Europe's Astonishing Hunter-Gatherer Resurgence

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MyHeritage is running a special promotion for a limited time! Click the link https://bit.ly/DanDavisHistoryMyHeritage or scan the QR code, and use the coupon code DAN25 to get your DNA kit for just $/€25! Genetic research has that thousands of years after the first farmers spread across Europe from Anatolia, traces of Europe’s Mesolithic hunter-gatherers re-emerged in the DNA of the Neolithic farmers. And many of the Neolithic farmer male lineages were replaced with hunter-gatherer ones. This unexpected genetic signal has been called “the Late Neolithic Hunter-Gatherer Resurgence.” What happened here, and why? And how did this resurgence transform Europe? *If you enjoy my videos please consider supporting the channel* Become a YouTube Channel Member: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUVwT8zcS5Z_rYXnpomlbfg/join Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/dandavisauthor All my books on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3xngwz5 *Sources* The First Farmers of Europe https://amzn.to/3wNDcqA The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe https://amzn.to/43eSVRO Haak, W., Lazaridis, I., Patterson, N. et al. Massive migration from the steppe was a source for Indo-European languages in Europe. Nature (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14317 Mathieson, I., Alpaslan-Roodenberg, S., Posth, C. et al. The genomic history of southeastern Europe. Nature (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature25778 Lazaridis, I., Patterson, N., Mittnik, A. et al. Ancient human genomes suggest three ancestral populations for present-day Europeans. Nature (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13673 Lipson, M., Szécsényi-Nagy, A., Mallick, S. et al. Parallel palaeogenomic transects reveal complex genetic history of early European farmers. Nature (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature24476 Maïté Rivollat et al. ,Ancient genome-wide DNA from France highlights the complexity of interactions between Mesolithic hunter-gatherers and Neolithic farmers. (2020). DOI:10.1126/sciadv.aaz5344 Iñigo Olalde et al. ,The genomic history of the Iberian Peninsula over the past 8000 years. Science363,1230-1234(2019). DOI:10.1126/science.aav4040 Villalba-Mouco, Vanessa et al. Survival of Late Pleistocene Hunter-Gatherer Ancestry in the Iberian Peninsula, Current Biology, Volume 29, Issue 7, 1169 - 1177.e7 C. Valdiosera, et al, Four millennia of Iberian biomolecular prehistory illustrate the impact of prehistoric migrations at the far end of Eurasia, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1717762115 (2018). Nikitin, A.G., Stadler, P., Kotova, N. et al. Interactions between earliest Linearbandkeramik farmers and central European hunter gatherers at the dawn of European Neolithization. (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-56029-2 Freilich, S., Ringbauer, H., Los, D. et al. Reconstructing genetic histories and social organisation in Neolithic and Bronze Age Croatia. (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-94932-9 Rivollat, M., H. et al. Extensive pedigrees reveal the social organization of a Neolithic community. Nature (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06350-8 Betti, L., Beyer, R.M., Jones, E.R. et al. Climate shaped how Neolithic farmers and European hunter-gatherers interacted after a major slowdown from 6,100 bce to 4,500 bce. (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-0897-7 Immel, A., Pierini, F., Rinne, C. et al. Genome-wide study of a Neolithic Wartberg grave community reveals distinct HLA variation and hunter-gatherer ancestry (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-020-01627-4 Carvalho, Hunter-gatherer genetic persistence at the onset of megalithism in western Iberia: New mitochondrial evidence from Mesolithic and Neolithic necropolises in central-southern Portugal, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2023.03.015. Moments of crisis: climate change in Scottish prehistory. (2013). Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. https://doi.org/10.9750/PSAS.142.9.25 Gelabert, P., Schmidt, R.W., Fernandes, D.M. et al. Genomes from Verteba cave suggest diversity within the Trypillians in Ukraine. (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-11117-8 Rivollat M, Ancient DNA gives new insights into a Norman Neolithic monumental cemetery dedicated to male elites. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2120786119 Croze, et al. Genomic diversity and structure of prehistoric alpine individuals from the Tyrolean Iceman’s territory. (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-61601-8 The above includes affiliate links so we may make a small commission from your purchases at no additional cost to you which is a way to support the channel. *Thank you* Artistic reconstructions by Ancient Europeans https://www.instagram.com/ancienteuropeans2/ Neolithic expansions map by Detlef Gronenborn: https://zenodo.org/records/16881455 *Video Chapters* 00:00 Hunter-Gatherer Resurgence 01:50 Sponsor 03:54 Mesolithic Europe 05:40 Neolithic expansions 07:01 HG + Farmer Admixture 13:49 The Resurgence 16:59 HG Conquests? 20:18 After the Resurgence 24:17 A New Narrative?