A federal origin of Stone Age farming

The transition from hunter-gatherer to sedentary farming 10,000 years ago occurred in multiple neighbouring but genetically distinct populations according to research by an international team including UCL. 'It had been widely assumed that these first farmers were from a single, genetically homogeneous population. However, we've found that there were deep genetic differences in these early farming populations, indicating very distinct ancestries,' said corresponding author Dr Garrett Hellenthal, UCL Genetics. The study examined ancient DNA from some of the world's first farmers from the Zagros region of Iran and found it to be very different from the genomes of early farmers from the Aegean and Europe. The team identified similarities between the Neolithic farmer's DNA and that of living people from southern Asia, including from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and Iranian Zoroastrians in particular. 'We know that farming technologies, including various domestic plants and animals, arose across the Fertile Crescent, with no particular centre' added co-author Professor Mark Thomas, UCL Genetics, Evolution & Environment. 'But to find that this region was made up of highly genetically distinct farming populations was something of a surprise.