The University of Huddersfield's Archaeogenetics Research Group joined an international team conducting the study which spanned an 8,000-year period. Credit: University of Huddersfield
Posted on 03/15/2019 2:20:44 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
The largest-ever study of ancient DNA from the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) suggests that the Iberian male lineages were almost completely replaced between 4,500 and 4,000 years ago by newcomers originating on the Russian steppe...
Most striking was an influx of new people during the later Copper Age, otherwise known as the Beaker period because of the ubiquitous presence in burials of large drinking vessels, from about 4,500 years ago. By the Early Bronze Age, 500 years later, these newcomers represented about 40% of Iberia's genetic pool - but virtually 100% of their male lineages...
This is an extraordinary example of sex bias - a phenomenon described previously by Huddersfield's Leverhulme Trust doctoral scholar Marina Silva for India. What is even more striking now is that both Iberia and India had a similar source - a population of early metal-using stock breeders, who lived to the north of the Black Sea on Russian steppe lands, 5,000 years ago. They fanned out in both directions, west across Europe and east into Asia, their pastoralist economy, domesticated horses and wheeled wagons giving them a crucial advantage over the indigenous farming populations. Moreover, they are also thought to have brought the Indo-European languages spoken across Europe and India today...
Marina Silva added: "It's an intriguing situation, because the Beaker culture originated in Portugal and spread across Europe from there - but at the same time, or shortly after, men who probably spoke Indo-European languages were moving in the opposite direction. Resolving the population dynamics in western Europe during the Copper and Bronze Ages is a big step towards understanding the origins of the Celtic languages, which were spoken across western Europe before the rise of the Roman Empire."
(Excerpt) Read more at eurekalert.org ...
The University of Huddersfield's Archaeogenetics Research Group joined an international team conducting the study which spanned an 8,000-year period. Credit: University of Huddersfield
I thought the Muppet Show introduced the Beaker culture, but okay.
Seems like a good choice for the weekly digest topic. Have a great weekend, all. The winter broke down over the past week, here, and I am NOT going to miss it, even though it was a pretty easy one for most of its length. Started to really suck after the end of last year.
Meep meep!
The predominance of the invaders’ males lineages suggests that native males were killed off.
It could also indicate that they new coat of paint, as it were, was nearly completely male, or that they tended to have larger families, and/or lower infant mortality. They may just have been preferred as lovers, or had a little more, uh, gas in the tank as it were. For that matter, the preceding Beaker People men may have been polygamous, and not all that numerous.
The Beaker people and their replacement of Neolithic DNA - is this remembered in Irish myth?
https://www.mythicalireland.com/MI/blog/ancient-sites/the-beaker-people-and-their-replacement-of-neolithic-dna-is-this-remembered-in-irish-myth/
Prehistoric Genocide in Ireland?
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/mace-lab/genetic-ancestry/guff_documents/Genocide_in_Ireland.pdf
The invaders had horses and swords, the natives didn't.
They killed all the men and took the women.
Exactly. And the “invasion from the (cold) eastern lands” just like the mongols later across Europe, and the huns, visigoths, vandals, etc after the Roman Warm Period.
“They killed all the men and took the women.”
If it was diseases that came with the newcomers, I’d expect them to hit men and women equally. The big difference between men and women seems like it must have been by choice.
The fact that it happened pretty quickly, means that the new folks had to be working at it pretty hard. It must have been a big part of their culture/economy. Maybe their religion.
This is the makings of a Conan the Barbarian film. We’ll never know the exact history
The Beakers were strong capable men, good providers and knew how to make babies. They protected their women, supported and raised their children to be strong hard workers. They preferred the companionship of women over other men and were willing to fight for their families and land.
The pre-beaker men had begun to wear man buns, stay at home with their mothers and could not support themselves let alone a wife. They had no sense of responsibility and did whatever their mothers told them. I understand that it was during this period that basements were discovered in huts. It is suspected that this is where pre-beaker men spent their days and nights. Pre-beaker men were pseudo-intellectuals who could not hunt or plow a field. Eventually the pre-beaker women matured and wanted a real man around the hut. Man bun pre-beakers men were no longer desired and by natural selection became extinct
Sure — those knives, arrows, swords, and clubs had entirely benign uses in that era of universal peace.
The pre-beaker men had begun to wear man buns, stay at home with their mothers and could not support themselves let alone a wife. They had no sense of responsibility and did whatever their mothers told them. I understand that it was during this period that basements were discovered in huts. It is suspected that this is where pre-beaker men spent their days and nights. Pre-beaker men were pseudo-intellectuals who could not hunt or plow a field. Eventually the pre-beaker women matured and wanted a real man around the hut. Man bun pre-beakers men were no longer desired and by natural selection became extinct
Beakers |
Pre-Beakers |
Horsebased societies had to constantly be on the move to find good pasture for their horses. Cattlebased societies don’t have to move because cattle can suck any nutrient out of just about any fodder or silage as cattle have to gut to do that. Coupled with metallurgy, it was a weapon of mass destruction. End of story.
“By the Early Bronze Age, 500 years later, these newcomers represented about 40% of Iberia’s genetic pool - but virtually 100% of their male lineages. This suggests that the newcomers were mainly men, and that - somehow - they all but replaced the men living there previously, whilst the local women survived the takeover.”
“Somehow?” It’s obvious that the invaders killed all the local men and took their women by force.
This is a lesson for all ages. If you don’t defend your turf and your women, invaders will come in and take them.
Exactly.
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