The Bell Beakers are an interesting “culture.” A Bronze Age European people defined by their beakers, their origins seem to be amongst non-Indo-Europeans in Southwest Europe. But, at some point, the motifs spread to Indo-Europeans in Central Europe, an offshoot of the Corded Ware people who had admixed further with Neolithic farmers. These Indo-Europeans are the ones who brought the Bell Beaker Culture to the British Isles. We know this because of ancient DNA.
But what was the Beaker Culture right beside their material culture? Again, ancient DNA tells us, and Indians, in particular, may find the results interesting.
We present a high-resolution cross-disciplinary analysis of kinship structure and social institutions in two Late Copper Age Bell Beaker culture cemeteries of South Germany containing 24 and 18 burials, of which 34 provided genetic information. By combining archaeological, anthropological, genetic and isotopic evidence we are able to document the internal kinship and residency structure of the cemeteries and the socially organizing principles of these local communities. The buried individuals represent four to six generations of two family groups, one nuclear family at the Alburg cemetery, and one seemingly more extended at Irlbach. While likely monogamous, they practiced exogamy, as six out of eight non-locals are women. Maternal genetic diversity is high with 23 different mitochondrial haplotypes from 34 individuals, whereas all males belong to one single Y-chromosome haplogroup without any detectable contribution from Y-chromosomes typical of the farmers who had been the sole inhabitants of the region hundreds of years before. This provides evidence for the society being patrilocal, perhaps as a way of protecting property among the male line, while in-marriage from many different places secured social and political networks and prevented inbreeding. We also find evidence that the communities practiced selection for which of their children (aged 0–14 years) received a proper burial, as buried juveniles were in all but one case boys, suggesting the priority of young males in the cemeteries. This is plausibly linked to the exchange of foster children as part of an expansionist kinship system which is well attested from later Indo-European-speaking cultural groups.
Gotras and exogamy. Sound familiar?
I wonder if adversity or principle drove them to exogamy. These hyper-local researches really upend a lot of closed thinking. Very good paper!
Exceptionally preserved – if 34 out of 42 graves yield genetic data, all a European researcher has to do is to just trip over them. This whole mismatch between European and subcontinental finds of aDNA is creating a whole new category of sampling bias and sustaining skews in directions God only knows where. The dictum “the average is nobody” sticks to the Indian data like a gum.
Trivia: The most frequent IVC script symbol is Sign No 342 – it is the profile obtained when a jar/bell beaker is viewed in profile – the classic U with two rims/lips on the edges. This sign (or its variant) is found as a text ender in all seals. Iravatham Mahadevan called it as the symbol for the priest. This symbol has survived into the modern Indian era as the Urdhva Pundra (symbol of Vaishnavism)
This whole mismatch between European and subcontinental finds of aDNA is creating a whole new category of sampling bias and sustaining skews in directions God only knows where. The dictum “the average is nobody” sticks to the Indian data like a gum.
this is not a crazy assertion since endogamy means there’s a lot of structure in india. but almost all indians are a mix of AASI and various west eurasian groups. if you look at an indian genotype who is a tamil dalit and a haryana jatt you can ID them as indian (mostly the AASI, but also IVC-type ancestry). it is not hard.
also, a single good genome gives you a whole pedigree that goes back many generations. when you get millions of markers it’s not a single sample, it’s dozens, hundreds, even thousands (since you capture the whole genealogy).
if 34 out of 42 graves yield genetic data, all a European researcher has to do is to just trip over them.
german climate helps
The Rig Veda had rules which encouraged Exogamy. One could not marry a person who had common maternal ancestor 7 generations ago and a common paternal ancestor 5 generations ago.
In an early society this would mean they had time follow Exogamy.
