A study by researchers from the Institut Jacques Monod (CNRS/Université de Paris) has revealed that the prehistoric history of France shows two distinct periods of migration.
The first occurred during the Neolithic period around 6300 years ago, with the second migration period during the Bronze Age around 4200 years ago. The study analysed the genomes from 243 burials, covering a time span of 7000 YEARS.
The results revealed how admixture between native hunter-gatherers and the first Anatolian Neolithic migrants brought a new lifestyle based on agriculture and an ongoing record in the genomes of French people today.
Admixture of the Neolithic populations with those from the Pontic steppes (a vaste steppeland stretching from the northern shores of the Black Sea as far east as the Caspian Sea, from Dobruja in the northeastern corner of Bulgaria and southeastern Romania, through Moldova and eastern Ukraine across Russian Northern Caucasus, Southern and lower Volga regions to western Kazakhstan, forming part of the larger Eurasian steppe, adjacent to the Kazakh steppe to the east) who arrived 4,200 years ago also left a lasting imprint, with the Y chromosome of the majority of French men still bearing the signature of men from the steppes.
Header Image Credit – Public Domain
