Neolithic Europe’s Population Collapse Opened the Door for Iberian and Steppe Migrations
DNA from the Bury megalith near Paris shows two distinct burial phases: an earlier, diverse farming-population phase (3200–3100 BCE) and a later, Iberian-derived phase with largely homogeneous ancestry that replaced the former around 2900 BCE. The 200-year gap in burials and pollen data indicating forest regrowth suggest a continental population decline that emptied settlements and created a vacuum later filled by Iberian migrants in the Paris Basin and steppe populations in surrounding regions, pointing to a broad Neolithic collapse likely driven by infectious disease and environmental stress.