Ancient DNA Reveals Major Ancestry Shifts in Europe
The study, as reported, highlights a significant exception in the wetland, riverine, and coastal areas of northwest Europe, where hunter-gatherer genetic contributions persisted for thousands of years longer than elsewhere, leaving a lasting influence on later population dynamics.
Researchers found that early farming communities expanded into Europe along two main corridors: through Thrace and the Balkans into Central Europe, and along the Mediterranean coastline. During this expansion, they gradually intermarried with Western Hunter-Gatherers (WHG), forming populations described as Early European Farmers (EEF).
“These populations introduced agriculture and, through sustained mixing with Mesolithic hunter-gatherers, replaced between 70% and 100% of indigenous ancestry across most of Europe, shaping the genetic foundation of modern Europeans,” according to the study.
However, in the Lower Rhine–Meuse region—encompassing present-day Netherlands, Belgium, and western Germany—hunter-gatherer ancestry persisted differently. In this water-rich environment, a population with roughly 50% hunter-gatherer genetic makeup survived for approximately 3,000 years longer than in other parts of Europe, enduring well into the Bell Beaker period around 2500 BCE.
These findings illuminate both the broad replacement of indigenous European ancestry by early farmers and the unique resilience of hunter-gatherer populations in specific ecological niches.
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