Paleogenomics of Upper Paleolithic to Neolithic European hunter-gatherers

Eurasia has been populated by modern humans for over 45,000 years and for the vast majority of their time they relied on a foraging lifestyle. Our knowledge of the genetic relatedness and structure of European hunter-gatherers is, however, still limited, because dedicated studies are challenged by the scarce availability and poor molecular preservation of human remains from that period. Here we analyze 356 ancient hunter gatherer genomes including new genomic data of 116 individuals from 14 countries in western and central Eurasia, dating between 35,000 and 5,000 years ago (35-5 ka). We identify a new genetic ancestry profile in individuals associated with the Upper Paleolithic Gravettian from western Europe, which is distinct from contemporaneous groups related to this archeological culture in central and southern Europe. However, it resembles that of preceding individuals associated with the Aurignacian and survives during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, ~25-19 ka) in human populations from southwestern Europe, associated with the Solutrean and later Magdalenian, which reexpanded northward and northeastward after the LGM. Conversely, we reveal a genetic turnover in southern Europe suggesting a local replacement of human groups during the LGM, alongside a north-to-south expansion of Epigravettian-associated populations. From at least 14 ka, a lineage related to this culture expands from the south across the rest of Europe largely replacing the Magdalenian-associated gene pool. After a period of limited admixture that spans over the beginning of the Mesolithic, we find genetic interactions between western and eastern European hunter-gatherers, also characterized by marked differences in phenotypically relevant variants.