"Making of Europe unlocked by DNA"

[muriel_volestrangler]

(I've used quotes because the article doesn't seem to justify such an expansive claim; but it's still interesting)

Decades of study of the DNA patterns of modern Europeans suggests two major events in prehistory significantly affected the continent's genetic landscape: its initial peopling by hunter-gatherers in Palaeolithic times (35,000 years ago) and a wave of migration by Near Eastern farmers some 6,000 years ago. (in the early Neolithic)

But the extent to which present-day people are descended from the indigenous hunters versus the newcomers that arrived in the Neolithic has been a matter of some debate.
...
But, from the Middle Neolithic onwards, DNA patterns more closely resembled those of people living in the area today, pointing to a major - and previously unrecognised - population upheaval around 4,000 BC.

Co-author Prof Alan Cooper, from the University of Adelaide in Australia, said: "What is intriguing is that the genetic markers of this first pan-European culture, which was clearly very successful, were then suddenly replaced around 4,500 years ago, and we don't know why.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22252099

[Xipe Totec]

1. 4,000 BC? That's getting a bit... biblical

[riqster]

2. Holy Moses!

[longship]

3. Yup, only four years after creation.

[csziggy]

4. Isn't that about the time the Black Sea flooded?

http://news.seadiscovery.com/post/2012/12/28/Dr-Robert-Ballard-May-Have-Proof-of-Noahe28099s-Flood.aspx

http://all-geo.org/highlyallochthonous/2007/11/the-black-sea-flood-and-the-rise-of-european-agriculture/

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. The DNA change is later

Ballard says 5000BC for the flood; your second link 7500BC-6000BC. Or there's 7150 years before the present as another estimate. The DNA evidence is from 4500-4000BC.

[csziggy]

6. Of course, all the dates are very approximate

The dates for the Black Sea flooding may be more accurate since they rely on dating organic evidence left. The DNA dates are less reliable - they estimate the rate of mutation which is a ball park figure. In many cases in the past DNA rates of mutation have been found to be completely inaccurate.

The other factor is the rate of migration of peoples. Even if the Black Sea flooding dates were earlier, the populations displaced by the flooding would not have immediately invaded Europe. The flooding would just be the start of population movements that could take hundreds of years.

[Paulie]

7. This is a very cool paper

I'm an H16 and the study shows that my haplogroup looks to be before the corded ware peoples in Europe. And my grandmother hails from the same region 5k years later is pretty cool.