Mitochondrial DNA sequences in prehistoric human remains from the Alps

The spread of agriculture that started in the Near East about 10000 years a go caused a dramatic change in the European archaeological record. It is st ill unclear if that change was caused mostly by movement of people or by cu ltural transformations. In particular, there is disagreement on what propor tion of the current European gene pool is derived either from the pre-agric ultural, paleolithic and mesolithic people, or from neolithic farmers immig rating from the south-east. To begin to characterise the mtDNA gene pool of prehistoric Europe we examined five human remains from the Eastern Italian Alps, dated between 14000 and 3000 years ago. Three of them yielded suffic ient amount of mtDNA for analysis. DNA extracts were prepared in two indepe ndent laboratories, and PCR products from the first hypervariable segment o f the mtDNA control region were cloned and sequenced. Together with the 520 0 year old 'ice man', these DNA sequences show that European mtDNA diversit y was already high at the beginning of the neolithic period. All the neolit hic sequences have been observed in contemporary Europeans, suggesting gene alogical continuity between the neolithic and present-day European mtDNA ge ne pool. The mtDNA sequence from a 14000 year-old specimen was not observed in any contemporary Europeans, raising the possibility of a lack of contin uity between the mesolithic and present-day European gene pools.