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[EN] The archaeological research at Els Trocs cave is a good example of a successful transdisciplinary project. Together with a great team of specialists in different areas of knowledge, we present an update of our research process. The site is a cave that was occupied for more than two millennia, from the Early Neolithic (the end of the 6th millennium cal. BC) to the Late Neolithic (the end of the 4th millennium cal. BC). The groups who currently and seasonally visited the cave focussed their main economic activity in sheep herding. For that chronology, they practised a very specialised management system comprising the vertical movement of livestock (an incipient transhumance) from the river Ebro Basin to the mountains. The combination of analytical research, including micromorphology, zooarchaeology, carbon and oxygen isotopic analyses, archaeobotany, palaeoparasitology, traceology, or the study of the raw material provenance and the similarities of tipology, technology and decoration in pottery compositions provide a comprehensive overview of the subsistence universe of these human groups. Finally, the anthropological and genetic studies help to gain insights into the life experiences of some of individuals who occupied the cave throughout two long cycles of use., [ES] El proyecto de investigación desarrollado en la cueva de Els Trocs se ha convertido en un ejemplo de transdisciplinariedad. De la mano de un amplio equipo de especialistas en distintas áreas de conocimiento, presentamos una puesta al día del proceso de investigación. El yacimiento es una cueva con actividad antrópica durante más de dos milenios, desde el Neolítico antiguo (finales del VI milenio cal. BC) hasta el Neolítico final (finales del IV milenio cal. BC). Sus ocupaciones son recurrentes y estacionales y una de las actividades económicas fundamentales de sus ocupantes debió de ser el pastoreo de ovino, un sistema de explotación muy especializado para la época, que comportaba movimientos altitudinales del ganado desde las tierras de la depresión del Ebro hasta las montañas pirenaicas (incipiente trashumancia). Los análisis micromorfológicos, carpológicos, sedimentológicos, los estudios de la fauna y la microfauna, de los isótopos de carbono y oxígeno, la paleoparasitología, la traceología, la procedencia de las materias primas y las similitudes de las formas, técnicas y composiciones decorativas cerámicas nos ofrecen una visión completa del universo subsistencial de estos grupos humanos. Por último, los análisis antropológicos y genéticos arrojan luz sobre las peripecias vitales de algunos de los individuos que ocuparon la cueva a lo largo de dos amplios ciclos de uso.

The Middle East plays a central role in human history harbouring a vast diversity of ethnic, cultural and religious groups. However, much remains to be understood about past and present genomic diversity in this region. Here, we present for the first time, a multidisciplinary bioarchaeological analysis of two individuals dated to late 7th and early 8th centuries from Tell Qarassa, an open-air site in modern-day Syria. Radiocarbon dates, religious and cultural burial evidence indicate that this site represents one of the earliest Islamic Arab burials in the Levant during the Late Antiquity period. Interestingly, we found genomic similarity to a genotyped group of modern-day Bedouins and Saudi rather than to most neighbouring Levantine groups. This is highlighted through substantial Neolithic Levant ancestry in our samples, inviting an alternative scenario of long-term continuity in this region. This raises questions about the influence of ancient populations and historical migrations to genetic structure in the Middle East. As our study represents the first genomic analysis of an early Islamic burial in the Levant, we discuss our findings and possible historic scenarios in light of forces such as genetic drift and their possible interaction with religious and cultural processes.

[EN] The current phylogeographic pattern of European brown bears (Ursus arctos) has commonly been explained by postglacial recolonization out of geographically distinct refugia in southern Europe, a pattern well in accordance with the expansion/contraction model. Studies of ancient DNA from brown bear remains have questioned this pattern, but have failed to explain the glacial distribution of mitochondrial brown bear clades and their subsequent expansion across the European continent. We here present 136 new mitochondrial sequences generated from 346 remains from Europe, ranging in age between the Late Pleistocene and historical times. The genetic data show a high Late Pleistocene diversity across the continent and challenge the strict confinement of bears to traditional southern refugia during the last glacial maximum (LGM). The mitochondrial data further suggest a genetic turnover just before this time, as well as a steep demographic decline starting in the mid‐Holocene. Levels of stable nitrogen isotopes from the remains confirm a previously proposed shift toward increasing herbivory around the LGM in Europe. Overall, these results suggest that in addition to climate, anthropogenic impact and inter‐specific competition may have had more important effects on the brown bear's ecology, demography, and genetic structure than previously thought

The population history of the Iberian wild goat and the Alpine ibex has been closely related to that of humans since the Palaeolithic. Current molecular and paleontological studies differ substantially on the phylogenetic origin of the European wild goats, possibly due the loss of genetic variation through time. We investigated the phylogenetic relationship between the Alpine ibex (Capra ibex) and the Iberianwild goat (Capra pyrenaica) including different Iberian wild goat subspecies by applying ancient DNAtechniques combined with Next Generation Sequencing technologies. We analysed the cytochrome bgene of the mitochondrial genome in 33 ancient and modern European wild goats from Spain and France together with publicly available genetic information of modern wild goats. This work uncovers for thefirst time ancient genetic information of the Iberian wild goat and the Alpine ibex, spanning a time rangeof approximately 40,000 years to the present. Our results suggest genetic continuity between ancientand modern populations and indicate a monophyletic origin of the Alpine ibex and the Iberian wild goatwhen compared to other Capra species. The monophyly of both species is in agreement with other molecular studies based only on modern populations, therefore supporting one-wave migration of wildgoats into Western Europe followed by possible allopatric speciation. We observe three major clades ofwild goats in Western Europe: Capra ibex, Capra pyrenaica pyrenaica and the group containing thesubspecies Capra pyrenaica hispanica and Capra pyrenaica victoriae. This genetic structure recognizes thedistinctiveness of the bucardo (C. p. pyrenaica) from the rest of Iberian wild goats and thus supports theidea that this group is an Evolutionary Significant Unit. The divergence time estimated here indicates analmost contemporaneous split between the three clades around 50,000e90,000 years BP., Unión Europea. FP7, Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO)/FEDER, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICINN), Gobierno Vasco, Universidad del País Vasco, Depto. de Geodinámica, Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Fac. de Ciencias Geológicas, TRUE, pub

Models for the development of species distribution in Europe typically invoke restriction in three temperate Mediterranean refugia during glaciations, from where recolonization of central and northern Europe occurred. The brown bear, Ursus arctos, is one of the taxa from which this model is derived. Sequence data generated from brown bear fossils show a complex phylogeographical history for western European populations. Long-term isolation in separate refugia is not required to explain our data when considering the palaeontological distribution of brown bears. We propose continuous gene flow across southern Europe, from which brown bear populations expanded after the last glaciation.