Western Mediterranean Bronze Age Voices

The Western_Mediterranean grouping—sampled from 24 individuals dated between 2468 and 813 BCE—emerges from archaeological contexts that read like a seafaring chronicle. Caves (Bray Cave, Gibraltar; El Espinoso cave, Asturias), island funerary hollows (Es Forat de ses Aritges, Menorca; Cova des Moro, Mallorca; Cova 127, Formentera) and the monumental Túmulo Mortorum at Cabanes (Castellón) form the primary archaeological footprint. Material traces—burials within rock shelters, collective interments in tumuli, and grave goods consistent with Late Bronze Age Iberian assemblages—point to communities adapted to coastal and insular life, with strong ties to mainland Iberia.

Archaeological data indicates continuity of local funerary practices across centuries alongside periods of intensified contact: Mallorcan Early Bronze Age layers show affinities with contemporaneous mainland crafts, while stratigraphic evidence from La Horna (Alicante) and El Sotillo (Laguardia, Álava) reveals exchange routes that likely traced coastal corridors. Limited evidence suggests episodic long‑distance ties across the western Mediterranean; seafaring was not merely practical but formative of social identity.

Genetic sampling across these sites provides a new lens: the assemblage contains both lineage signatures often linked to earlier Neolithic farmer expansions and paternal markers frequently associated with later Bronze Age dynamics. Archaeological signals therefore combine with genetic data to suggest an emergent regional identity forged by local continuity and incoming influences. Uncertainties remain about the timing and scale of those influences, and more samples would sharpen the picture.

The genetic portrait from these 24 individuals reveals a layered ancestry. Paternal haplogroups are dominated by R (11 individuals) with a smaller representation of P (3). Maternal lineages are largely Neolithic and post‑Neolithic types: K (7), H (6, including H1j counted at 3), J (4), and U (2). This distribution suggests that maternal ancestries retain strong continuity with European Neolithic farmer lineages (notably K and J), while the prevalence of Y‑haplogroup R in the paternal record is consistent with wider Bronze Age patterns across western Europe.

Interpreting these patterns requires nuance. Y‑haplogroup R includes many sublineages, some associated in other studies with Bronze Age steppe‑related expansions; however, we cannot assign specific subclades without further resolution. Haplogroup P, rarer in these data, signals either under‑sampled local diversity or occasional arrivals from different population strands. Maternal haplogroups K and H are common in ancient and modern Europe and often reflect long‑standing Neolithic maternal continuity, while J and U point to older Near Eastern and Mesolithic contributions respectively.

Site‑level contrasts appear: some Balearic individuals carry a higher proportion of K and H variants consistent with island‑centered continuity, whereas Gibraltar samples (Bray Cave) show a mix that may reflect the promontory’s role as a contact zone. Given the sample count (24) and geographic spread, conclusions are robust at a regional scale but preliminary for fine‑grained demographic modeling. Additional genomes and higher coverage will help resolve timing, sex‑biased admixture, and specific migration routes.