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Julian Cope presents Head Heritage

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Natural or Induced?
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Annexus Quam
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Beaker talk
Aug 28, 2012, 18:28
I haven't followed this thread in its entirety but like everything else in archaeology, I'm not sure it would be as simple as that in the end - material finds have first to be put in their genetic context, comparative archaeology allowed to flow and some archaeologists allowed to vent their spleens, etc, but that's what I gather initially the latest genetics studies seem to be suggesting when analyzing the r1b group - a movement of genes from the SE across the continent and crossing the channel. I'm as ignorant as everyone else on the subject, mind you. I believe it's early days yet until many more beaker sites in other European regions have been checked though, I'd love to see it done on the (acid soil) fringes of the continent for instance. And yet, so much has been happening in the last decade in genetics that things will get even more thrilling soon. And let's not forget there are some very neat and up-to-date pdf's available in this thread, courtesy of tiompan, one with the memorable end-of-the-world title 'deconstructing openheimer'!

I like the genetic idea though, as it fits in with the view that the beaker warriors, so widespread all over, from Andalusia to the Baltic - and traditionally claimed by most to have had their origins (no surprises there) in Germany - were always gagging for a more ancestral homeland if they were considered migrant warriors. On the Continent, used to vast migrations of peoples and tribes across the plains, this is not as much of a problem to accept as it is in more insular traditions like Britain. See all the Mediterranean coastline for an example where large movements of incomers and settlers in prehistory have always been taken for granted as the ones who spread technology. And long distance navigational techniques did not commence with the flipping phoenicians, that's for sure so anything's possible even after the melting of the ice.

Also, regarding the monument building idea, I have always warmed to the idea that there was a lot in common between the vast central European (Germany-Austria-Czech Rep) Neolithic proto-henges and the henges we know and love so much (and not forgetting the fact that there are no henges in Wales??). You don't find them anywhere else in Europe (so far!) so perhaps they were a creation of those people as they moved across Europe from the Balkans (Gimbutas allowing!) at the age you are suggesting or even earlier. And even if the Beakers were then proved to be genetically related to some possible various Indoeuropean ancestral forebears, then it would all become the stuff of legend for me! Not only did they spread their language but they also existed as a genetic entity. That would make my day.
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Re: the c word (Sanctuary)		 Replies:
Re: Beaker talk (tiompan)
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