Western Hunter-Gatherers - the European Mesolithic

The final in my series exploring the hunter-gatherer cultures of modern humans within Western Eurasia. First I briefly looked at Apidima fossils as evidence that modern traits had been in Europe from an early date. With the Aurignacians, I investigated the earliest known modern human culture in Europe. With the Gravettians, I learned about how hunter-gatherers adapted in the lead up, and into the Last Glacial Maximum How they divided into the Solutrean Culture of Iberia and France in the west; and with the Pavlovian and Epigravettian Cultures of Italy, Czech and the East. With the Magdalenians I discovered how they burst back following Last Glacial Maximum, and through the warmer Bølling–Allerød interstadial.

Above image is my own. Years ago, I recorded several flint microblade waste cores, of which the above wasn't the most regular or impressive. But it's a photo that I could still resource. These artefacts, along with a tranchet axe-head and a few microliths that I recorded, were Mesolithic. I thought that it would be nice if I could bring this series to a close with something, a bit more personal.

Genetics

Let me first sum up the whole Upper Palaeolithic story according to Ancient DNA.

We have established that the Aurignacians had descended from early West Eurasian lineages (in South West  Asia or further north among descendants?) when they split from ANE (Ancient North Eurasian). An early expansion into Western Europe first occurred circa 43,000 years ago, but a volcanic event in Italy may have terminated this occupation, with it resuming afresh circa 37,000 years ago.  They had since admixed with Neanderthals, and on average had 4-5% Neanderthal DNA with long segments. Neanderthals were likely still present in Western Europe, when the Aurignacians arrived there.

Through all of these Upper Palaeolithic cultures, prey species, conditions, and temperatures varied across the entire Eurasian range, with woodlands sometimes forming in Iberia, as opposed the the great Mammoth Steppe further east. Consequently, cultures and perhaps genomes divided into western and eastern blocks over time.

After 33,000 years ago, the Gravettians arrive from the North East, to replace the Aurignacians. Pushed by worsening climatic conditions, they also divided into west and east. Some descendants or relatives of the Aurignacians must have still been surviving, for Genetic studies suggest that during this period of stress, that the original Gravettians were in turn replaced by people who had more Aurignacian-like DNA. The technology and the artefact culture did not evidence this reversal of population.

Last Glacial Maximum passes, and 17,000 years ago, the Magdalenian Culture arises. The population behind this change were not so much the Solutrean of the west, but the people of the Epigravettian of Italy and the East. And they carry Aurignacian DNA. Very late, the Creswellian Culture develops in Britain, along with the Hamburgian around 12,000 to 10,000 years ago.

That brings me up to date with the Western Hunter-Gatherers and the approach of the Holocene.

WHG as a genetic component

So which of these groups did this component descend from?

Chasing this up brings me back to:


In this study, the authors found that WHG ancestry could be located into the Epigravettian genome. That hunter-gatherers had moved up primarily from the eastern and southern refugia to reach places like Britain.

WHG haplogroups so far identified

yDNA are I2a1 (I-M26) and R1b1a (R-V88)
mtDNA are U (mainly U5, U2 and U4)

Were the Earlier Mesolithic people of Britain related to those associated with the Creswellian points? Possibly. Or they could represent a fresh migration most likely not from the recently dominating Magdalenian Culture, but from the descendants of the earlier Epigravettian of SE Europe, possibly with admixture from  fresh populations crossing a dry Aegean from SW Asia:

Wikipedia:

The WHG displayed higher affinity for ancient and modern Middle Eastern populations when compared against earlier Paleolithic Europeans such as Gravettians. The affinity for ancient Middle Eastern populations in Europe increased after the Last Glacial Maximum, correlating with the expansion of WHG (Villabruna or Oberkassel) ancestry. There is also evidence for bi-directional geneflow between WHG and Middle Eastern populations as early as 15,000 years ago.

The WHG of Western Europe is sometimes referred to as the Villabruna or Oberkassel Cluster. They attracted public attention, when analysis of their DNA revealed that they were genetically likely to have had dark hair, and dark skin, with some individuals probably having light coloured, even blue eyes.  Dark skin was likely to have been a feature of earlier, Upper Palaeolithic fore-bearers. Despite low UVR levels, they found other ways of dealing with poor vitamin D production. Their diet may have compensated for the low UVR.

Image Source. Photo by Werner Ustorf (Flickr). Cheddar Man reconstruction.

A separate population appeared in Eastern Europe, defined as EHG (Eastern Hunter-Gatherer) and an SHG (Scandinavian Hunter-Gatherer) admixed between the two groups.

Image Source. Map of distribution for WHG genetic cluster across Europe.