Autocorrect above:
They had to follow Exogamy
There are many conclusions which can be made:
From one link in the text:
“However, migration had a key role in the further dissemination of the Beaker complex. We document this phenomenon most clearly in Britain, where the spread of the Beaker complex introduced high levels of steppe-related ancestry and was associated with the replacement of approximately 90% of Britain’s gene pool within a few hundred years, continuing the east-to-west expansion that had brought steppe-related ancestry into central and northern Europe over the previous centuries.”
>>>>> MT – Which haplogroup was replaced 90%? I wrote about this before. There was only one haplogroup between 5500BC-2500BC. It was I2A which came from Vincha (‘beautiful human group of high stature’). There are now about 5% of this group remaining, mostly on the north of Scotland. Some descendants of this group are Chick Norris, 5th US president Munro, Davy Crockett, Bill Gates.
Almost one half of today’s Serbs have this haplogroup.
From the link in this text:
“For the Corded Ware complex it has been suggested that initial migrations were dominated by males, who married in women probably from residing Neolithic populations [6–9], although at present it is debated whether the genetic evidence for male-dominated migrations contributing to these groups is compelling…”
>>>>>> MT – I already wrote about this. Yamnaya people (R1b) conducted genocide against I2A Vincha people and took their women. I stated that these women made their descendants (today’s West Europeans) – white. Can anyone confirm or negate that R1b were not white before arrival to Europe?
>>>> There is also wrong assumption that R1b brought so-called ‘Indo-European’ (what is this? what is ‘Indo’ there?) language(s?) to Europe! I already proved that it is wrong (e.g. Proto-Germanic evolved from Serbian), and I will revisit this again during our linguistic discussion. Another proof are Serbian toponyms in British Isles before R1b arrival. The term ‘Indo European’ (before – Indo Germanishe!!!) language is (even wiki says) – a ‘fictional construct’.
The term ‘Indo European people’ is a moronic construct.
Instead, the term ‘Serbian’ language from Vincha should be used (when pundits find when consonant group (S)RB originated 8000-6500BC?, that would be (my proposition) the beginning of the Serbian language).
Just another observation. We can see many well preserved R1b graves. So-called Slavic people burned their dead. Slavics are mostly = I2a+R1a. Pre-slavic R1a also buried people (in kurgans). It means that I2a component of Slavics actually introduced the burning of dead, i.e. this practice came to India originally from Vincha.
Today’s daily dose of outright lies by @Milan Todorovic and their busting:
1. Haplogroup Y-DNA I % does not matter as Hittites — with zero steppe
lineage — have J2 haplogroup and derive descent from Iran_N/CHG ancestry. This ancestry is also present in Harappans.
2. Mycenaeans were Greek speakers and have been present in Greece at least from the 17th century BC.
3. Also, Vincans — primarily having Anatolian descent — have the following Ydna haplogroups:
G2a2a1, G2a2a1a, G2a2a1a2a, G2a2a1a, G2a2b2a1a, H2.
4. R1a — as it appears according to ADNA research — became IE speaking group later after Yamnaya formed and Hittites (J2 haplogroup) had long departed.
5. Linguistic rubbish of @Milan Todorovic does not work as PIE too is a fictional construct — no proof of it is present in the real world; all IE languages find similarities with each other. Frankly, Greek speakers also can say that everything evolved from their language then — after all it is one of the earliest attested IE language along with Sanskrit. To resolve this problem, linguists use both isoglosses and cognates to find similarities. Therefore, no actual proof and all lies is what this person @Milan Todorovic practices.
To sum up: There is no I haplogroup in the PIE homeland; no use in educating this brainless fellow.
No, you don’t understand fulto, PIE is merely a branch off of Neolithic Proto-Serbian.
Milan has proof of Ancient Serbian Coproliths that show they were the original people! Ancient world language was Serbian! Genghis Khan was Serbian! Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Serbia!
I don’t like comparing europe to india… too many researchers are keen on trying to make its history seem the same
Glad to see data supporting theories i have already expounded upon in my earlier comments on various posts discussing caste, genetics & social structures etc.