Patterns of Neolithic migration
Starting about 11 000 years ago, climate change enabled a gradual transition from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to settled, agricultural communities. The long period between the start of farming and the first use of metals, known as the Neolithic, was a time of extensive migration. The EU-funded BEAN (BEAN – Bridging the European and Anatolian Neolithic: Demography, migration, and lifestyle at the advent of civilization) project managed a training network. The early-stage researchers – representing various historical fields connected to the Neolithic – received training in research techniques. Instructors delivered the training within a research programme covering the demographics of the migration from what is now Turkey and the Balkans to the rest of Europe. The training programme also addressed related skills such as cultural heritage entrepreneurship and public outreach. Researchers developed new protocols for the genetic sequencing of mitochondrial human genomes and informative neutral regions. The team also studied genetic indicators that may have undergone natural selection during the recent 10 000 years. Y chromosome capture data from ancient human skeletal remains supplemented the sequencing. The team devised new computer simulation methods to investigate prehistoric population dynamics and to test for natural selection. They further modelled cultural and genetic changes during the Neolithic transition. Results indicated how early European farmers directly descended from Neolithic Aegeans. Further demographic modelling, combined with artefact evidence, revealed Neolithic expansion and trade networks. Results supported the notion that the Neolithic transition was accompanied by changes in diet and patterns of activity. Hunter-gatherers and farmers also apparently co-existed, in some cases for millennia. A public video details such results. The BEAN project shed new light on the Neolithic transition to agriculture in Europe. The work provides a robust framework for future investigations.
Keywords
Neolithic, migration, hunter-gatherer, BEAN, demography