Mesolithic Europe

These were the last of the European hunter-foragers who needed to adapt to climatic and environmental changes of the Holocene period. The Younger Dryas (12,900 to 11,700 years before present) represented a return of bitterly cold conditions before the rapid commencement of the Holocene. See the below trend in temperatures. Temperatures in Greenland rose by 10 C in only a decade.

Image Source.  Evolution of temperature in the Post-Glacial period according to Greenland ice cores (Younger Dryas)

Flora change followed this rapid rise in annual temperatures. During the Earlier Mesolithic, tundra grasslands were gradually replaced by birch scrub, followed by forest. Species to reach Britain included birch, alder, pine, and alder. During the Later Mesolithic, temperatures continued to rise. Lime (Linden), hazel, hawthorn, blackthorn, ash, elm / wych elm, followed. Beech probably didn't arrive until the end of the Mesolithic period. It had previously been speculated that Late Mesolithic lowland Britain would have been covered by one continuous wildwood canopy. However, pollen analysis has suggested some areas of open grassland, possibly kept open by the ruminations of large herbivores such as aurochs (wild cattle), bison, red deer, and roe deer. There has been some suggestion that the hunter-gatherers may have been managing these areas, and extending them with fire. This may have improved the regeneration of hazel (hazel nut was likely to have been a very important food source), and better, more open hunting conditions, where ungulates herd together in the open.

Lithics

The knapped flint and stone tools of the Mesolithic are largely characterised by the production of very small blades known as microliths. These would often be notched into small geometric shapes. Arrows were likely composite, with a microlith point, and small microlith barbs being glued and / or bound along the shaft behind that point. Microliths may have had further uses as microburins (piercers or borers for hide clothing etc) or as scalpel blades for working wood, bone, and antler. A further stone tool associated with this period is the Mesolithic tranchet axe head.

A tranchet axe head that I recorded during my surveying years.

Antler working

Star Carr is a well known archaeological site in North Yorkshire that dates to between 11,280, and 10,500 years before present. This places it shortly after the end of the Younger Dryas during the Earlier Mesolithic.

Image Source.  Star Carr collection at Yorkshire museum - mesolithic spear tips from the earliest known post glacial settlement in England. Star Carr has become the type site for the NW European Earlier Mesolithic.

Magdalenian - out of the Big Freeze

Image Source.  Bison Licking Insect Bite; 15,000–13,000 BC; antler; National Museum of Prehistory (Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil, France).

The Magdalenian Culture of Palaeolithic Europe follows the big freeze of the Last Glacial Maximum and dates from 17,000 to 12,000 years ago. Climatic conditions continued to remain grim, but a warmer interstadial known as the Bølling–Allerød, lasted between 14,690 and 12,890 years ago. The Magdalenian first appears in France, where it is contemporary with the Epigravettian Culture of Italy and further east. The founder population of the Magdalenian descends from earlier West European groups, including West Gravettian / Solutrean, and Western Aurignacian.

Image Source. Photo by Karl Steel (Flickr).

Magdalenian yDNA haplogroups so far discovered are I, and one HIJK

Magdelanian  mtDNA haplogroups all U (several U8b and one U5b).


One cluster at El Muron was found to be related to West European Aurignacians of the Goyet caves of Belgium, from 20,000 years earlier, supporting that the Magdalenians were descended from earlier Upper Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers of western Europe. However, later Western Hunter-Gatherers of the Mesolithic, were closer related to the more south eastern groups of the Epigravettian Culture.

Image Source. Flint blades from Grottes de Labastide.

Long, regular blades were struck from prepared, carinated cores. Later phases are associated with harpoons made of antler, ivory, and bone. Main prey species on the Continent was reindeer, although other groups such as those in Britain, focused on tarpan (horse). Red deer and ibex were also targeted. One study found little evidence of salmon nor saiga antelope in the diet of a Magdalenian woman. Another study has found evidence of consumption of wild plants and bolete mushrooms.

Diet of Upper Paleolithic Modern Humans: Evidence From Microwear Texture Analysis. AJPA 2014. Zaatari and Hublin.

This study found that the diet of Magdalenians was more varied, with more abrasive foods than those of earlier hunter-gatherers in Europe.

Image Source. Reproductions of some Lascaux artworks in Lascaux II.

Magdalenian Britain

Kent's Cavern

Image Source. Gough's Cave skull potentially evidencing cannibalism

The Cannibals of Gough's Cave.

Just as the climate began to improve circa 14,700 years ago, some Magdalenians sheltered in Gough's Cave Somerset. Batons and tools were left within, along with horse bones and human remains. Tarpan seem to have been their main prey, and they may have been following the horse herds north into Britain as the climate improved. The human bones had been treated in much the same way as the bones of food prey. Cut marks and incisions suggest that they were stripped of flesh, and this discovery has led to much debate about possible cannibalism. Human crania appear to have been modified into drinking cups:

'The skulls were scrupulously cleaned of soft tissue shortly after death. Marks show cutting of the lips, cheeks and tongue, and extraction of the eyes.

