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Peer-reviewedCC BYScience Advances

Early Gravettian genomic data from Western Europe reveal population movements before the LGM

  • Pere Gelabert1,2
  • Susanna Sawyer1,2
  • Vanessa Villalba-Mouco3
  • Olivia Cheronet1,2
  • Victoria Oberreiter2,4
  • Diego Gárate5
  • Christian Normand6,7
  • Lawrence G. Straus8,9
  • Manuel R. González Morales5
  • Igor Gutiérrez-Zugasti5
  • David Cuenca-Solana5,10
  • Joëlle Darricau11
25 more authors
  • Henry de Lumley12,13
  • José-Miguel Tejero1,2,14
  • Mareike Stahlschmidt1,2
  • Thomas Higham1,2
  • Maddalena Giannì1,2
  • Laura G. van der Sluis1,2
  • Carla Gómez-Montes1,2,9
  • Miriam Ibáñez-Herranz9
  • Michelle Hämmerle1,2
  • Brina Zagorc1,2,15
  • Florian Exler1
  • Florian Brück1
  • Stefan Franz1
  • Fernanda Tenorio Cano1
  • Kristin Stewardson16,17
  • Lijun Qiu16,17
  • Ana B. Marín-Arroyo9
  • Michaela Lucci18
  • Alessia Nava19
  • Francesco Genchi20
  • Donato Coppola21
  • Chiara La Marca22
  • Alfredo Coppa1,23,24
  • David Reich16,17,25,26
  • Ron Pinhasi1,2,27,28
28 affiliations
  1. 1Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
  2. 2Human Evolution and Archaeological Sciences (HEAS), University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
  3. 3Institute of Evolutionary Biology, CSIC-Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain.
  4. 4University of Veterinary Medicine, Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, Savoyenstraße 1, 1160 Vienna, Austria.
  5. 5Instituto Internacional de Investigaciones Prehistóricas de Cantabria (Universidad de Cantabria, Gobierno de Cantabria, Banco Santander), Santander, Spain.
  6. 6Univ. Toulouse Jean Jaurès, TRACES UMR 5608, Maison de la Recherche, 5, Allée Antonio Machado, 31058 Toulouse cedex 9, France.
  7. 7Association Eusko Arkeologia, Jauregia, 64120 Larceveau-Arros-Cibits, France.
  8. 8Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA.
  9. 9Grupo I+D+i EvoAdapta, Departamento de Ciencias Históricas, Universidad de Cantabria, Santander, Spain.
  10. 10Centre de Recherche en Archéologie, Archéosciences, Histoire (CReAAH), UMR 6566, Rennes, France.
  11. 11Association Gaztelu, Oxocelhaya Borda, F-64640 Saint-Martin-d’Arberoue, France.
  12. 12Institut de Paléontologie Humaine (IPH), Fondation Albert-1Er Prince de Monaco, Paris, France.
  13. 13Centre Européen de Recherches Préhistoriques de Tautavel (CERPT), Tautavel, France.
  14. 14Seminari d’Estudis i Recerques Prehistòriques (SERP), University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
  15. 15Institute of Anthropological and Spatial Studies, Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of the Sciences and Arts, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
  16. 16Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
  17. 17Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
  18. 18Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
  19. 19Department of Odontostomatological and Maxillofacial Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
  20. 20Department of Oriental Studies, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
  21. 21Museo di Civiltà preclassiche della Murgia meridionale, Ostuni 72017, Italy.
  22. 22Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio per le Province di Brindisi, Lecce e Taranto, Italy.
  23. 23Department of History, Anthropology, Religions, Art, Performing Arts, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
  24. 24Unitelma Sapienza, Rome, Italy.
  25. 25Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Boston, MA, USA.
  26. 26Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA.
  27. 27The Second Hospital of Jilin University, Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin Province 130041, China.
  28. 28Joint International Research Laboratory of Ageing Active Strategy and Bionic Health in Northeast Asia of Ministry of Education, Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin Province 130041, China.
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Abstract

