The Library · Population Genomics
How populations form, mix, and move
The core literature of ancient population genomics: the landmark studies that defined the ancestral components, admixture events, and migrations behind West Eurasian and world populations. These are the papers our own qpAdm and f-statistics work builds on.
Curated starter reading
Genomic insights into the origin of farming in the ancient Near East
Lazaridis et al. · 2016 · Nature
The foundational map of the Near East's first farmers: four deeply divergent populations whose later mixing shaped West Eurasia.
doi:10.1038/nature19310
Continuity and admixture in the last five millennia of Levantine history from ancient Canaanite and present-day Lebanese genome sequences
Haber et al. · 2017 · AJHG
Direct genomic evidence that present-day Levantine populations derive most of their ancestry from Bronze Age Canaanites.
doi:10.1016/j.ajhg.2017.06.013
Ancient DNA from Chalcolithic Israel reveals the role of population mixture in cultural transformation
Harney et al. · 2018 · Nature Communications
The Peqi'in cave study: a model case for linking a cultural shift in the Chalcolithic Levant to a real migration event.
doi:10.1038/s41467-018-05649-9
The formation of human populations in South and Central Asia
Narasimhan et al. · 2019 · Science
A 523-genome tour de force tracing how Iranian-related and Steppe ancestries assembled the populations of South and Central Asia.
doi:10.1126/science.aat7487
The genetic history of the Southern Arc: a bridge between West Asia and Europe
Lazaridis et al. · 2022 · Science
The current reference framework for Anatolia, the Caucasus, and the Levant: 727 new ancient genomes spanning ten millennia.
doi:10.1126/science.abm4247
This section grows as we add commentary and reading guides. Our own publications live in Studies & Publications.