Then the bones of the face and the base of the skull were carefully removed. Finally the cranial vaults were meticulously shaped into cups.'

It has been suggested that a British Late Magdalenian Culture existed, called the Creswellian Technology, dating 12,000 to 10,000 years before present that is similar to a Hamburgian Culture on the Continent.


Gravettian - into the Big Freeze

Image Source. The Venus of Brassempouy.

The Gravettian overlaps the late Aurignacian, dating from circa 33,000 years ago, and surviving until 20,000 years before present. This included the coldest peak of the last Ice Age, the Last Glacial Maximum around 24,000 years ago until 18,000 years ago. These really were Ice Age Europeans. Travel as far north as Britain must have taken place during warmer intervals. Otherwise the Gravettian is found in a band across Western Eurasia, which stretches from Portugal and the Basque region, through France, Germany, Czech republic, as far east as Georgia and South Russia.

Image Source. Female face. Ivory carving, Dolní Věstonice.

Gravettian yDNA haplogroups so far discovered are CT, I, IJK, BT, one C1a2 and one F.
Gravettian mtDNA haplogroups overwhelmingly U (mainly U2 and U5), with one M.

The Late Gravettian developed into a culture in France and Iberia, that we call the Solutrean. Meanwhile in the south east of Europe, from the Italian peninsula across the the Western Steppe, it diverged into the Epigravettian culture, which overlaps for much of its range with the Mammoth Steppe.

We identify a genetic ancestry profile in individuals associated with Upper Palaeolithic Gravettian assemblages from western Europe that is distinct from contemporaneous groups related to this archaeological culture in central and southern Europe4, but resembles that of preceding individuals associated with the Aurignacian culture. This ancestry profile survived during the Last Glacial Maximum (25,000 to 19,000 years ago) in human populations from southwestern Europe associated with the Solutrean culture, and with the following Magdalenian culture that re-expanded northeastward after the Last Glacial Maximum. Conversely, we reveal a genetic turnover in southern Europe suggesting a local replacement of human groups around the time of the Last Glacial Maximum, accompanied by a north-to-south dispersal of populations associated with the Epigravettian culture. 
A previously unknown population replacement event that was archaeologically invisible, occurring during the peak of the Ice Age.  This DNA was then passed on via the Solutrean people to the following Magdalenian people. 

Image Source. Triple Burial at the Upper Palaeolithic Site of Dolní Věstonice.

These people buried their dead more frequently in graves than did the Aurignicians.  The grave of three male teenagers at Dolní Věstonice was particularly enigmatic. The person on the left, has a hand placed over the stomach of the middle character, where red ochre had been applied. The central person had a curved spine, diagnosed as caused by chondrodysplasia calcificans punctata (CCP).  The body on the right had been placed facing down. Red ochre had also been applied to the heads of all three.

A Mirror into the Past and Present. On the Dolni Vestonice Triple Burial. Academia.edu 2020. Olga Viviana Nauthiz Szynkaruk
For their last journey, the individuals have been richly equipped with headdresses made of the teeth of the arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus), wolf (Canis lupus), and unidentified large predators. In the mouth of DV15, a mammoth ivory disc was placed.

Image Source. Gravettian points.

Prey appear less restrictive than for the earlier period which focused on reindeer. The Gravettians hunted deer, mammoth, hares, lions, bear, foxes. Rather than use split antlers as points, they used flint blades known as Gravettian points. There is evidence that the Gravettians had access to bows and to the spear thrower. Furthermore, they may have had the first domesticated animal, the dog.

Image Source (Flickr).  Altamira Cave Paintings. By Carlos Calamar

British Gravettian

Image Source (modified).  Find-spots in Britain of Gravettian tanged points. Northern Britain was covered by ice sheets, and the North Sea was dry, connecting Great Britain to the Continent.

Image Source. The Venus of Willendorf.

Conclusion

The Gravettians entered Europe in the long, slow run up to the Last Glacial Maximum, and endured much of it. Although they inhabited a vast region of Western Eurasia, their culture remained constant, albeit with some divisions between west and east. The Pavlovian Culture developed in the east as mammoth-hunters.  The Gravettians often buried their dead with much ceremony, wearing seashell beads, ivory, and animal teeth. They were successful and adaptive Ice Age hunters, preying on deer, reindeer, mammoth, fox, hare, hyena, wolf, seal, and foraged for shellfish. They lived in circular, semi subterranean shelters, but were mobile. Skilled artists with cave paintings and carved ivory. They tipped projectiles with flint blade points, and may have used bows, boomerangs and atlatls. Nets were woven, and lamps of stone used. They may have developed an early relationship with dogs.

