Gene-flows and social processes: The potential of genetics and archaeology

Abstract

During the past four decades, genetic information has played an increasingly important part in the study of the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Europe. However, there sometimes seems to be a degree of disjunction between the patterns revealed by genetic analysis and the increasingly complex social and economic processes that archaeology is starting to identify. In this contribution, I point to the multiplicity of identities, subsistence regimes and patterns of social interaction involved in the introduction of the Neolithic into northern and western Europe, and consider the implications for genetic research.