Ancient DNA is shedding new light on the slow journey from hunting to farming.

A new study, published in Nature and involving researchers from Bournemouth University, reveals that hunter-gatherers in parts of north-western Europe adopted farming much later than elsewhere—and through the influence of women from farming communities.

Professor John Stewart, a palaeoecologist at Bournemouth University, said: “We expected a clear change between the older hunter-gatherer populations and the newer agriculturalists but apparently in the lowlands and along the rivers of the Netherlands and Belgium the change was less immediate.

One of the caves in Belgium where the remains of ancient settlers were excavated. (Image: Bournemouth University)

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“It’s like a Waterworld where time stood still.”

The research focused on the Meuse and Lower Rhine regions, spanning modern-day Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany.

It found that the shift to farming, which began around 4500 BCE, did not immediately replace the lifestyles or genetic makeup of existing hunter-gatherer populations.

Instead, hunting and gathering remained for up to 3,000 years while farming was gradually adopted.

The study highlights the significant role played by women in this transition.

Evidence suggests that it was primarily women from farming groups who married into hunter-gatherer communities, bringing agricultural skills and technology with them.

Map to show hunter-gatherer populations in darker areas. (Image: Bournemouth University)

Dr Maria Pala, who supervised DNA analysis for the project at the University of Huddersfield, said: “This study has also brought to light the crucial role played by women in the transmission of knowledge from the incoming farming communities to the local hunter-gatherers.

“Thanks to ancient DNA studies we can not only uncover the past but also give voice to the invaluable but often overlooked role played by women in shaping human evolution.”

The research was led by Harvard University.

Professor Stewart has worked closely with archaeologists at the Université de Liège in Belgium to excavate ancient human remains, and research students at the University of Huddersfield analysed DNA from those remains.

Findings show that hunter-gatherer ancestry persisted in the region until around 2500 BCE, when the famous Bell Beaker pottery first appeared and new people, with ancestry from Russia, spread across Europe.

This migration led to a rapid genetic and cultural change—one that was also seen in Britain, where earlier populations, including those who built Stonehenge, seem to have almost completely vanished.

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