We present the first ancient DNA data from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic of Mesopotamia (Southeastern Turkey and Northern Iraq), Cyprus, and the Northwestern Zagros, along with the first data from Neolithic Armenia. We show that these and neighboring populations were formed through admixture of pre-Neolithic sources related to Anatolian, Caucasus, and Levantine hunter-gatherers, forming a Neolithic continuum of ancestry mirroring the geography of West Asia. By analyzing Pre-Pottery and Pottery Neolithic populations of Anatolia, we show that the former were derived from admixture between Mesopotamian-related and local Epipaleolithic-related sources, but the latter experienced additional Levantine-related gene flow, thus documenting at least two pulses of migration from the Fertile Crescent heartland to the early farmers of Anatolia.

Amasya Archaeology Museum Mustafa Kemal Paşa Caddesi 05000 Amasya Turkey

Anthropological Center of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts 10000 Zagreb Croatia

Archaeological Institute of America Boston MA 02108 USA

Archaeological Museum in Zadar 23000 Zadar Croatia

Archaeological Museum in Zagreb 10000 Zagreb Croatia

Archaeology Museum of North Macedonia 1000 Skopje North Macedonia

ArchaeoSciences Division Research Institute of the University of Bucharest University of Bucharest 050663 Bucharest Romania

Austrian Archaeological Institute at the Austrian Academy of Sciences 1190 Vienna Austria

BIOMICs Research Group University of the Basque Country UPV EHU 01006 Vitoria Gasteiz Spain

Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archeology Çarşı Neighbourhood 48400 Bodrum Muğla Turkey

Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT Cambridge MA 02142 USA

Center for Conservation and Archaeology of Montenegro 81250 Cetinje Montenegro

Center of Archaeology Institute of Cultural Heritage Academy of Science of Moldova 2001 Chișinău Moldova

Centre for Applied Bioanthropology Institute for Anthropological Research 10000 Zagreb Croatia

Cotsen Institute of Archaeology University of California Los Angeles Los Angeles CA 90095 USA

Culture and Patrimony Department University of Avignon 84029 Avignon France

Departament d'Història i Història de l'Art Universitat Rovira i Virgili 43002 Tarragona Spain

Department of Animal and Human Physiology Faculty of Biology School of Sciences National and Kapodistrian University of Athens 10679 Athens Greece

Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures Mississippi State University Mississippi State MS 39762 USA

Department of Anthropology Binghamton University Binghamton NY 13902 USA

Department of Anthropology Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University Istiklal Campus 15100 Burdur Turkey

Department of Anthropology Faculty of Arts and Science Burdur Mehmet Akif University 15100 Burdur Turkey

Department of Anthropology Faculty of Humanities Ankara University 06100 Sıhhiye Ankara Turkey

Department of Anthropology Faculty of Language and History Geography Ankara University 06100 Sıhhiye Ankara Turkey

Department of Anthropology Faculty of Letters Istanbul University 34134 Istanbul Turkey

Department of Anthropology Faculty of Letters Mardin Artuklu University 47510 Artuklu Mardin Turkey

Department of Anthropology Faculty of Letters Sivas Cumhuriyet University 58140 Sivas Turkey

Department of Anthropology Faculty of Science and Letters Hitit University 19040 Çorum Turkey

Department of Anthropology Hungarian Natural History Museum 1117 Budapest Hungary

Department of Anthropology Natural History Museum Vienna 1010 Vienna Austria

Department of Anthropology University of California San Diego La Jolla CA 92093 USA

Department of Anthropology University of California Santa Barbara Santa Barbara CA 93106 USA

Department of Archaeogenetics Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology 04103 Leipzig Germany

Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies University of Tirana 1010 Tirana Albania

Department of Archaeology Durham University Durham DH1 3LE UK

Department of Archaeology Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences University of Zagreb 10000 Zagreb Croatia

Department of Archaeology Faculty of Humanities Van Yüzüncü Yıl University 65090 Tuşba Van Turkey

Department of Archaeology Faculty of Letters Atatürk University 25100 Erzurum Turkey

Department of Archaeology Faculty of Letters Ege University 35100 Bornova Izmir Turkey

Department of Archaeology Faculty of Science and Arts Pamukkale University 20070 Denizli Turkey

