MADRID, SPAIN—For the first time, scientists from the Institute of Evolutionary Biology, the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, and the Center for GeoGenetics in Denmark have sequenced the genome of a Neolithic farmer whose remains were recovered from a cave near Barcelona. Some 8,000 years ago, the first farmers to enter Europe came from the Near East—some traveled into Central Europe on the Danube River, and their DNA has been recovered. Others followed the Mediterranean coast and reached the Iberian Peninsula, but climatic conditions in Southern Europe have made the recovery of ancient genetic material from this region difficult. “The sequencing of this genome has been possible thanks to new advances in both techniques of ancient DNA extraction, building of and construction techniques of genomic libraries and massive sequencing; from an experimental point of view, it has been quite challenging,” team member Iñigo Olalde said in a press release. This DNA, extracted from the tooth of a woman who lived some 7,400 years ago, shows that she had light skin and dark eyes and hair. She was also descended from an ancestral population common to the group who traveled along the Danube. To read about tools used around this time, go to "Neolithic Toolkit."
