The Spread of Farming
Much ink has been spilled arguing about whether farming was spread to the rest of Europe by immigrants moving outwards from the Levant and Anatolia, or whether simply the new ideas spread, leaving people staying pretty much in their ancestral homelands.
Archaeology seems to show that the same types of crop plants and domesticated animals appear across the Mediterranean area after 6,000 BC.
This has been made much more interesting by the advent of DNA analysis which at present appears to suggest a gender difference, with men being the group that was 'on the move' while mitochondrial (mother-line) DNA suggests women were staying put.
Archaeology seems to show that the same types of crop plants and domesticated animals appear across the Mediterranean area after 6,000 BC.
This has been made much more interesting by the advent of DNA analysis which at present appears to suggest a gender difference, with men being the group that was 'on the move' while mitochondrial (mother-line) DNA suggests women were staying put.