new ancient DNA study in LBK

[secherbernard]

A new study from Haak: "Ancient DNA from European Early Neolithic Farmers Reveals Their Near Eastern Affinities" see http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1000536
The interesting point is the Y-DNA test on 3 LBK samples from Germany: one is G2a3, the 2 others are F*.
The paper emphasizes the absence of R1b and R1a among this LBK population.

[rms2]

Interesting report. I think one of the great dangers of ancient DNA work is that two or three y-dna results can suddenly assume great significance simply because we don't have much else to go on.

And it's entirely possible, especially given such low numbers of results, that a trick of fate, an accidental circumstance, could have arranged it so that only certain skeletons yielded testable y-dna. Well, in fact, that is what happened in this case, isn't it? The scientists were only able to get y-dna from three individuals.

What if those three were the oddballs, and their results are fooling us into thinking something that just isn't the case?

[OConnor]

They mention R's in the Late-Neolithic.


"The few published ancient Y chromosome results from Central Europe come from late Neolithic sites and were exclusively hg R1a [31]. While speculative, we suggest this supports the idea that R1a may have spread with late Neolithic cultures from the east"
 http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1000536