in today’s populations, which are simply echoes of what happened back then. The new research, however, allows scientists to see those changes almost in real time.
“It allows us to put a time and date on [natural] selection and to directly associate selection with specific environmental changes,” said lead researcher Iain Mathieson from Harvard Medical School. “In this case the development of agriculture and the expansion of the first farmers into Europe.”
Using new extraction techniques, Mathieson and his team were able to take DNA from ancient human remains and create a genetic database of 230 ancient humans who lived across Europe between 2,300 and 8,500 years ago.
By analysing these genomes, they were able to identify 12 specific genome regions that changed during, and also after, the transition from hunter-gatherer communities to farming.
Unsurprisingly, many of those variations were located on or near genes that are associated with height, the ability to digest lactose, fatty acid metabolism, light skin pigmentation, and blue eye colour – all traits that have previously been linked to our transition to agriculture-based societies.
