They moved north and mingled with hunter-gatherers, new genetic research finds
An analysis of 5,000-year-old genetic material from preserved human remains found in Sweden suggests that people moving from southern to northern Europe spread agriculture across that continent long ago.
In addition to agricultural know-how, the intrepid farmers brought their genes: They interbred with hunter-gatherer communities to create modern humans living in Europe today.
“Genetic variation of today’s Europeans was strongly affected by immigrant Stone Age farmers, though a number of hunter-gatherer genes remain,” study researcher Anders Gotherstrom, of Uppsala University in Sweden, said in a statement.
The results of this study, to be published in Friday’s issue of the journal Science, match up well with previous archeological evidence of farming in Europe.
he tells of DNA analysis on ‘Cheddar Man’, a pre-agriculture find in England and even discovering modern descendents.
This was based on mitochondrial DNA, inherited only from the mother. The male-only y-chromosome DNA is more strongly from the Middle East.
I suspect it was less an ‘invasion’ than a migration/expansion and with agriculture supporting larger populations, farmers out-bred the locals. As their lifestyle was more successful, they probably also had more leverage with local women, so the pre-farmer DNA probably came down mostly from the women.
Sykes’ “Seven Daughters Of Eve” is a fun book, tracking mtDNA around the world.
Would like to see the equivalent re y-chromosome. “Seventy Sons of Adam”?
It is worth remembering that the Founding Fathers were all traitors.