No Iberian in Iberomaurusian

After almost a century of controversy on the matter, it seems that archaeogenetics solved the riddle. Not in the sense I thought it would but it did anyhow.

Marieke van de Loosdrecht et al., Pleistocene North African genomes link Near Eastern and sub-Saharan African human populations. Science 2018 (pay per view). DOI:10.1126/science.aar8380 -- See also supplementary materials (free but hard to find). 

Ancient DNA samples from Taforalt (Iberomaurusian or Oranian culture, Upper Paleolithic of North Africa) show no trace of Paleoeuropean ancestry (WHG), however they show strong affinity to West Asians of Palestinian type, showing also some significant amount of African Aboriginal ancestry, probably closer to East African Hadza and Sandawe and ancient Mota than to West African types. The result is something roughly similar to Afars but not quite the same in any case. 

Fig. S8 - Taforalt individuals on the top PCs of present-day African, Near Eastern and South European populations.

Fig. S11 - ADMIXTURE results for a few informative K values.

So the conclusion must thus be that the Eurasian influence in North African Upper Paleolithic (call it Iberomaurusian, Oranian or my personal unorthodox preference: Taforaltian) arrived from West Asia with whichever intermediate stage in Egypt and Cyrenaica, where that influence is quite apparently much older in the archaeological record. This seems contradictory to the chronology of Taforaltian, with Western sites producing older radiocarbon dates but the genetic data seems overwhelming. 

I must say I wish they would have contrasted with older (and available) Paleoeuropean samples than WHG (Epipaleolithic) but I guess that some WHG influence would have shown up if there was some older European influx because the various Paleoeuropean layers are not disconnected. But it is still something someone should test, just in case. 

Haploid DNA

The Taforalt sample was rich in mtDNA U6a, with also one instance of M1b:

All six male samples carried Y-DNA E1b1b, with most of them being well defined as E1b1b1a1-M78 (see table S16 for details).


Related: Luxmanda: a 3,000 years-old proto-Horner in Tanzania.

Iberomaurusian ancient mtDNA

This is an issue that has lingered for a long time in the online anthropology circles. Once upon a time (2005) there was online a presentation in which a good deal of mitochondrial DNA (HVS-I) sequences from the key Iberomaurusian (or Oranian) culture site of Taforalt (North Morocco) were (not too formally) published. Eventually this presentation became almost impossible to find... however now Rym Kefi (the original author if I remember correctly) and colleagues have got back to resurrect that important data set from oblivion, plus sequences from Afalou cave as well.

Rym Kefi et al., On the origin of Iberomaurusians: new data based on ancient mitochondrial DNA and phylogenetic analysis of Afalou and Taforalt populations. Forsenic Sciences Research 2016. Freely available at the time & space of writing this → LINK [doi:10.1080/24701394.2016.1258406]

Abstract

The Western North African population was characterized by the presence of Iberomaurusian civilization at the Epiplaeolithic period (around 20,000 years before present (YBP) to 10,000 YBP). The origin of this population is still not clear: they may come from Europe, Near East, sub-Saharan Africa or they could have evolved in situ in North Africa. With the aim to contribute to a better knowledge of the settlement of North Africa we analysed the mitochondrial DNA extracted from Iberomaurusian skeletons exhumed from the archaeological site of Afalou (AFA) (15,000–11,000 YBP) in Algeria and from the archaeological site of Taforalt (TAF) (23,000–10,800 YBP) in Morocco. Then, we carried out a phylogenetic analysis relating these Iberomaurusians to 61 current Mediterranean populations.

The genetic structure of TAF and AFA specimens contains only North African and Eurasian maternal lineages. These finding demonstrate the presence of these haplotypes in North Africa from at least 20,000 YBP. The very low contribution of a Sub-Saharan African haplotype in the Iberomaurusian samples is confirmed. We also highlighted the existence of genetic flows between Southern and Northern coast of the Mediterranean.

The bulk of the data is this (tables 1 and 2):

Notice that all sequences are "old style", i.e. HVS-I only, and that's why haplogroup assessment is not always 100% certain, with particular emphasis on the "CRS" sequences, which have been proven in some ancient cases to belong not to the modern normal (H1, rarely H2 o other H) but to a very rare modern haplotype within U*, AFAIK only preserved in Asturias but somewhat common in the Magdalenian of South Germany. 

In any case, that they produce 100% safe H1, H6, H14, etc. and, even more surprisingly, J and T2 variants, should make people think about the hidden Paleolithic mtDNA diversity in the wider Mediterranean area. And by this I do not just mean North Africa but also all Southern Europe, including many areas that can't be considered part of the Mediterranean basin, such as most of the crucial Franco-Cantabrian Region, the most densely populated province, by far, of post-LGM Upper Paleolithic Europe, source of several cultural waves (including the Solutrean one, almost certainly at the origin of Iberomaurusian), yet outrageously neglected by research.