During the Last Glacial Maximum, although their artefact culture continued, there was a population replacement event by people closer related to their Aurignician predecessors.  These later Gravettians fostered the Solutrean Culture in France and Iberia, and the Epigravettian culture of the east and south east.

Aurignacian - Reindeer hunters and first modern artefact culture of Europe

Image of the Lion Man.  The Oldest Portable Art: the Aurignacian Ivory Figurines from the Swabian Jura (Southwest Germany).  Harald Floss

The Aurignacians were not the first Europeans.  With the previous post on the Apidima 1 skull fragment from Greece, dated to circa 210,000 years ago, I established that humans with modern Homo sapiens features may well have been wandering in and out of parts of Europe for a very long time. Neither was Apidima 1 the first European. Earlier humans, including Neanderthals had been around Europe for a very long time. Before them, earlier hominins, such as Homo heidelgergensis; and Homo antecessor who left artefacts and footprints on a Norfolk beach, some 800,000 to 900,000 years ago. Recently, stone tools found in Ukraine during the 1970s have been dated to 1.4 millions years of age, and may be associated with an Homo erectus type hominin.

Not the first Europeans, but here in this post I am going to investigate the earliest modern human artefact culture that we currently know to have established itself in Europe, and even in Britain. I'm going to discuss the Aurignacians.

Image.  Animation and Graphic Narration in the Aurignacian. Marc Azéma

Thought to have spread into Europe from SW Asia in the Levant, where the culture is also found, it has been proposed that an earlier origin could be the Zagros Mountains of Western Iran, where similar tools have been recorded.

Aurignacian yDNA haplogroups so far discovered are C1a, C1b, and K2a
Aurignacian mtDNA haplogroups include N, R, and U.

Of these, only the mtDNA hapologroup U is still common in modern Europe.

The genetic history of Ice Age Europe. Nature 2016. Fu, Posth, Hajdijak etal.  (Full download here)

Concluded that a 37,000 year old Aurignacian genome has some continuity into the modern European population, and was more akin to modern Europeans, than was a contemporary sample from China. The division between Western Eurasians, and Eastern Eurasians dates back to include the Aurigacians in the West. A contribution to modern European DNA has been identified albeit a small percentage. The genomes sequenced indicated that they were likely dark-skinned and brown eyed, but with reservation.

Here we present genome-wide data from three individuals dated to between 45,930 and 42,580 years ago from Bacho Kiro Cave, Bulgaria1,2. They are the earliest Late Pleistocene modern humans known to have been recovered in Europe so far, and were found in association with an Initial Upper Palaeolithic artefact assemblage. Unlike two previously studied individuals of similar ages from Romania7 and Siberia8 who did not contribute detectably to later populations, these individuals are more closely related to present-day and ancient populations in East Asia and the Americas than to later west Eurasian populations. This indicates that they belonged to a modern human migration into Europe that was not previously known from the genetic record, and provides evidence that there was at least some continuity between the earliest modern humans in Europe and later people in Eurasia. Moreover, we find that all three individuals had Neanderthal ancestors a few generations back in their family history, confirming that the first European modern humans mixed with Neanderthals and suggesting that such mixing could have been common. 
Recent arrivals into Europe, with connections to present day West Eurasian populations, and they had some recent Neanderthal ancestry mixed into modern.

According to Wikipedia:
The Proto-Aurignacian and the Early Aurignacian stages are dated between about 43,000 and 37,000 years ago. The Aurignacian proper lasted from about 37,000 to 33,000 years ago. A Late Aurignacian phase transitional with the Gravettian dates to about 33,000 to 26,000 years ago.
That is actually a very long time period. One research project proposed a Europe-wide population of only 1,500 at a time. Extended over a long period of many thousands of years.

The early Aurignacian dispersal of modern humans into westernmost Eurasia. PNAS 2020. Haws, Benedetti, Talamo and Zinsious.

Looks at the entry into Iberia, and revises the date.

Image. Antler points and a perforated baton from the Early Aurignacian.  Origin and Development of Aurignacian Osseous Technology in Western Europe: a Review of Current Knowledge  Élise Tartar

Interview with Dr James Dilley on the use of these antler points. He suggests that a lack of good wood with which to construct spear shafts may have led to them employing more breakable split antler points to preserve the valuable shafts. The points could have also improved the bleeding out of quarry. Perforated batons are also common on their sites. Use is unknown.


Flint bladelets as with some later cultures, are often a feature of Aurignacian sites. Typical hunter's lithics utilising flint with great economy.

Continental sites produce volumes of reindeer bone. It seems to have been their target prey.

Their landscapes were increasingly cold, open, and treeless.