Department of Archaeology Faculty of Science and Letters Bursa Uludağ University 16059 Görükle Bursa Turkey

Department of Archaeology Faculty of Science and Letters Çukurova University 01330 Balçalı Sarıçam Adana Turkey

Department of Archaeology Faculty of Science and Letters Düzce University 81620 Düzce Turkey

Department of Archaeology Faculty of Science and Letters Gaziantep University 27310 Gaziantep Turkey

Department of Archaeology Faculty of Science and Letters Ondokuz Mayıs University 55139 Atakum Samsun Turkey

Department of Archaeology St Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia 1504 Sofia Bulgaria

Department of Archaeology University of Reading Reading RG6 6AB UK

Department of Archaeology University of Veliko Tarnovo St Cyril and St Methodius 5003 Veliko Tarnovo Bulgaria

Department of Archaeology University of York York YO1 7EP UK

Department of Armenian History Armenian State Pedagogical University After Khachatur Abovyan 0010 Yerevan Armenia

Department of Biological Anthropology Institute of Biology Eötvös Loránd University 1053 Budapest Hungary

Department of Biology Grand Valley State University Allendale MI 49401 USA

Department of Classics University of Cincinnati Cincinnati OH 45221 USA

Department of Cultures University of Helsinki 00100 Helsinki Finland

Department of Ecology and Nature Protection Yerevan State University 0025 Yerevan Armenia

Department of Evolutionary Anthropology University of Vienna 1030 Vienna Austria

Department of Genetics Harvard Medical School Boston MA 02115 USA

Department of History Adelphi University Garden City NY 11530 USA

Department of History and Social Sciences Bryn Athyn College Bryn Athyn PA 19009 USA

Department of Human Evolutionary Biology Harvard University Cambridge MA 02138 USA

Department of Oral and Maxillo Facial Sciences Sapienza University of Rome 00161 Rome Italy

Department of the History of Art and Archaeology Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne 75006 Paris France

Ephorate of Antiquities of East Attica Ministry of Culture and Sports 10682 Athens Greece

Ephorate of Paleoantropology and Speleology Greek Ministry of Culture 11636 Athens Greece

European Academy of Sciences and Arts 5020 Salzburg Austria

Faculty of Archaeology University of Warsaw 00 927 Warszawa Poland

Faculty of Biology Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań 61 614 Poznań Poland

Faculty of Philosophy School of History and Archaeology Aristotle University of Thessaloniki 54124 Thessaloniki Greece

Francisc 1 Rainer Institute of Anthropology 050711 Bucharest Romania

French School of Archaeology at Athens 10680 Athens Greece

Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports Ephorate of Antiquities of Piraeus and the Islands 10682 Piraeus Greece

Historical Musem in Kotor 85330 Kotor Montenegro

History of the Ancient World and Middle Ages Department Moscow Region State University Moscow Region 141014 Mytishi Russia

Howard Hughes Medical Institute Harvard Medical School Boston MA 02115 USA

Human Evolution and Archaeological Sciences University of Vienna 1030 Vienna Austria

Human Paleoecology and Isotope Geochemistry Lab Department of Anthropology The Pennsylvania State University University Park PA 16802 USA

Independent Researcher 10000 Zagreb Croatia

Independent Researcher Aberystwyth SY23 4UH UK

Independent Researcher Berkeley CA 94720 USA

Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social 43007 Tarragona Spain

Institute for Quaternary Paleontology and Geology Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts 10000 Zagreb Croatia

Institute of Archaeogenomics Research Centre for the Humanities Eötvös Loránd Research Network 1097 Budapest Hungary

Institute of Archaeology 10000 Zagreb Croatia

Institute of Archaeology 11000 Belgrade Serbia

Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography NAS RA 0025 Yerevan Armenia

Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology Polish Academy of Sciences 31 016 Kraków Poland

Institute of Classical Archaeology Charles University 11636 Prague Czechia

Institute of Experimental Morphology Pathology and Archeology with Museum Bulgarian Academy of Science 1113 Sofia Bulgaria

Institutes of Energy and the Environment The Pennsylvania State University University Park PA 16802 USA

Iskra Museum of History 6100 Kazanlak Bulgaria

Key Research Institute of Yellow River Civilization and Sustainable Development and the Collaborative Innovation Center on Yellow River Civilization of Henan Province Laboratory of Yellow River Cultural Heritage Henan University 475001 Kaifeng China

