Europe's First Farmers Were Immigrants: Replaced Their Stone Age Hunter-gatherer Forerunners
Thursday, September 3, 2009 - 23:14
in Paleontology & Archaeology
Analysis of ancient DNA suggests that Europe's first farmers were not the descendants of the people who settled the area after the retreat of the ice sheets. Instead, the early farmers probably migrated into major areas of central and eastern Europe about 7,500 years ago, bringing domesticated plants and animals with them. DNA analysis reveals little evidence of a direct genetic link between the hunter-gatherers and the early farmers.