Sequencing of Verteba cave genomes

The transition to agriculture occurred relatively late in Eastern Europe, leadingresearchers to debate whether it was a gradual, interactive process or acolonisation event. In the forest and forest-steppe regions of Ukraine, farmingappeared during the fifth millennium BCE, associated with the people of theCucuteni-Trypillian archaeological complex (4800-3000 BCE). AcrossEurope, the Neolithization process was highly variable across space and overtime. Here, we investigate the population dynamics of early agriculturalistsfrom the western forest-steppe region based on the analyses of 23 ancientgenomes from the site of Verteba Cave (3789-1952 BCE). We show that theVerteba Cave individuals replaced local Ukrainian Neolithic hunter-gatherers.Additionally, we present evidence for successive waves of steppe ancestryrelated migrations that mixed with the Cucuteni-Trypillian basis. Lastly, wepresent genomic evidence that corroborates archaeological data that VertebaCave was used by diverse cultures over the course of at least 2000 years.