Gregory's ServerSomething ELSE really interesting happened in Britain after the abandonment of farming. About 4,500 years ago, a new community began migrating into ancient Britain, bringing with them the Bell Beaker Phenomenon.
The Bell Beaker Phenomenon was a sort of archeological package—distinct artifacts, like the bell-shaped cups that give this phenomenon its name, as well as new burial practices. Stevens and Fuller also note that the time period of their arrival also coincides with the re-emergence of agriculture in Britain.
Archeologists debated for years as to whether this represented a population movement from continental Europe or merely the adoption of a new material culture by Britain’s Neolithic population. We now know from genetic studies that there was indeed a migration into Britain, and that it resulted in a near-total population turnover—some 90% of the subsequent ancestry in Britain derived from these Bronze Age newcomers, rather than the indigenous Neolithic community.
7/12
Ah-ha! Perhaps here is our evidence for Diamond’s thesis! Newcomers (re)introducing agriculture and overwhelming the non-farmers with their vastly and implacably larger numbers.
Except that, strangely, there’s no evidence for a violent take-over. No mass graves, no battle sites. The skeletal remains found during this period show no increase in injuries that would indicate interpersonal violence. The newcomers intermarried with the indigenous population. The newcomers began using and maintaining the same sacred sites as the indigenous community, including Stonehenge.
Whatever happened during this period, it seems like it was a lot more complicated than Diamond’s conquest story.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/return-of-the-beaker-folk-rethinking-migration-and-population-change-in-british-prehistory/ABF13307796A0476353FA8D2DA38A21A
8/12
Ah-ha! Perhaps here is our evidence for Diamond’s thesis! Newcomers (re)introducing agriculture and overwhelming the non-farmers with their vastly and implacably larger numbers.
Except that, strangely, there’s no evidence for a violent take-over. No mass graves, no battle sites. The skeletal remains found during this period show no increase in injuries that would indicate interpersonal violence. The newcomers intermarried with the indigenous population. The newcomers began using and maintaining the...