Did agriculture in Stone Age Europe rise and spread through the gradual transfer and diffusion of the farming idea from agriculturalists to hunter-gatherers, or was it brought as a package by migrating agriculturalists? Was agriculture introduced from south to north, as the archaeological record suggests, or did it come from a different direction?
A joint Swedish-Danish research team may have finally found some answers.
Under the leadership of Assistant Professor Anders Götherström of Uppsala University, Sweden, and Assistant Professor Mattias Jakobsson, also of Uppsala University, researchers used advanced DNA techniques to study four skeletons of humans who lived in Sweden during the Stone Age, about 5,000 years ago. They analyzed the ancient remains of three hunter-gatherers of the Pitted Ware Culture , excavated on the island of Gotland, Sweden, and the remains of a farmer, a member of the Funnelbeaker Culture, excavated at Gökhem parish, also in Sweden.