Uploaded January 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
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Ice Age DNA: What Was the Genetic Makeup of Ice Age Europe?
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:46 Timeline of the Last Ice Age
1:44 Early Modern Humans in Europe and Neanderthal DNA
3:31 Y-DNA Haplogroups of Ice Age Europeans
6:27 Support: Vote for Video Topics on Patreon and Merch
7:23 Mitochondrial Haplogroups of Ice Age Europeans
9:06 Eye Color of Ice Age Europeans?
9:38 Are Modern Europeans Related to Ice Age Europeans?
10:17 5 Genetic Clusters
11:32 Near-Eastern Ancestry
What do we know about the genetics of the people who lived through the last ice age in Europe, what haplogroups were common amongst them and are modern Europeans related to these ancient people? Now one fascinating aspect of this subject is that it gives us a glimpse into a period of time before there were major changes in even the ancient genetics of Europe, long before the first farmers swept across Europe between around 7000-4000 BC, or the massive waves of steppe ancestry that began around 3,000 BC, or 5,000 years ago.
So what do we know about the genetics of the last ice age then? Well the good news is that there has actually been some proper research into this topic, with one very interesting paper published in Nature in 2016 looking at this very topic. But before we look at what this paper found, let’s get a quick overview of the timeline of the last ice age in general. Now the last Ice Age, which is known scientifically as the Last Glacial Period (LGP), occurred during the late Pleistocene epoch. It lasted from approximately 115,000 to 11,700 years ago.
Sources:
Fu, Q., Posth, C., Hajdinjak, M. et al. The genetic history of Ice Age Europe. Nature 534, 200–205 (2016). doi.org/10.1038/nature17993
Villanea, F.A., Schraiber, J.G. Multiple episodes of interbreeding between Neanderthal and modern humans. Nat Ecol Evol 3, 39–44 (2019). doi.org/10.1038/s41559-018-0735-8
Cro-Magnon - Wikipedia
Gravettian industry | archaeology | Britannica
David Reich (2018) Who We Are and How We Got Here (Oxford University Press)
Haplogroup I2 (Y-DNA) - Eupedia
Ice age - Wikipedia
Haplogroup I1 (Y-DNA) - Eupedia
Ice age | Definition & Facts | Britannica
Haplogroup H (mtDNA) - Eupedia
Aurignacian - Wikipedia
Last glacial maximum | Definition, Characteristics, Map, & Facts | Britannica
Bennett, E.A., Parasayan, O., Prat, S. et al. Genome sequences of 36,000- to 37,000-year-old modern humans at Buran-Kaya III in Crimea. Nat Ecol Evol 7, 2160–2172 (2023). doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-02211-9
Haplogroup U5 (mtDNA) - Eupedia
Creative Commons Imagery:
Matteo De Stefano/MUSE File:Homo sapiens - Neolithic - reconstruction - MUSE.jpg - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Deed - Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported - Creative Commons
Wojciech Pędzich, Robert Molyneaux File:Yamnaya phenotype, Reconstruction, male, grave Novooleksiivka; Ukraine.png - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Deed - Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International - Creative Commons
Locoluis - Map generated from shapefile published by Ray, N. and J. M. Adams. 2001, “ A GIS-based Vegetation Map of the World at the Last Glacial Maximum (25,000-15,000 BP). Internet Archaeology 11. ” File:Last Glacial Maximum Vegetation Map.svg - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license. Deed - Attribution 3.0 Unported - Creative Commons
Maulucioni File:Haplogrupo R1b (ADN-Y).png - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Deed - Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International - Creative Commons
Maulucioni File:Haplogrupo C3 (ADN-Y).PNG - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Deed - Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported - Creative Commons
LenguaMapa File:Haplogrupo I (Y-DNA).png - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Deed - Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International - Creative Commons
Maulucioni File:Mapa de R1a.png - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Deed - Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International - Creative Commons
Ice Age – Ice Age DNA – Genetics – Ancient DNA – Ancestry Exploration – Ancient History – History of Europe – Europe – Genetic Legacy – Ice Age Genetics – DNA - Aurignacian culture - Gravettian industry - last glacial maximum – R1a – R1b – Haplogroup H - Azilian culture
#iceage #ancestry #europe
Subscribe to Celtic History Decoded: youtube.com/channel/UCCS3M_uNHH2iOJkpGhkO2SA?sub_confirmation=1
Vote For the Video Topics You Want to See & Support This Channel - patreon.com/historydecoded
Check Out My Merch Store & Support This Channel: celtic-history-decoded.creator-spring.com
Ice Age DNA: What Was the Genetic Makeup of Ice Age Europe?
