Luc Amkreutz

Abstract Ancient DNA studies revealed that, in Europe from 6500 to 4000 bce, descendants of western Anatolian farmers mixed with local hunter-gatherers resulting in 70–100% ancestry turnover1, then steppe ancestry spread with the Corded Ware complex 3000–2500 bce2. Here we document an exception in the wetland, riverine and coastal areas of the Netherlands, Belgium and western Germany, using genome-wide data from 112 people 8500–1700 bce.

Whaling has been undertaken in European waters for millennia. This activity, in particular commercial whaling, has completely altered the composition of whale populations and by extension transformed ecosystems [1]. The impact of industrial whaling in the twentieth century is particularly well documented, including reductions in both numbers and size for many large whale species [2,3]. Numerous conservation efforts now attempt to protect whales [4–7].

Author notes These authors contributed equally: Cosimo Posth, He Yu Authors and Affiliations Archaeo- and Palaeogenetics, Institute for Archaeological Sciences, Department of Geosciences, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany Cosimo Posth Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment at the University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany Cosimo Posth, Dorothée G. Drucker, Hervé Bocherens, Christoph Wißing, Nicholas J.