Speaking of innovation, scientists powdered the transition in Europe from hunter gatherers to farming. Was this a breakthrough evolution or an innovation brought from outside? There seems to be skeletal evidence that farming was imported to the Central Europe by a genetically distinct group. National Geographic:
“…it’s possible that the first farmers in Europe were part of a vast chain of farming populations that stretched perhaps as far as the ancient Near East, including Anatolia (now Turkey) and Mesopotamia (roughly present-day Iraq)—where agriculture is thought to have been born about 11,000 years ago.”
Dieneke’s anthropology blog quotes:
“The study identifies the Carpathian Basin as the origin for early Central European farmers. “It seems that farmers of the Linearbandkeramik culture immigrated from what is modern day Hungary around 7,500 years ago into Central Europe, initially without mixing with local hunter gatherers,” says Barbara Bramanti, first author of the study. “This is surprising, because there were cultural contacts between the locals and the immigrants, but, it appears, no genetic exchange of women.”
(via Gene Expression)
Further Reading:
All Genographic Roads Lead to Queens
A 360-Degree Turn Around the Central Park
Imagine – Central Park 1980
