Ancient DNA and the European Neolithic: Relations and Descent

A current paradigm-changing aDNA revolution is offering unparalleled insights into central questions within archaeology relating to the movement of populations and individuals; patterns of descent; relationships; and aspects of identity – at many scales and of many different kinds. The impact of recent aDNA results can be seen particularly clearly in studies of European Neolithic populations, the subject of contributions presented in this volume. This has all helped to reset the terms in which we must now consider movements and mixtures of people both at the start of the Neolithic and at its end, and complex questions of identities and relationships. If the terms of archaeological debate have been permanently altered, this has left many issues in its wake. This volume stems from the online day conference of the Neolithic Studies Group held in November 2021, which aimed to bring geneticists and archaeologists together in the same forum, and in the second place to enable critical but constructive inter-disciplinary debate about key issues arising from the application of advanced aDNA analysis to the study of the European Neolithic and Chalcolithic. The resulting papers gathered here are by both geneticists and archaeologists. Overall, they offer wide-ranging reflections on the progress of aDNA studies, and on their future reach and character, and a series of significant, up-to-date, period and regional syntheses of various manifestations of the Neolithic across the Near East and Europe, including particularly Britain and Ireland. Chronological coverage in some papers extends into the Chalcolithic or Copper Age. AUTHORS: Alasdair Whittle is a former research professor in archaeology at Cardiff University. He has published widely on the Neolithic period across Europe. Joshua Pollard is a Professor of Archaeology at the University of Southampton. He has wide-ranging research interests in the Neolithic period and has directed and co-directed major fieldwork projects in the Avebury and Stonehenge landscapes. Dr. Susan Greaney is Senior Properties Historian for English Heritage, based in Bristol. She completed her PhD on Neolithic monument complexes in Britain and Ireland in 2022. Her main research interests are monuments, power relations and society in the Neolithic and early Bronze Age, as well as the public presentation of heritage and archaeology.

Table of Contents:
Foreword List of contributors   1. Introduction: questions of descent, relationships and identity Alasdair Whittle and Joshua Pollard 2. Living with archaeogenetics: three decades on Martin B. Richards 3. Five challenges for an integrated archaeogenetic paradigm Kristian Kristiansen 4. Ancient genomics methodology and genetic insularity in Neolithic Europe Bruno Ariano and Daniel G. Bradley 5. Reconstructing the genealogical relationships of hunter-gatherers and farmers Leo Speidel 6. Ancient DNA of Near Eastern Neolithic populations: the knowns and the unknowns Eva Fernández-Domínguez 7. Farmer-forager interactions in the Iron Gates: new insights and new dilemmas Maxime N. Brami and Yoan Diekmann 8. A glance at Early Neolithic south-east and central Europe — as reflected by archaeological and archaeogenetic data Eszter Bánffy 9. Ancestry and identity in the Balkans and the Carpathian basin between the 5th and 3rd millennia cal BC Bianca Preda-Bălănică and Yoan Diekmann 10. The genetics of the inhabitants of Neolithic Britain: a review Selina Brace and Tom Booth 11. Islands apart? Genomic perspectives on the Mesolithic–Neolithic transition in Ireland Lara Cassidy 12. aDNA and modelling the Mesolithic–Neolithic transition in Britain and Ireland Alison Sheridan and Alasdair Whittle 13. Looking back, looking forward — humanity beyond biology Susan Greaney

About the Author :
Alasdair Whittle is an emeritus research professor in archaeology at Cardiff University. He has worked extensively across Britain and Europe, specialising in the study of the Neolithic. Joshua Pollard is a Professor of Archaeology at the University of Southampton. He has wide-ranging research interests in the Neolithic period and has directed and co-directed major fieldwork projects in the Avebury and Stonehenge landscapes. Dr. Susan Greaney is Senior Properties Historian for English Heritage, based in Bristol. She completed her PhD on Neolithic monument complexes in Britain and Ireland in 2022. Her main research interests are monuments, power relations and society in the Neolithic and early Bronze Age, as well as the public presentation of heritage and archaeology.

Review :
"The book offers a fascinating snapshot of a field in the middle of a paradigm change [...] an up-to-date primer on the impacts of ancient DNA on our understanding of the European Neolithic."--Osbjorn Pearson "Journal of Anthropological Research, Fall 2023"