Culturally they left high quality cave paintings in South France, and carved ivory pieces in Germany. The first Venus figure. The Lion Man. They often painted and sculptured lions, which may have been important to their belief system.

Image of the Venus of Hohle Fels.  The Oldest Portable Art: the Aurignacian Ivory Figurines from the Swabian Jura (Southwest Germany).  Harald Floss

British Aurignacian

Image. Recorded Aurignacian sites in Britain.  Coastline would have been far further out than in the above image. The North Sea was dry, and Britain connected to the continent.

The Timing of Aurignacian occupation of the British Peninsula.  Edinburgh Research Explorer 2012. Dinnis.R

A study of flint burins to type in comparison with sites in Belgium and France. Occupation of the British peninsular would have been impossible for long periods. The conclusion:

British Aurignacian burins busqués are technologically indistinguishable from those found in Belgium and at Abri Pataud in southern France c. 32 000 14C BP, or c. 37 000 cal BP. Therefore, the Aurignacian can be considered to have appeared in Britain at this same time. The proposed c. 32 000 14C BP appearance of burins busqués accords with the few radiocarbon dates from other sites which directly date Aurignacian occupation of Britain. Morphologically similar lozangic-type osseous points are also present at Abri Pataud and in Britain at this time. This period apparently coincides with or closely follows the most significant warm phase during the lifetime of the Aurignacian: Greenland Interstadial 8. An environmental response to this climatic amelioration is therefore a plausible reason for the extension of Aurignacian ranges northwards at this time.

and:
In spite of an overall paucity of material, the presence of two bladelet production techniques suggests that there were at least two Aurignacian occupations of Britain, or that occupation was sufficiently prolonged to encompass the replacement of one by the other. The precise timing of what is interpreted as the more recent of the two techniques – the Paviland burin method – is currently unknown.
More than one occupation during warmer periods around 32,000 years ago, or / and 37,000 years ago. These coincide with warmer interstadials. Find-sites include Goughs Cave, Kents Cavern, and Goats Hole, Paviland. Britain's classic Aurignacian skeletal remains are those of The Red Lady of Paviland. A male who had died in Britain circa 31,000 years ago.

Image of the Aurignacian flute made from vulture bone.  The Oldest Portable Art: the Aurignacian Ivory Figurines from the Swabian Jura (Southwest Germany).  Harald Floss

Video. Hear the bone flute being played.

Conclusion

Ice Age reindeer hunters on the European tundra with a talent for the arts. They hunted with split antler tipped throwing spears. They had music, and made flutes, using the long leg bones of vultures. They were talented artists, leaving ivory and bone sculptures, and their famous cave paintings.  They were few, and moved around far, following herds and shifts in the bitter weather. Their landscape was open and cold, treeless. Fauna would have included reindeer, tarpan / horses, steppe bison, woolly rhino, mammoth, cave lions, and hyenas. The lion may have been ritually important to their belief systems. They most probably encountered another type of human in Europe - the Neanderthals. Four percent of their own DNA, with long segments, originated among the Neanderthals.  The artefact culture survived for thousands of years, until the approach of the Last Glacial Maximum some 25,000 years ago. They persist in a few percent of modern West Eurasian DNA.

In addition to reindeer hunting, some sites are associated with ancient coastlines, and pierced seashells have been found as personal ornamentation. No evidence of fishing, but they may have foraged for shellfish. Ornamentation also includes the teeth of carnivores such as lions and foxes. Red ochre was applied on some remains.


This investigation has really helped me to imagine them. The Europeans who lived here before Last Glacial Maximum. I was really surprised just how many resources there are available online. I've barely touched on this subject. I have only touched on their cave art

I don't want to violate copyright by sharing Tom Björklund's fantastic art work here, but here is a link to his take on the Aurignacian people. I think that creativity blended with archaeology really helps:

First Homo Sapiens in Europe - Apidima

Creative Common images from Il Fatto Storico


These fossils shake things up. Two fragments of human skull crania were found in Apidima Cave in Southern Greece during the late 1970s, but radiocarbon dating failed and typology was difficult with the partial survival. They were found close together, lodged down a crevice.

The authors of the report applied U-series radiometric method to date Apidima 2 to more than 170,000 bp  and propose that it has Neanderthal features.

Apidima 1 (images above), they have dated using the same method to more than 210,000 years ago, and have assigned to it a morphology of mixed primitive and modern features.  This surprised the researchers as it had been wrongly assumed that the two fragments were found so close to each other (centimetres) that they shared a single context and time.

Apidima 1 described as having some modern features, is an extraordinary claim, as is the title of the Nature publication. It suggests arrival of anatomically modern humans (Homo Sapiens)  into SE Europe at an extraordinary early date.

(Note # the Homo sapiens designation for Apidima 1 remains hotly debated due to the fragmentary nature of the skull).

