DNA from 132 burials in French megalithic tomb reveals population replacement around 3000 BC

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DNA from 132 burials in French megalithic tomb reveals population replacement around 3000 BC. DNA was analyzed from 132 people buried in a large megalithic tomb near Bury, approximately 50 km north of Paris The study was published in Nature Ecology and Evolution and led out of the University of Copenhagen The tomb was used across two distinct periods split by a population collapse around 3000 BC

DNA from 132 burials in a French megalithic tomb near Bury reveals population replacement around 3000 BC. Pre-collapse links to Northern France/Germany; post-collapse to Southern France/Iberia. Senior author Martin Sikora says combined disease and environmental stress likely drove the shift.

Key Facts

DNA was analyzed from 132 people buried in a large megalithic tomb near Bury, approximately 50 km north of Paris
The study was published in Nature Ecology and Evolution and led out of the University of Copenhagen
The tomb was used across two distinct periods split by a population collapse around 3000 BC
People buried before the collapse traced back to Stone Age farming populations from Northern France and Germany
People buried after the collapse show strong genetic ties to Southern France and Iberia
The original community did not decline but was replaced by people moving in from the south
Ancient pathogen DNA extracted from the bones revealed traces of plague and louse-borne relapsing fever
Senior author Martin Sikora stated the evidence does not support plague as the sole cause, pointing instead to a combination of disease, environmental stress, and other disruptive events
Skeletal data showed unusually high mortality among children and young people in the years before the population changed over
Before the collapse, the tomb held multiple generations of the same extended family, indicating closely connected kin-based communities
After the collapse, the burial became far more selective and centered on a single male lineage, reflecting a change in social organization
The researchers connected this population replacement to the wider disappearance of Europe's megalithic building tradition around 5,000 years ago

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