Studies Suggests Neolithic Britons Killed Off By Bubonic Plague

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Monganaut M
Monganaut Feb 22, 2018 05:11:36

Interesting little article in the Independent. Apparently our Neolithic forbears were of Mediterranean/Middle Eastern origin and were 90% were wiped out by plague carried by 'Beaker' incomers. Now that's something that I hadn't considered for the large cultural shift during the Bronze Age. The article states that that only Sardinia has remnants of it's original Neolithic population.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/stonehenge-neolithic-britain-history-ancestors-plague-archaeology-beaker-people-a8222341.html

Also in the Daily Tory
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5413607/Neolithic-farmers-wiped-Beaker-people.html

Different mag suggests that Bronze Age plague not spread by fleas.
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/10/bronze-age-plague-wasnt-spread-fleas

Cambridge Archaeology
http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/plague-in-humans-twice-as-old-but-didnt-begin-as-flea-borne-ancient-dna-reveals

A couple of other articles worth a butchers too...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5420077/Researchers-discovered-new-prehistoric-migration-paths.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5419511/Ancient-cave-drawings-led-modern-lanuages.html

M moss
moss Feb 23, 2018 11:16:41
Replying to Monganaut

Monganaut wrote:
Interesting little article in the Independent. Apparently our Neolithic forbears were of Mediterranean/Middle Eastern origin and were 90% were wiped out by plague carried by 'Beaker' incomers. Now that's something that I hadn't considered for the large cultural shift during the Bronze Age. The article states that that only Sardinia has remnants of it's original Neolithic population.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/stonehenge-neolithic-britain-history-ancestors-plague-archaeology-beaker-people-a8222341.html

Also in the Daily Tory
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5413607/Neolithic-farmers-wiped-Beaker-people.html

Different mag suggests that Bronze Age plague not spread by fleas.
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/10/bronze-age-plague-wasnt-spread-fleas

Cambridge Archaeology
http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/plague-in-humans-twice-as-old-but-didnt-begin-as-flea-borne-ancient-dna-reveals

A couple of other articles worth a butchers too...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5420077/Researchers-discovered-new-prehistoric-migration-paths.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5419511/Ancient-cave-drawings-led-modern-lanuages.html

And then, along came the blue-eyed people. I have read and heard that modern day DNA is a bit up the creek, go to two or more services for DNA and you get completely different answers on your make-up. Does it matter? ;)

https://inews.co.uk/news/uk/blue-eyed-steppe-people-britons-ancestors-not-builders-stonehenge/

T tjj
tjj Feb 23, 2018 20:48:09
Replying to Monganaut

Interesting links M, I didn't comment earlier as it all felt a bit baffling. You've probably seen this link which is related as about DNA testing again and also references your first link. This time about the origins of horses ... which is intriguing as horses appear on rock/cave paintings.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/horse-origin-mysterious-domestic-dna-analysis-przewalskis-botai-domesticated-a8224121.html

See also the Peche Merle spotted horses - which seem to be dated between 25,000BC and 16,000BC
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pech_Merle

Read in conjunction with the Independent's article it all seems a bit confusing.

C CR
CR Mar 12, 2018 16:41:10
Replying to Monganaut

I agree with mush has already been said.

This topic is interesting:

There has been a very biased reporting of parts of the data.

In fact MODERN populations in Britain and northern Europe frequently show a MIX of 'northern hunter-gatherer' - 'early-iberian farmer' - ' yamana-steppe/beaker'

The 'total replacements' people keep talking about in terms of spatial and chronologically limited time periods is not really supported by the genetic make-up of the CURRENT population.

This is ongoing, but I suspect 'total replacement' (at best) is relevant to mainly groups in prestigious/elite barrow monuments, which dominate the sources of mortuary evidence in the Neolithic/Bronze Age period.

It is worth bearing in mind that we have no solid answers in UK archaeology for 'Where All The Bodies Went ' - ie we suspect the vast majority of bodies (ie from the dominant 'non-elite' population) were dealt with in practices dissimilar to barrows, and which anyhow leave no archaeological trace (and thus no DNA sample point ).