Table 5 and other materials in the paper also deal with which modern populations appear closest to the Iberomaurusian ancient mtDNA pool and these are:

1. Tuscans (0.00090)
2. Catalans (0.00134)
3. Galicians (0.00223)
4. Sicilians (0.00377)
5. El Alia (0.00699)
6. Valencian (0.00787)
7. Matmata (0.00788)
8. Slougia (0.00831)
9. Jerba Berbers (0.00934)

Figures in brackets are FST distances, the smaller the closer the match, statistically speaking. Populations in cursive are from Northwest Africa.

That is I'd say quite surprising because we tend to think of those near matches as quite impacted by Neolithic and post-Neolithic inflows, at least judging on other recent research. It seems that the debate on the origin of modern Europeans and North Africans refuses to come to a close, as different aspects of the evidence available may be somewhat contradictory. What do you make up of all this?

See also:

• Leherensuge: 2009 review of mtDNA H studies (some re. North Africa).
• I'd emphasize Sykes et al 2005 on Portuguese Epipaleolithic and Neolithic mtDNA also rich on "CRS" and other H sequences, because it provides another anchor point for the presence of mtDNA H in pre-Neolithic Europe.
• But for North African mtDNA studies Enafaa 2009 is pretty much seminal, showing that SW Europe related haplogroups H1, H3, H4 and H7 are absolutely hegemonic in the region's H.
• MtDNA H in Magdalenian Cantabria
• MtDNA U6 in Aurignacian from Romania
• On South Iberian Solutrean (surely at the origin of Iberomaurusian)
• And in general the Oranian label (alternative name of Iberomaurusian)

UPDATE: single marker inferred lineages (not always the haplogroup is reported correctly):

Down in the comments' section, Capra questions with good sense the certainty of inferred haplogroups. The most clear one is TafV27, claimed to be H6a1a8, which cannot actually be that (would need another HVS-I marker defining H6, which is missing), however this means that it must be HV0 and possibly V, a lineage that appears (per the aDNA literature) in the European Neolithic, already quite towards the West, out of nowhere, and that "nowhere" should not be West Asia, where it has never been sequenced, unlike K. 

I'm therefore reviewing here all the single-marker inferred haplogroups as carefully as possible, please double-check them and report if I seem to be committing any error:

• AF22B - 16126C (reported as JT or H14b1) - JT(xJ,xT) or H14b1 indeed, notice that JT* was probably also one of the lineages described (also by the HVS-I method) for Nerja cave (Solutrean, same time frame), just across Alboran Sea (cf. Fernández-Domínguez 2005). Whether is one or the other or even something else, it's almost certain that the lineage was shared across the sea between Europe and Africa, what just makes total sense for this culture.
• Taf55-IB - 16239T (reported as H1) - I actually get specific H1 variants (H1bf'bg'bh'ch specifically) or H17c. H sublineages in any case, unless it is an extinct or unreported R* lineage, most unlikely.
• TafV27 - 16298C (reported as H6a1a8) - must be HV0, possibly even V, a distributed Euro-African lineage with three hotspots: Kabylia, Catalonia and Lappland. Per Caramelli 2003 and successor studies, this lineage was already present in Italy (Pagilicci cave) in the Gravettian era.
• TafVIII - 16223T (reported as U4a2b) - It cannot be U4 at all because it lacks the HVS-I mutation 16356C. In fact the reverse 16223C mutation defines macro-haplogroup R, and I can't find any other matches within R, so it must be L3(xR), maybe N(xR) but maybe M or other L3. The possibilities are many, for example: N1, N2, N9, N11, etc. within N, a lot of possibilities within M, and also several within L3e'i'k'x(xL3x). The only thing we should be certain here is that it is not R and also not upstream of L3 (that's how good as it gets with HVS-I methodology, really). 
• TafXXV3 - 16126C (reported as H14b1) - as with AF22B, it can be JT(xJ,xT) or H14b1 and again I must emphasize that there is an extremely good chance that this matrilineage had relatives in Iberia (Nerja) within the Solutrean culture.

In case you want to re-check, the best resource is of course PhyloTree.

IMPORTANT CAVEAT: the above update was done assuming they had fully sequenced the HVS-I, which is not that long, but it seems that in many cases (second column of the tables above) they have only sequenced up to the 16317 locus, what makes prediction of haplogroup even harder. That would explain their H6a1a8 prediction, although there's no way they can exclude the much more common HV0 (H6 is unheard of in North Africa). Thanks again to Capra for pointing that out.

Hunter-gatherers, acorns and tooth trouble

It has been commonplace to believe that hunter-gatherers had good tooth health and that it was farming what caused dental problems because as cereals became a staple. There was good reason for that: caries were detected only rarely among hunter-gatherer remains (0-14%) while early farmers had much such painful problems much more frequently.

However the Upper Paleolithic people of Taforalt caves (Rif, North Africa), some 14,000 years ago (Oranian culture), had caries in 51% of adult teeth, a frequency comparable to those of early farmers.

This is attributed to the very high levels of nut consumptions, particularly acorns but also pine nuts, juniper berries, pistachios and wild oats. The number of acorn remains found is so large that the archaeologists had to conclude that they were used as year-long staple.