The emergence of fossils that we regard as anatomically modern has shifted further back in time. I recall when the Cromagnon fossils of Europe, dated then to circa 40,000 years ago were regarded as the oldest in the world. But finds from both out of Levant and Africa began to challenge this. Eventually, Omo-Kibish and Herto in Ethiopia were hailed as the oldest fossil finds of modern Homo sapiens. They were dated to circa 195,000 years bp. A recent research publication has revised the dating of these proximal deposits of the finds to 233 ± 22 kyr. Yes, 220,000 years ago:

Age of the oldest known Homo sapiens from eastern Africa. Nature updated 2022. Vidal, Lane, Asrat etal

It doesn't end there.


The fossils designated to be Homo sapiens found at Jebel Irhoud, Morocco, have been dated 315,000 ybp.

The age of the hominin fossils from Jebel Irhoud, Morocco, and the origins of the Middle Stone Age. Nature 2017. Richter, Grün, Joannes-Boyau etal.

In conclusion, it would appear that the anatomical features we associate with modern Homo sapiens did not emerge all at once in a single cradle, but rather piecemeal across a vast, interconnected pan-African network starting over 300,000 years ago. The evidence of much earlier expansions of Homo erectus out of Africa proves that the geography of Eurasia was accessible to early hominins. If the controversial Homo sapiens designation for Apidima 1 holds true against its critics, it reveals that our own species was testing those same migratory corridors into Europe over 200,000 years ago—long before the permanent Upper Palaeolithic settlements took root.


yDNA haplogroup L in Medieval Cherry Hinton, England

Cherry Hinton, Cambridgeshire, James Alexander Cameron on Flickr

Most of our nuclear DNA recombines with every generation. But a yDNA Haplogroup is a genetic marker that follows along the direct paternal line, passed down from biological father to son. Follow it back, and it will follow your father's father's, father's, etc.  Most NW European males carry a yDNA haplogroup of R, or I. Sometimes G, J, E. However, I have a variant of L, defined by a mutation coded M20 (L-M20). yDNA haplogroup L is regarded as Non-European and some will insist that it is South Asian. I can reliably trace my own paternal line back to 18th Century Oxfordshire / Thames Valley.  yDNA haplogroup L is NOT seen as European. It is seen as an Asian genetic marker. The males of two English families share my own mutations: BROOKER of Oxfordshire and CHANDLER of Basingstoke, Hampshire. My next closest yDNA matches are men from Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, India, and Lebanon. 

Cherry Hinton, Cambs.

Excavation of a Medieval Cemetery. Ancient DNA revealed.

Consequently, when I saw that FTDNA had given me Ancient Connections from here in England, I at first thought it a mistake. Yet there they were, two excavated skeletons from a medieval cemetery in Cherry Hinton, Cambridgeshire.

Were they relatives / ancestors of the Brooker and Chandler lines?

I investigated. These two human remains dating between 940 CE and 1170 CE, and coded Cherry Hinton 919 and 936 had the M349 and B374 variants. I can best demonstrate our paternal relationship by a plan:


The most recent mutation shared by both myself, and these Medieval Cambridgeshire Men, is M317. The TMRCA (Time of most recent common ancestor) to all descendants, is I'm afraid, 12,700 years ago. The M317 variant first formed 18,100 years ago. Therefore, I and the Cherry Hinton men, last shared a common paternal line at the end of the last Ice Age. I would suggest that our common yDNA ancestors lived somewhere between Anatolia, Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Both my own SK1412, and their M349 formed around 12,700 years before present. We cannot share our direct paternal lines before 10,700 BCE.

What do we know about these Medieval men? I have scoured the excavation reports and data sheets:

Genetic history of Cambridgeshire before and after the Black Death

'In total, 48 individuals from Cherry Hinton were targeted for DNA extraction in this study, including 24 females and 24 males (Table S1). Two of the sampled individuals have been directly radiocarbon dated.'

'Cherry Hinton The settlement of Church End Cherry Hinton (Cherry Hinton) is located around six kilometers southeast of Cambridge. In the late 9th to the mid-10th century, a large thengly (aristocratic) or proto-manorial center was established (92, 93). The associated timber chapel and graveyard were excavated in 1999 by the Hertfordshire Archaeological Trust (subsequently Archaeological Solutions and now Wardell Armstrong) in advance of development of the site in accordance with the appropriate planning regulations'

More on the excavation in this Current Archaeology report.

Cherry Hinton 919 (sk3262) was related to a female (mother, or sister?) number 947 (sk3262) with whom he shared his mtDNA haplogroup U5b3e His yDNA was sequenced as L-B374.

Cherry Hinton 936 (sk2077) had no close relatives (albeit had to have shared his paternal line with 919). His mtDNA was T4b4+152. His own yDNA was also L-B374.

