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

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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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