Laboratory for Archaeological Chemistry University of Wisconsin Madison Madison WI 53706 USA

Malcolm H Wiener Laboratory American School of Classical Studies at Athens 10676 Athens Greece

Mardin Archaeological Museum Şar Cumhuriyet Meydanı üstü 47100 Artuklu Mardin Turkey

Ministry of Culture and Tourism İsmet İnönü Bulvarı 06100 Emek Ankara Turkey

Moldovan Historic Geographical Society 2044 Chișinău Moldova

Muğla Archaeological Museum and Yatağan Thermal Power Generation Company Rescue Excavations 48000 Muğla Turkey

Muğla İl Kültür ve Turizm Müdürlüğü 48000 Muğla Turkey

Municipal Museum Vinkovci 32100 Vinkovci Croatia

Museum of Anthropological Archaeology University of Michigan Ann Arbor MI 48109 USA

Museum of the City of Skopje 1000 Skopje North Macedonia

Narodni muzej Pančcevo 26101 Pančevo Serbia

National Archaeological Agency 2012 Chișinău Moldova

National Institute of Archaeology and Museum Bulgarian Academy of Sciences 1000 Sofia Bulgaria

National Museum in Ohrid 6000 Ohrid North Macedonia

National Museum of Kikinda 23300 Kikinda Serbia

Olga Necrasov Centre of Anthropological Research Romanian Academy Iași Branch 2012 Iaşi Romania

Orheiul Vechi Cultural Natural Reserve Institute of Bioarchaeological and Ethnocultural Research 3552 Butuceni Moldova

Paul and Alexandra Canellopoulos Museum 105 55 Athens Greece

Penn Museum University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia PA 19104 USA

Prahova County Museum of History and Archaeology 100042 Ploiești Romania

Prehistory Department Albanian Institute of Archaeology Academy of Albanian Studies 1000 Tirana Albania

Pridnestrovian University named after Taras Shevchenko 3300 Tiraspol Moldova

Regional Museum of History 6300 Haskovo Bulgaria

Regional Museum of History Veliko Tarnovo 5000 Veliko Tarnovo Bulgaria

Research Centre for Anthropology and Health Department of Life Sciences University of Coimbra 3000 456 Coimbra Portugal

Samsun Museum of Archeology and Ethnography Kale Mahallesi Merkez İlkadım 55030 Samsun Turkey

Satu Mare County Museum 440031 Satu Mare Romania

School of Anatomical Sciences The University of the Witwatersrand 2193 Johannesburg South Africa

School of Archaeological and Forensic Sciences Faculty of Life Sciences University of Bradford Bradford BD7 1DP UK

School of Archaeology and Earth Institute University College Dublin Belfield Dublin 4 Ireland

School of History Classics and Archaeology University of Edinburgh Edinburgh EH8 9AG UK

School of Natural Sciences University of Central Lancashire Preston PR1 2HE UK

Science and Technology in Archaeology and Culture Research Center The Cyprus Institute 2121 Aglantzia Nicosia Cyprus

Scientific Research Center of the Historical and Cultural Heritage 0010 Yerevan Armenia

Servizio di Bioarcheologia Museo delle Civiltà 00144 Rome Italy

Stratum Ltd 21218 Seget Donji Croatia

Sulaymaniyah Directorate of Antiquities and Heritage 46010 Sulaimaniyah Iraq

The Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America Columbia University New York NY 10027 USA

The Netherlands Institute for the Near East 2311 Leiden Netherlands

Thracology Scientific Research Laboratory of the State University of Moldova Department of Academic Management Academy of Science of Moldova 2009 Chișinău Moldova

Trogir Town Museum 21220 Trogir Croatia

University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology Philadelphia PA 19104 USA

Yambol Regional Historical Museum 8600 Yambol Bulgaria

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Science. 2022 Aug 26;377(6609):922-923. doi: 10.1126/science.add9059. PubMed

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The genetic origin of the Indo-Europeans

The Genetic Origin of the Indo-Europeans

A genetic probe into the ancient and medieval history of Southern Europe and West Asia

The genetic history of the Southern Arc: A bridge between West Asia and Europe