Millennial Range
Genomic history of early dogs in Europe
Anders Bergström et al.
Nature, 26 March 2026, Pages 986-994
Abstract:
The earliest morphologically identifiable dogs are from Europe and date to at least 14,000 years ago, although early remains are also found in other regions. The origin of early dogs in Europe, and their relationships to other dogs, has remained elusive in the absence of genome-wide data. Similarly, although dogs were the only domestic animal to predate agriculture, little is known about how the arrival of Neolithic farmers from Southwest Asia affected the dogs living with European Mesolithic hunter-gatherers. Here we analysed 216 canid remains, including 181 from Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Europe. We developed a genome-wide capture approach that enriched endogenous DNA by 10–100-fold and could distinguish dog from wolf ancestry for 141 of 216 remains. The oldest dog data that we recovered are from a 14,200-year-old dog from the Kesslerloch site in Switzerland, and we find that it shares ancestry with later worldwide dogs -- inconsistent with the hypothesis that European Upper Palaeolithic dogs derived wholly from a separate domestication process. The Kesslerloch dog already displays more affinity to Mesolithic, Neolithic and present-day European dogs than to Asian dogs, demonstrating that dog genetic diversification had started well before 14,200 years ago. We find a Neolithic influx of Southwest Asian ancestry into Europe, but this seems to have been of smaller magnitude than in humans, suggesting that Mesolithic dogs contributed substantially to Neolithic, and, ultimately, probably also modern, European dogs.
Dogs were widely distributed across western Eurasia during the Palaeolithic
William Marsh et al.
Nature, 26 March 2026, Pages 995-1003
Abstract:
Archaeological evidence suggests that dogs diverged from wolves during the Palaeolithic, more than 15,000 years ago. The earliest unequivocal genetic evidence, however, is associated with dog remains from Mesolithic archaeological contexts approximately 10,900 years ago. Here we generate both nuclear and mitochondrial genomes from canid remains at Pınarbaşı in Türkiye (15,800 years ago) and Gough’s Cave in the UK (14,300 years ago), as well as from dogs excavated from two Mesolithic sites in Serbia (Padina between 11,500–7,900 years ago and Vlasac 8,900 years ago). Our analyses indicate that a genetically homogeneous dog population was already widely distributed across Europe and Anatolia during the Late Upper Palaeolithic (by at least 14,300 years ago). This finding suggests that dogs were exchanged among genetically and culturally distinct western Eurasian Late Palaeolithic human populations, namely the Magdalenian, Epigravettian and Anatolian hunter-gatherers. Last, we identify a major influx of eastern Eurasian dog ancestry during the Mesolithic, concomitant with the movement of eastern hunter-gatherer populations into Europe, which led to the establishment of the primary ancestry characteristics that define European dog populations today.
A mid-Holocene age for Monte Verde challenges the timeline of human colonization of South America
Todd Surovell et al.
Science, 19 March 2026, Pages 1283-1288
Abstract:
Our understanding of the timing of the human colonization of South America has been anchored by the Monte Verde II site in Chile, reported to date to ~14,500 years before the present (B.P.) and regarded as one of the most secure pre-Clovis archeological sites. We report the first independent investigation of Monte Verde in the nearly 50 years since initial excavations. We argue that radiocarbon and luminescence dates from alluvial exposures, in combination with the identification of a tephra dated to 11,000 years B.P. stratigraphically underlying the archaeological component, suggest that Monte Verde cannot be older than the Middle Holocene (8200 to 4200 years B.P.). With colonization no longer anchored by Monte Verde, our revised chronology supports a more recent date of human arrival to South America.
An Early Miocene ape from the biogeographic crossroads of African and Eurasian Hominoidea
Shorouq Al-Ashqar et al.
Science, 26 March 2026, Pages 1383-1386
Abstract:
The Early Miocene fossil record documenting hominoid evolution has long been restricted primarily to sites in East Africa, whereas contemporaneous North African sites have only yielded remains of cercopithecoid monkeys. Here, we describe a fossil ape from North Africa, a new genus (Masripithecus) from the Early Miocene (~17 million to 18 million years) of northern Egypt, on the basis of mandibular remains. A combined molecular-morphological Bayesian tip-dating analysis positions Masripithecus closer to crown hominoids than coeval fossil apes from East Africa, thereby filling a phylogenetic and biogeographic gap in the evolution of stem hominoids. This evidence suggests that crown Hominoidea might have originated during the Early Miocene in the underexplored northeastern part of Afro-Arabia, rather than in eastern Africa or Eurasia.
Antibacterial properties of experimentally produced birch tar and its medicinal affordances in the Pleistocene
Tjaark Siemssen et al.
PLoS ONE, March 2026
Abstract:
Birch tar is well-documented for its use as an adhesive in the Middle Palaeolithic of Europe, but other uses remain poorly explored. Drawing from recent arguments suggesting multimodal uses of products such as ochre and birch tar, this study tests the antibiotic properties of birch tar produced experimentally with methods reconstructed from Middle Palaeolithic birch tar finds from Europe. Made from the bark of Betula pendula and Betula pubescens, widely documented for the European Late Pleistocene, we produced birch tar samples using an underground pit method, a condensation method, and a modern tin can method. The birch tar samples were tested for antibiotic properties using the modified Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion antibiotic assay. The resulting inhibition zones, ranging from no effect to 10.5 ± 0.7 mm with a mean of 7.5 ± 0.17 mm, indicate a moderate effect against the Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus, a bacterium widely known for its role in wound infections. We further establish that the efficacy of antibiotic properties is not related to the production method, with all methods showing a degree of variation. This supports a coevolutionary relationship between medicinal and technological use and production of birch tar during the Pleistocene. The antibiotic properties documented in this study are consistent with the use of birch tar as a wound dressing and skin ointment in Mi’kmaq communities in Eastern Canada, and the use of birch tar in Saami communities of Lapland. Arguing from an underexplored angle between experimental archaeology and ethnopharmacology, we suggest that similar to the ethnographic examples, a use of birch tar beyond exclusively technological contexts must be considered for the Middle Palaeolithic.
Ancient DNA reveals 4000 years of grapevine diversity, viticulture and clonal propagation in France
Rémi Noraz et al.
Nature Communications, March 2026
Abstract:
Wine production has deep historical roots in France, yet the biological foundations of early viticulture remain elusive. We report genome-wide ancient DNA data from 49 archaeological grape pips spanning ~4000 years, from the Bronze Age to the Medieval period, primarily focusing on France. Population genetic analyses reveal the genetic makeup of wild local grapevines in the Bronze Age and the early use of domesticated grapevines by ~625-500 BCE. Roman-era genomes reflect long-distance exchange from Iberian, Balkan, Levantine, and Caucasian domesticated varieties. Vegetative propagation, evidenced by genetically identical clones across sites and centuries, emerged by the mid-Iron Age and became a pillar of viticultural practice. Remarkably, one Medieval sample from Valenciennes is genetically identical to modern ‘Pinot Noir’, demonstrating clonal continuity over nearly 600 years. This study traces the introduction, integration and spread of diverse grapevine ancestries that have contributed to shape the varietal landscape of French viticulture.