Scandinavia's first farmers slaughtered hunter-gatherer population, DNA suggests

Following the arrival of the first farmers in Scandinavia 5,900 years ago, the hunter-gatherer population was wiped out within a few generations, according to a new study from Lund University in Sweden. The results, which are contrary to prevailing opinion, are based on DNA analysis of skeletons and teeth found in what is now Denmark. The extensive study has been published as four separate articles in the journal Nature. An international research team, of which Lund University in Sweden is a member, has been able to draw new conclusions about the effects of migration on ancient populations by extracting DNA from skeletal parts and teeth of prehistoric people. The study shows, among other things, that there have been two almost total population turnovers in Denmark over the past 7,300 years. The first population change happened 5,900 years ago when a farmer population, with a different origin and appearance, drove out the gatherers, hunters and fishers who had previously populated Scandinavia. Within a few generations, almost the entire hunter-gatherer population was wiped out.

"This transition has previously been presented as peaceful. However, our study indicates the opposite. In addition to violent death, it is likely that new pathogens from livestock finished off many gatherers," says Anne Birgitte Nielsen, geology researcher and head of the Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory at Lund University. A thousand years later, about 4,850 years ago, another population change took place when people with genetic roots in Yamnaya—a livestock herding people with origins in southern Russia—came to Scandinavia and wiped out the previous farmer population. Once again, this could have involved both violence and new pathogens. These big-boned people pursued a semi-nomadic life on the steppes, tamed animals, kept domestic cattle and moved over large areas using horses and carts. The people who settled in our climes were a mix between Yamnaya and Eastern European Neolithic people. This genetic profile is dominant in today's Denmark, whereas the DNA profile of the first farmer population has been essentially erased.

"This time there was also a rapid population turnover, with virtually no descendants from the predecessors. We don't have as much DNA material from Sweden, but what there is points to a similar course of events. In other words, many Swedes are to a great extent also descendants of these semi-nomads," says Birgitte Nielsen, who contributed quantitative pollen data that show how the vegetation changed in connection with the population changes. The results do not just overturn previous theories about amorous and peaceful meetings between groups of people. The study also provides a deepened understanding of historical migration flows, and the interpretation of archaeological finds and changes in vegetation and land use found in paleoecological data.

"Our results help to enhance our knowledge of our heredity and our understanding of the development of certain diseases. Something that in the long term could be beneficial, for example in medical research," concludes Birgitte Nielsen.

在第一批农民抵达斯堪的纳维亚5900年后，根据瑞典朗大学新研究，狩猎采集者人口在几代内被灭绝。结果与主流观点相反，基于丹麦出土骨骼和牙齿的DNA分析。该广泛研究以四篇单独文章发表在《自然》期刊上。一个国际研究团队，其中包括瑞典朗大学的成员，通过从史前人类的骨骼和牙齿中提取DNA，得出了关于迁移对古代人口影响的新结论。研究表明，在过去7300年里，丹麦经历了两次近乎完全的人口更替。第一次人口变化发生在5900年前，农业人口——其起源和外貌不同——驱赶了此前栖息于斯堪的纳维亚的采集者、猎人和渔民。在几代人内，几乎整个狩猎采集者人口被 wiped out。

"此前，这一过渡被描述为和平的。然而，我们的研究表明相反。除了暴力死亡，新的来自牲畜的病原体可能也终结了许多采集者。" 朗大学地质研究员、放射性碳实验室主任安·比尔吉特·尼尔森说。一千年后，约4850年前，另一次人口变化发生，带有来自堤马雅——起源于南俄罗斯的牲畜放牧者——的基因进入斯堪的纳维亚，并灭绝了之前的农业人口。此次变化可能也涉及暴力和新的病原体。这些结实的人在草原上过半游牧生活，驯化了动物，饲养家牛，并利用马车在大面积区域迁移。定居在我们这些纬度的人是堤马雅和东欧新石器时代人民的混合体。这种基因特征在今天的丹麦占主导地位，'，而第一步入者农业人口: 100