Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Summary Around 6700 BP (years before present), Neolithic Europe saw the emergence of megalithic monuments in northern France, followed by a rapid spread to the rest of the continent 1 . However, whether this was driven by the transmission of ideas (cultural diffusion) or the movement of people remains debated. To test whether this spread coincided with population movements, we reconstructed the population history of the European Neolithic (∼6500–4800 BP) by analysing genomic data from 2963 ancient individuals, including 46 unpublished genomes from megalithic and related contexts. To assess the alternative scenario whereby megaliths spread through contact networks, as expected under cultural diffusion, we integrated archaeological evidence with radiocarbon chronologies to reconstruct past trading networks. We identify northern France, where megaliths first emerged, as a zone of genetic admixture and cultural influence from the two major early Neolithic divisions: the Cardial of the Western Mediterranean and the Linear Pottery traditions of central Europe. From this admixed population, we uncover several migrations associated with the formation of the Funnel Beaker Culture in north-central Europe and the neolithisation of Scandinavia and the British Isles. We find that megaliths were spread exclusively within regions impacted by Cardial-related genetic ancestry, but only in the British Isles and Ireland did their emergence coincide with the time of the migration. The temporal delay between the migrations and the spread of megaliths elsewhere reveals that neither population movements nor cultural diffusion alone fully explains the geospatial distribution of the megalithic tradition. Rather, megaliths diffused across different Neolithic groups whose long-distance trade networks formed in the wake of earlier population movements. Our findings highlight the need to move beyond simplistic interpretations that present migrations or cultural diffusion as isolated events bringing technological and cultural innovations.
Authors: Hugh McColl, Bettina Schulz Paulsson, Stephen Shennan, Rasmus Nielsen, Thomaz Pinotti, Jessie Woodbridge, Ralph Fyfe, Maria Grazia Melis, Christian Isendahl, Rita Peyroteo Stjerna, Vitale Sparacello, Rich Potter, Catarina Costeira, Eduardo Porfirio, Bente Philippsen, Ana Maria Silva, António Faustino Carvalho, Pétrequin Pierre, Cassen Serge, Guus Kroonen, Audrey Blanchard, Jean-Noël Guyodo, Anna Bini, Jonas Paulsson, Victoria Dahl, José Moita, Marcus Hjorth, Andreas Bak Pørksen, Jesper Stenderup, Gaunitz Charleen, Lasse Vinner, Martin Sikora, Morten Allentoft, Kristian Kristiansen, Eske Willerslev
Institutions: University of Copenhagen, Lundbeck Foundation, University of Gothenburg, University College London, University of California, Berkeley, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, University of Plymouth, University of Sassari, Uppsala University, University of Lisbon, Centro de Arqueologia, University of Cagliari, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, University of Coimbra, Interdisciplinary Center for Archaeology and the Evolution of Human Behaviour, University of Algarve, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Maison des sciences humaines et environnementales Claude Nicolas Ledoux, Université Marie et Louis Pasteur, Université de Nantes, Nantes Université, Leiden University, Curtin University, University of Cambridge
Language: English
Subfield: Genetics
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7215028020