Both sequenced from tooth root; classed in Rural 4 group; dated between 940 CE to 1140 CE

The route of their yDNA was: L-M20>M22>M317>M349>B374. See plan above.

The route of the modern BROOKER / CHANDLER lines is: L-M20>M22>M317>SK1412>SK1414>FGC51041>FGC51036

 L-B374 Today

Only one modern English, or British tester, has so far tested on ftDNA, or registered on yFull with a result of L-B374.

The only modern Asian samples have been a single tester from Kazakhstan. Rather, the highest density of testers have placed their paternal lines in Switzerland, The apparent centre of modern L-B374 - this variant looks very European. The TMRCA for B374 is 600 BCE. Following Switzerland, it has also been reported in: Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Tatarstan, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary and Croatia.

This is not the case with my own variant (L-FGC51036). Other than the two South English families, our closest yDNA relatives have been from Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, India, and Turkey. Our own line arrived independently, and possibly later than that of the Cherry Hinton Men. I propose an Early Medieval date for the arrival of my own paternal line in England. Maybe one day we will get as lucky, and our own paternal line ancestors will be excavated?

Documentary Paternal line.

I have proven descent from John Henry Brooker, through genetic matching to support the documentary evidence. I and my sibling share some centimorgans of autosomal DNA with descendants of his sister. Additionally, smaller segments are shared from the prior few generations, to support that this paternal line is biologically true, at least back to Generation 5 (great great grandparent). He was the only one of my great grandfather's not to be Norfolk-born.

If I follow his paternal line (BROOKER) back using traditional genealogical method, I follow it back to the Thames Valley borderlands of rural Oxfordshire and Berkshire. I have good, strong documentary evidence back to my direct paternal line 5 x great grandfather, Edward Brucker, born 1757 at Long Wittenham, Berkshire.

Support for my 6 x great grandfather being a John Brooker born 1722 at Hagbourne, Berkshire in 1722 is pretty good. His father before him I have verified, was another John Brooker born 1691 at Hagbourne. His father was Thomas Brucker, also baptised at Hagbourne in 1658.  If biologically true, he would be my 8 x great grandfather and that would place my Y chromosome in Hagbourne, Berkshire in 1658. The Chandlers who share the yDNA descend from a Thomas Chandler who lived in Basingstoke, Hampshire during the late 18th century. At some point prior to that, our two paternal lines must merge.

Anything earlier than 1658 Hagbourne, too much doubt creeps in, but I have candidates stretching back a few generations waiting for more supportive evidence. They are in the Wantage/Uffington area of Oxfordshire. Caution - they may be incorrect. Another candidate in in Whitchurch, Hampshire.

I've researched the BROOKER surname:

Distribution of BROOKER baptisms AD 1550 - AD 1600 by English County.  County boundaries modern, but East and East Surrey united for historical purposes.  Includes records of derivations of Brooker surname.

During the 16th Century CE, it was not a common surname in Oxfordshire and Berkshire. Its origins are the Sussex / Surrey area. It is possible that I had a Brooker surname ancestor move up through Hampshire into the area. I think that our surname picked up the yDNA in Hampshire, or in a South English port. My favourite hypothesis is that a South West Asian sailor visited, and left a son there early into the Medieval.

This hypothesis might seem unlikely, yet it brings me to:

Updown Girl

In my previous post concerning Anglo Saxon DNA, I discussed this report:


A 2022 survey, where hundreds of ancient human remains were sequenced for DNA. My favourite treasure of that study, came from an Anglo-Saxon grave in Kent. A girl, who had died during the early 7th Century CE (600s) around the age of 11 years of age. She was buried with Anglo Saxon artefacts, with full respect. She was related to some other nearby individuals (great aunts?) who had artefacts suggestive of Frankish origin.

On sequencing UpDown Girl's DNA, it was revealed that 33% was West African in origin!  UpDown Girl most probably had a grandfather from West Africa. Her DNA was most like the modern Esan or Yoruba population groups.

This is another example of why we should be very wary of not generalising. There were always a few travellers who would move far from home. It could be that my Asian sailor was another one, like UpDown Girl?

More on this spectacular find by link:

Wikipedia - UpDown Girl


Anglo-Saxon Migration - the latest genetic evidence 2024

In 2015, the Peopling of the British Isles (POBI) research group, published this paper:

The Fine-scale genetic structure of the British Population  Leslie, Winney etal POBI 2015

It proposed that the Early Medieval migration events commonly known as Anglo-Saxon (a better term to include the 9th Century surge could be Anglo-Danish), has been exaggerated. They concluded that the modern English had only 10% to 40% descent from these Continental immigrants, with the remainder majority reflecting earlier Iron Age / Romano British ancestry.

