In a collaborative study, researchers at the University of Vienna and Harvard University have generated a holistic set of genetic data on Central Europe’s Linear Pottery Culture (Linearbandkeramik, LBK).
The study found no signs of inequality in consuming food, grave burials, or their origins around 8,000 years ago. It also found no traces of stratification based on family or biological sex.
The agricultural expansion into Central Europe dates back to 5500 BCE. Within a few generations, farmers from the Balkan region migrated to the Danube valley, present-day France, and eastward into present-day Hungary and Ukraine.
While the cultural traces of early farmers in Central Europe are homogenous, the lack of genetic data from multiple families hindered our understanding of whether the society was egalitarian or elitist. Also, there are few insights into individuals who migrated across the continent.
To improve LBK acuities, a research team of over 80 scholars integrated new genetic data from more than 250 individuals. This data includes bone studies, radiocarbon dates, burial contexts, and dietary data. The genetic links suggest that the culture expanded hundreds of kilometers within a few generations.
“We have successfully found distant relatives in Slovakia and others in Western Germany, more than 800 km away,” says Pere Gelabert.
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Ron Pinhasi explains, “We report for the first time that families at the study sites of Nitra in Slovakia and Polgár-Ferenci-hát in Hungary do not differ in terms of the foods they consumed, the grave goods they were buried with, or their origins.“
“This suggests that the people living in these Neolithic sites were not stratified on the basis of family or biological sex, and we do not detect signs of inequality, understood as differential access to resources or space.“
The LBK culture ended around 5000 BCE, and several theories have been proposed regarding the collapse. A few claim socio-economic crises led to widespread episodes of violence.
The Massacre of Asparn-Schletz (Lower Austria) is one of the largest known assemblages, where over 100 individuals were recovered from a ditch system. Signs of multiple fractures show clear traces of violence.
Pere Gelabert says, “Our meticulous genetic study of the Asparn-Schletz individuals showed that less than 10 were genetically related, which challenges the hypothesis that the massacre represented a single population.“
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Journal Reference
- Gelabert, P., Bickle, P., Hofmann, D., Anders, A., Huang, X., Hämmerle, M., Olalde, I., Fournier, R., Ringbauer, H., Akbari, A., Cheronet, O., Lazaridis, I., Broomandkhoshbacht, N., Fernandes, D. M., Buttinger, K., Callan, K., Candilio, F., Bravo Morante, G., Curtis, E., . . . Reich, D. (2024). Social and genetic diversity in first farmers of central Europe. Nature Human Behaviour, 1-12. DOI: 10.1038/s41562-024-02034-z
