2021/08/31 by Ian Armit, David Reich · 71 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Social Sciences · Arts and Humanities · #Archaeology and ancient environmental studies #Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology #Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies #Beaker #Prehistory #Archaeology #Population #History #Ancient history #Ethnology #Geography #Demography #Sociology
paper · pdf · doi:10.15184/aqy.2021.129
published in Antiquity 95(384), 1464-1477 (Cambridge University Press)
openalex publication_date 2021/08/31 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
Recent aDNA analyses demonstrate that the centuries surrounding the arrival of the Beaker Complex in Britain witnessed a massive turnover in the genetic make-up of the island's population. The genetic data provide information both on the individuals sampled and the ancestral populations from which they derive. Here, the authors consider the archaeological implications of this genetic turnover and propose two hypotheses—Beaker Colonisation and Steppe Drift—reflecting critical differences in conceptualisations of the relationship between objects and genes. These hypotheses establish key directions for future research designed to investigate the underlying social processes involved and raise questions for wider interpretations of population change detected through aDNA analysis.