An independent 2016 investigation by Schiffels, Haak etal looked at ancientDNA from cemeteries in Cambridgeshire. The results supported POBI's conclusion, proposing:

'East English population derives 38% of its ancestry from Anglo-Saxon migrations'


This has quickly shifted into the domain of public lore. That the Anglo-Saxons did not displace the local Britons, that they did merge, with those of British ancestry assuming Anglo-Saxon culture, and that the modern ethnic English of local descent, have only a minority of Anglo-Saxon ancestry.

There were criticisms of both studies. POBI had been based on the DNA of modern populations. Whilst the Haak, Schiffel etal study contained too few ancientDNA samples.


A new study published in 2022, by a similar research team:


This study has been based on far more samples of ancientDNA. A total of 460 NW Europeans including 278 individuals from England. In conclusion, they continue to emphasise admixture, a merging, and the adoption by some people of local descent, of Continental Northern European (Anglo-Saxon) grave goods. They managed to map local family histories of merging population.

They increased the projected impact of Continental Northern European DNA on the British genome.


A recap:
  • POBI 2015 suggested 10% - 40% Anglo-Danish
  • The small scale Schiffels, Haak etal report of 2016 suggested 38% 'Continental Northern European'  (Anglo-Danish) in the Cambridgeshire region.

The 2022 study based on hundreds of ancient remains increased the percentage of new arrivals. They conclude that it is higher further east, closer to the North Sea, but declines as an average in Western England.  At its peak in Eastern England, they projected that Anglo-Danish accounted for 76% of the genome:

'the individuals who we analysed from eastern England derived up to 76% of their ancestry from the continental North Sea zone, albeit with substantial regional variation and heterogeneity within sites.'

This is a higher estimate than that proposed by the previous two studies.

The discussion was not restricted to the percentage of this Continental Northern European DNA. They also examined the origins of these early medieval immigrants. They concluded that they had arrived from a belt across Northern Europe that focused on Frisia, North Germany, and Denmark. They also suggest a smaller, secondary population from further south that might be Frankish. Finally, they detected that this immigration event extended for longer than previously thought, extending into the 8th Century CE, and blending into the Danish settlement.



One fascinating find, I will discuss in another post, concerns the remains excavated in Kent of the UpDown Girl. Just as a taster:



A small caveat. None of these genetic studies can distinguish between Anglo-Saxon DNA and the later, Medieval Danish DNA. Hence, it might be better to consider this as Anglo-Danish. But in some ways, the 9th Century was a fresh surge of the same immigration event.

Fertile Crescent of Western Eurasia

The Fertile Crescent is the name given to a region of Western Eurasia where a Neolithic Revolution first occurred shortly following the end of the last Ice Age. It was here in SW Asia, that the wild ancestors of domestic cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, barley, emmer wheat, bread wheat, einkorn, barley, rye, peas, and vetch all existed. Where the first stone age farmers (Neolithic) developed an agriculture. It was not the only such Neolithic Revolution, others independently happened in Papua, China, SE Asia, Northern America, Southern America, and Africa. The Fertile Crescent may have been home to the earliest such revolution (perhaps challenged by Papua and China), and most affected the development of western civilisations, with its rich array of domesticated species, that became so critical to their economies.

A few posts ago, I blogged a bunch of notes concerning the Anatolian Epipalaelithic and Pre Pottery Neolithic. Here I continue to develop my personal investigation, with the modification of maps.

Map 1. Pre Pottery Neolithic

Early Fertile Crescent Pre Pottery Neolithic between 13,000 years ago and 10,000 years ago. Focusing on Pre Pottery Neolithic A sites:

Map 2. Pottery Neolithic

The Fertile Crescent as it later developed between 10,000 and 6,000 years ago. This included the birthplaces of Uruk civilisation, Elam civilisation (in what is now Iraq and Iran respectively), and Badarian to Naqadan civilisation in Egypt (leading to Pre-Dynastic Egypt):

Source for both versions: OpenStreetMaps

I find that this helps me to better understand the Eurasian Neolithic and its foundation in SW Asia. The latter map which includes Southern Mesopotamia, and the Nile Valley is more like that which was presented to me when I was young. The former, focuses on the very earliest roots.

This Neolithic then spread into Sudan, across the Iranian Plain to the Indus Valley, into the Balkans, and along the Mediterranean coasts. From a local perspective, it didn't reach the British Isles until circa 6,000 years ago.

Below, the map I recently posted, focusing on the Anatolian Pre Pottery Neolithic A sites:

My earlier Notes on the Anatolian Pre Pottery Neolithic A

I've also watched a very interesting video on the Wadi Faynan WF16 PPN A site in Jordan. Highly recommend the video. It provides evidence that the PPN A may have extend so far south of the Anatolian cluster around Göbekli Tepe.