The first advanced Bronze Age civilization of Europe was established by the Minoans about5,000 years before present. Since Sir Arthur Evans exposed the Minoan civic centre ofKnossos, archaeologists have speculated on the origin of the founders of the civilization.Evans proposed a North African origin; Cycladic, Balkan, Anatolian and Middle Eastern originshave also been proposed. Here we address the question of the origin of the Minoans byanalysing mitochondrial DNA from Minoan osseous remains from a cave ossuary in theLassithi plateau of Crete dated 4,400–3,700 years before present. Shared haplotypes,principal component and pairwise distance analyses refute the Evans North Africanhypothesis. Minoans show the strongest relationships with Neolithic and modern Europeanpopulations and with the modern inhabitants of the Lassithi plateau. Our data are compatiblewith the hypothesis of an autochthonous development of the Minoan civilization by thedescendants of the Neolithic settlers of the island.
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