The Beaker Phenomenon and the Genomic Transformation of Northwest Europe

Bell Beaker pottery spread across western and central Europe beginning around 2750 BCE before disappearing between 2200–1800 BCE. The mechanism of its expansion is a topic of long-standing debate, with support for both cultural diffusion and human migration. We present new genome-wide ancient DNA data from 170 Neolithic, Copper Age and Bronze Age Europeans, including 100 Beaker-associated individuals. In contrast to the Corded Ware Complex, which has previously been identified as arriving in central Europe following migration from the east, we observe limited genetic affinity between Iberian and central European Beaker Complex-associated individuals, and thus exclude migration as a significant mechanism of spread between these two regions. However, human migration did have an important role in the further dissemination of the Beaker Complex, which we document most clearly in Britain using data from 80 newly reported individuals dating to 3900–1200 BCE. British Neolithic farmers were genetically similar to contemporary populations in continental Europe and in particular to Neolithic Iberians, suggesting that a portion of the farmer ancestry in Britain came from the Mediterranean rather than the Danubian route of farming expansion. Beginning with the Beaker period, and continuing through the Bronze Age, all British individuals harboured high proportions of Steppe ancestry and were genetically closely related to Beaker-associated individuals from the Lower Rhine area. We use these observations to show that the spread of the Beaker Complex to Britain was mediated by migration from the continent that replaced >90% of Britain’s Neolithic gene pool within a few hundred years, continuing the process that brought Steppe ancestry into central and northern Europe 400 years earlier.

钟形杯陶器大约从公元前2750年开始在西欧和中欧传播，于公元前2200年至1800年间消失。其扩张机制一直是长期争论的话题，文化传播和人口迁徙这两种观点都有支持者。我们展示了来自170名新石器时代、铜器时代和青铜器时代欧洲人的全新全基因组古代DNA数据，其中包括100名与钟形杯文化相关的个体。此前已确定绳纹器文化是从东方迁徙至中欧，与之不同的是，我们发现伊比利亚半岛与中欧钟形杯文化相关个体之间的遗传亲缘关系有限，因此排除了人口迁徙是这两个地区间钟形杯文化传播的重要机制。然而，人口迁徙在钟形杯文化的进一步传播中确实发挥了重要作用，我们通过80名新报告的、年代在公元前3900年至1200年的个体数据，在英国最为清晰地记录了这一点。英国新石器时代的农民在基因上与当时欧洲大陆的人群，尤其是新石器时代的伊比利亚人相似，这表明英国部分农民的祖先来自地中海地区，而非农耕扩张的多瑙河路线。从钟形杯时期开始，一直延续到青铜时代，所有英国个体都拥有高比例的草原血统，并且在基因上与莱茵河下游地区与钟形杯文化相关的个体密切相关。我们基于这些观察结果表明，钟形杯文化传播至英国是由来自欧洲大陆的人口迁徙推动的，在几百年内取代了英国新石器时代基因库的90%以上，延续了400年前将草原血统带入中欧和北欧的进程。