Late Upper Paleolithic of North Africa
· Iberomaurusian, aka Oranian, is shaded in dark green ·
· The core area of Capsian is shaded in gray-blue ·
(credit: Locutus Borg (anticopyright))

Taforalt people had hand mills, which they used to process some of these nuts, most likely the acorns, whose consumption as bread has been documented since antiquity.

Another finding are esparto grasses, which the authors believe were used in basketry. However I must mention that this versatile fiber has known many uses, being documented in Neolithic clothing of nearby Andalusia, used for some types of shoes even today and, of course, being a prime material for rope-making.

Esparto bale

Oranian culture dates to c. 22,000 years ago, with likely (partial?) roots in the Southern Iberian Gravetto-Solutrean (hence the name Iberomaurusian, although the culture as such is not known in Iberia). It was replaced in the Epipaleolithic by Capsian culture, with ultimate roots at the Nile (and hence the most likely vector of Afroasiatic languages leading to Tamazigh, aka Berber).

Source: PhysOrg.

Ref. Louise T. Humphrey et al., Earliest evidence for caries and exploitation of starchy plant foods in Pleistocene hunter-gatherers from Morocco. PNAS 2013 (pay per view, free after 6 months) → LINK [doi: 10.1073/pnas.1318176111]

Alert: destruction of 8000 year-old engravings in Morocco by Fundamentalists - government denies

The Amazigh League for Human Rights denounced the destruction of several Neolithic engravings in Toubkal National Park, south of Marakesh. Among the damaged art is said to be a depiction of the Sun as a god. They date from c. 6000 BCE.

Source and more details: BBC (h/t Stone Pages' Archaeonews).

The damaged relic (source)

Update: the Government of Morocco denies the claim with strange wording

The Moroccan authorities have denied the claim of a vandalism against a solar engraving attributed to Fundamentalists. According to an AFP report:

"This kind of incident, contrary to our values, cannot take place in Morocco," it said, adding that an investigation carried out with local and regional authorities had showed that the claims were unfounded.

But such sites "can suffer, like elsewhere, the effects of natural and even human degradation, sometimes through vandalism and trafficking."

The wording is at the very least strange: the logic does not seem sound (can't happen because of our values) and the suggestion of other reasons for the same vandalism are at the very least suspicious. 

My reading is that the Moroccan Ministry of Culture wishes to deny all kind of militant Salafist activism but that, subtly, acknowledges the destruction, attributing it to mystery causes (either erosion or mindless vandalism) rather than Fundamentalism. 

Not too credible. 


Update (Oct 25):

Dalouh (see comments) has been gathering some more info on the matter from Arabic language sources in Facebook and it would seem that the locals chased out the fundamentalist vandals preventing greater damage, still:

Above: damage stone, below: original

Epipaleolithic and Neolithic burials found in Morocco

Just a short heads up notice because nothing seems to have been formally published or even radiometrically dated yet but Press News Africa reports (h/t Pileta) that two human burials have been found some 300 km East of Rabat, in the village of El Ksir (near Aïn Tajoudate, El Hajeb province). 

As I say, the two skeletons are yet to be dated with C14 but from the stratigraphic context it is estimated that they are from 6-8 Ka. ago one and from 8-14 Ka ago the other. Both are male and seemingly buried in flexed position inside oval tombs with the most recent one having a scraper as only grave good, while the other had a limestone slab on top of the tomb.

La Braña connection?

It would be extremely interesting if DNA is extracted and analyzed from them, of course. But specially what I have in mind right now is the possible relationship between their burial style and that of La Braña (León, NW Iberia), which, as I mentioned back in the day, is not typical from local Paleolithic, rising more questions than answers.

As you may know, Western Iberia and very specially some mountain areas of León, show unusually high levels of North African genetics (always minor but clearly significant for Europe). And, as you may remember, the La Braña composite appeared to show a consistent 10% of African admxiture (either East African, or Khoisan or just generic African, all which can be hypothetically consistent with untested North African admixture).

If I'm correct on this, it would imply that the North African minor affinity that characterizes Western Iberia and specially the mountain areas of León would be as old as the Epipaleolithic, maybe even older, supporting my old hypothesis of genetic exchange across Gibraltar Strait occurring mostly in the period of the Oranian (Iberomaurusian) genesis and the cultural backflow associated to the introduction of winged and tanged points into the Southern Iberian Gravetto-Sloutrean, which seems to be behind the Solutrean of Asturias as well. 

Just a possibility at the moment but a thread that I deem interesting to follow in the archaeo-genetic labyrinth. 

Homo sapiens child's remains found in Morocco (108 Ka BP)

Artistic recreation of Bouchra (right)

The quite complete remnants of a child of our species, Homo sapiens, have been found in the site known as Smugglers' Cave (Dar es Soltan, Morocco) in Aterian context. The child has been nicknamed Bouchra, meaning Good News in Arabic.

No paper or image of the infant's skeleton are known, as the research is financed by the sensationalist media National Geographic, which aims to keep the exclusive. 

There are several older known members of our species in Africa (from Mozambique to Morocco) and Palestine but this one seems to be the first one dead at such a young age: approximately 8 years old. The remains have been dated to c. 108 Ka ago.

Sources: Philly.com[en] and Mundo Neandertal[es].