Anatomically modern humans first settled in Europe at least 45,000 years ago, yet limited genomic data from 45 to 20 thousand years (ka) constrain reconstructions of Upper Palaeolithic population dynamics. Before the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; ∼26.5 to 19 ka), Gravettian groups (∼34 to 25 ka) were widespread across Europe and genetically diverse, including the Fournol and Věstonice lineages. Here, we present genome-wide data from three Gravettian individuals: two from the Franco-Cantabrian region (Chufín, Spain, and Isturitz, France) and one from Italy (Ostuni1b). Our analyses reveal previously undetected gene flow between eastern and western early Gravettian populations in southwestern Europe, challenging models of regional genetic continuity from the Aurignacian to the Solutrean (∼24 to 19 ka). To investigate population history during the LGM, a period for which human skeletal remains are extremely rare, we analyzed sedimentary ancient DNA from Solutrean Layer 122 at El Mirón Cave (Cantabria, Spain; ∼22,000 calibrated years before the present), recovering ∼14,000 human single-nucleotide polymorphisms. These data support persistence of Fournol-related ancestry in southwestern Europe throughout the LGM.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{gelabert2026early,
  title = {{Early Gravettian genomic data from Western Europe reveal population movements before the LGM}},
  author = {Pere Gelabert and Susanna Sawyer and Vanessa Villalba-Mouco and Olivia Cheronet and Victoria Oberreiter and Diego Gárate and Christian Normand and Lawrence G. Straus and Manuel R. González Morales and Igor Gutiérrez-Zugasti and David Cuenca-Solana and Joëlle Darricau and Henry de Lumley and José-Miguel Tejero and Mareike Stahlschmidt and Thomas Higham and Maddalena Giannì and Laura G. van der Sluis and Carla Gómez-Montes and Miriam Ibáñez-Herranz and Michelle Hämmerle and Brina Zagorc and Florian Exler and Florian Brück and Stefan Franz and Fernanda Tenorio Cano and Kristin Stewardson and Lijun Qiu and Ana B. Marín-Arroyo and Michaela Lucci and Alessia Nava and Francesco Genchi and Donato Coppola and Chiara La Marca and Alfredo Coppa and David Reich and Ron Pinhasi},
  journal = {Science Advances},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.1126/sciadv.aeh6128},
  url = {https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aeh6128},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Early Gravettian genomic data from Western Europe reveal population movements before the LGM
AU  - Pere Gelabert
AU  - Susanna Sawyer
AU  - Vanessa Villalba-Mouco
AU  - Olivia Cheronet
AU  - Victoria Oberreiter
AU  - Diego Gárate
AU  - Christian Normand
AU  - Lawrence G. Straus
AU  - Manuel R. González Morales
AU  - Igor Gutiérrez-Zugasti
AU  - David Cuenca-Solana
AU  - Joëlle Darricau
AU  - Henry de Lumley
AU  - José-Miguel Tejero
AU  - Mareike Stahlschmidt
AU  - Thomas Higham
AU  - Maddalena Giannì
AU  - Laura G. van der Sluis
AU  - Carla Gómez-Montes
AU  - Miriam Ibáñez-Herranz
AU  - Michelle Hämmerle
AU  - Brina Zagorc
AU  - Florian Exler
AU  - Florian Brück
AU  - Stefan Franz
AU  - Fernanda Tenorio Cano
AU  - Kristin Stewardson
AU  - Lijun Qiu
AU  - Ana B. Marín-Arroyo
AU  - Michaela Lucci
AU  - Alessia Nava
AU  - Francesco Genchi
AU  - Donato Coppola
AU  - Chiara La Marca
AU  - Alfredo Coppa
AU  - David Reich
AU  - Ron Pinhasi
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/23
JO  - Science Advances
DO  - 10.1126/sciadv.aeh6128
UR  - https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aeh6128
AB  - Anatomically modern humans first settled in Europe at least 45,000 years ago, yet limited genomic data from 45 to 20 thousand years (ka) constrain reconstructions of Upper Palaeolithic population dynamics. Before the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; ∼26.5 to 19 ka), Gravettian groups (∼34 to 25 ka) were widespread across Europe and genetically diverse, including the Fournol and Věstonice lineages. Here, we present genome-wide data from three Gravettian individuals: two from the Franco-Cantabrian region (Chufín, Spain, and Isturitz, France) and one from Italy (Ostuni1b). Our analyses reveal previously undetected gene flow between eastern and western early Gravettian populations in southwestern Europe, challenging models of regional genetic continuity from the Aurignacian to the Solutrean (∼24 to 19 ka). To investigate population history during the LGM, a period for which human skeletal remains are extremely rare, we analyzed sedimentary ancient DNA from Solutrean Layer 122 at El Mirón Cave (Cantabria, Spain; ∼22,000 calibrated years before the present), recovering ∼14,000 human single-nucleotide polymorphisms. These data support persistence of Fournol-related ancestry in southwestern Europe throughout the LGM.
SN  - 2375-2548
ER  -