The Beakers: colonisers or trendsetters?

A wave of immigration by the mysterious Beaker people largely replaced Britain’s pre-existing population some 4,500 years ago, a new study has found. At about that time, distinctive bell-shaped pots began appearing in the archaeological record. These vessels, which were probably used for drinking, were found in grave sites across Europe, raising two possibilities: that a people from central Europe, the so-called Beaker people, spread across the continent at this time – or, more simply, that their pot art spread as a result of the exchange of ideas.

Now scientists have shed light on this “pot versus people” debate by undertaking the largest analysis of ancient DNA yet. Hundreds of researchers analysed more than 400 prehistoric skeletons from both before and after the Beaker period, and concluded that both theories are correct. In Iberia, skeletons found at Beaker burials were not genetically close to those found in similar burials in central Europe, indicating that there was no mass movement of population. However, in Britain, they shared genetic ties. The researchers conclude that over hundreds of years, Beaker immigrants almost completely replaced the Neolithic population responsible for monuments such as Stonehenge and, in so doing, imported their genetic traits for lighter hair and blue eyes.

“The people who built Stonehenge probably didn’t contribute any ancestry to later people,” said Pontus Skoglund of Harvard Medical School, who was not involved in the study. “To me, that’s definitely surprising.”