Social stratification without genetic differentiation at the site of Kulubnarti in Christian Period Nubia

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Kendra A Sirak, Emory University; Daniel M Fernandes, University College Dublin; Mark Lipson, Harvard Medical School; Swapan Mallick, Harvard Medical School; Matthew Mah, Harvard Medical School; Iñigo Olalde, Harvard Medical School; Harald Ringbauer, Harvard Medical School; Nadin Rohland, Harvard Medical School; Carla S Hadden, University of Georgia, Athens; Éadaoin Harney, Harvard Medical School; Nicole Adamski, Harvard Medical School; Rebecca Bernardos, Harvard Medical School; Nasreen Broomandkhoshbacht, Harvard Medical School; Kimberly Callan, Harvard Medical School; Matthew Ferry, Harvard Medical School; Ann Marie Lawson, Harvard Medical School; Megan Michel, Harvard Medical School; Jonas Oppenheimer, Harvard Medical School; Kristin Stewardson, Harvard Medical School; Fatma Zalzala, Harvard Medical School; Nick Patterson, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT; Ron Pinhasi, University College Dublin; Jessica Thompson, Emory University; Dennis Van Gerven, University of Colorado at Boulder; David Reich, Harvard Medical School
• Language: English
• Date: 2021
• Publisher: Nature Research (part of Springer Nature)
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © The Author(s) 2021
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-27356-8
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Nature Communications
• Keywords: Genomics; Population genetics
• Research Categories: Anthropology, Medical and Forensic; Health Sciences, Medicine and Surgery

Abstract

Relatively little is known about Nubia’s genetic landscape prior to the influence of the Islamic migrations that began in the late 1st millennium CE. Here, we increase the number of ancient individuals with genome-level data from the Nile Valley from three to 69, reporting data for 66 individuals from two cemeteries at the Christian Period (~650–1000 CE) site of Kulubnarti, where multiple lines of evidence suggest social stratification. The Kulubnarti Nubians had ~43% Nilotic-related ancestry (individual variation between ~36–54%) with the remaining ancestry consistent with being introduced through Egypt and ultimately deriving from an ancestry pool like that found in the Bronze and Iron Age Levant. The Kulubnarti gene pool – shaped over a millennium – harbors disproportionately female-associated West Eurasian-related ancestry. Genetic similarity among individuals from the two cemeteries supports a hypothesis of social division without genetic distinction. Seven pairs of inter-cemetery relatives suggest fluidity between cemetery groups. Present-day Nubians are not directly descended from the Kulubnarti Nubians, attesting to additional genetic input since the Christian Period.