9,000 years ago, some of the first farmers , who inhabited what is now southern Turkey, Syria, Jordan and Israel, penetrated Europe, where they introduced their ideas and mixed with the native population, who had come to the area between 30,000 and 40,000 years earlier.
How they reached the Old Continent has been the subject of scientific debate for decades. Now, a new essay published in the journal Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences establishes that they could have done it, above all, by mar .
At least, this seems to be confirmed by the study of certain genetic markers , called single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), in 32 groups of modern humans from Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.
Over time, the ongoing genetic exchange between locals and newcomers is reflected in the frequency of the latter’s SNPs, and can indeed be detected in the populations they leave behind.
After comparing the frequency of SNPs in people from Turkey, the Aegean Islands, Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, an international team of researchers coordinated by George Stamatoyannopoulos , professor of Pathology and Genome Sciences at the University of Washington, has found that the emigrants who brought Neolithic culture to the West moved first to Anatolia and, through the Dodecanese archipelago , to Crete and Laconia in the Peloponnese. Later, they were introduced in northern Greece, Sicily, and the coasts of southern Europe.
“ There were numerous migratory movements . Undoubtedly, some were made by land, but the most important route is the one we describe here, through Anatolia and then by sea, ”says Stamatoyannopoulos.
The scientists found no evidence of genetic exchange between Europe and Africa, suggesting that the sea favored movement along the coasts , but was still a formidable barrier between these continents.