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:46 Timeline of the Last Ice Age
1:44 Early Modern Humans in Europe and Neanderthal DNA
3:31 Y-DNA Haplogroups of Ice Age Europeans
6:27 Support: Vote for Video Topics on Patreon and Merch
7:23 Mitochondrial Haplogroups of Ice Age Europeans
9:06 Eye Color of Ice Age Europeans?
9:38 Are Modern Europeans Related to Ice Age Europeans?
10:17 5 Genetic Clusters
11:32 Near-Eastern Ancestry
What do we know about the genetics of the people who lived through the last ice age in Europe, what haplogroups were common amongst them and are modern Europeans related to these ancient people? Now one fascinating aspect of this subject is that it gives us a glimpse into a period of time before there were major changes in even the ancient genetics of Europe, long before the first farmers swept across Europe between around 7000-4000 BC, or the massive waves of steppe ancestry that began around 3,000 BC, or 5,000 years ago.
So what do we know about the genetics of the last ice age then? Well the good news is that there has actually been some proper research into this topic, with one very interesting paper published in Nature in 2016 looking at this very topic. But before we look at what this paper found, let’s get a quick overview of the timeline of the last ice age in general. Now the last Ice Age, which is known scientifically as the Last Glacial Period (LGP), occurred during the late Pleistocene epoch. It lasted from approximately 115,000 to 11,700 years ago.
Sources:
Fu, Q., Posth, C., Hajdinjak, M. et al. The genetic history of Ice Age Europe. Nature 534, 200–205 (2016). doi.org/10.1038/nature17993
Villanea, F.A., Schraiber, J.G. Multiple episodes of interbreeding between Neanderthal and modern humans. Nat Ecol Evol 3, 39–44 (2019). doi.org/10.1038/s41559-018-0735-8
Cro-Magnon - Wikipedia
Gravettian industry | archaeology | Britannica
David Reich (2018) Who We Are and How We Got Here (Oxford University Press)
Haplogroup I2 (Y-DNA) - Eupedia
Ice age - Wikipedia
Haplogroup I1 (Y-DNA) - Eupedia
Ice age | Definition & Facts | Britannica
Haplogroup H (mtDNA) - Eupedia
Aurignacian - Wikipedia
Last glacial maximum | Definition, Characteristics, Map, & Facts | Britannica
Bennett, E.A., Parasayan, O., Prat, S. et al. Genome sequences of 36,000- to 37,000-year-old modern humans at Buran-Kaya III in Crimea. Nat Ecol Evol 7, 2160–2172 (2023). doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-02211-9
Haplogroup U5 (mtDNA) - Eupedia
Creative Commons Imagery:
Matteo De Stefano/MUSE File:Homo sapiens - Neolithic - reconstruction - MUSE.jpg - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Deed - Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported - Creative Commons
Wojciech Pędzich, Robert Molyneaux File:Yamnaya phenotype, Reconstruction, male, grave Novooleksiivka; Ukraine.png - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Deed - Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International - Creative Commons
Locoluis - Map generated from shapefile published by Ray, N. and J. M. Adams. 2001, “ A GIS-based Vegetation Map of the World at the Last Glacial Maximum (25,000-15,000 BP). Internet Archaeology 11. ” File:Last Glacial Maximum Vegetation Map.svg - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license. Deed - Attribution 3.0 Unported - Creative Commons
Maulucioni File:Haplogrupo R1b (ADN-Y).png - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Deed - Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International - Creative Commons
Maulucioni File:Haplogrupo C3 (ADN-Y).PNG - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Deed - Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported - Creative Commons
LenguaMapa File:Haplogrupo I (Y-DNA).png - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Deed - Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International - Creative Commons
Maulucioni File:Mapa de R1a.png - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Deed - Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International - Creative Commons
Ice Age – Ice Age DNA – Genetics – Ancient DNA – Ancestry Exploration – Ancient History – History of Europe – Europe – Genetic Legacy – Ice Age Genetics – DNA - Aurignacian culture - Gravettian industry - last glacial maximum – R1a – R1b – Haplogroup H - Azilian culture
#iceage #ancestry #europe
