Genetic history of Europe in the context of "Anatolian Neolithic Farmers"

⭐ In the context of Anatolian Neolithic Farmers, the genetic makeup of the earliest farmers in Anatolia primarily reflected ancestry from which population group?

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⭐ Core Definition: Genetic history of Europe

The genetic history of Europe includes information around the formation, ethnogenesis, and other DNA-specific information about populations indigenous, or living in Europe.

European early modern human (EEMH) lineages between 40 and 26 ka (Aurignacian) were still part of a large Western Eurasian "meta-population", related to Central and Western Asian populations.Divergence into genetically distinct sub-populations within Western Eurasia is a result of increased selection pressure and founder effects during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, Gravettian).

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👉 Genetic history of Europe in the context of Anatolian Neolithic Farmers

Early European Farmers (EEF) were a group of the Anatolian Neolithic Farmers (ANF) who brought agriculture to Europe and Northwest Africa. The Anatolian Neolithic Farmers were an ancestral component, first identified in farmers from Anatolia (also known as Asia Minor) in the Neolithic, and outside of Europe and Northwest Africa. Although the spread of agriculture from the Middle East to Europe has long been recognised through archaeology, until recently it was unknown how this happened, because of lack of human ancient DNA from pre-Neolithic times. Recent (2025) studies have shown that the spread of Neolithic cultures from Anatolia to West Eurasia was a complex phenomenon involving distinct mechanisms, from pure cultural adoption to admixture between migrating farmers and local forages, to rapid migration. Cultural similarities were not caused by large-scale mobility.

The earliest farmers in Anatolia derived most (80–90%) of their ancestry from the region's local hunter-gatherers, with minor Levantine and Caucasus-related ancestry. The Early European Farmers moved into Europe from Anatolia through Southeast Europe from around 7,000 BC, gradually spread north and westwards, and reached Northwest Africa via the Iberian Peninsula. Genetic studies have confirmed that the later Farmers of Europe generally have also a minor contribution from Western Hunter-Gatherers (WHGs), with significant regional variation. European farmer and hunter-gatherer populations coexisted and traded in some locales, although evidence suggests that the relationship was not always peaceful. Over the course of the next 4,000 years or so, Europe was transformed into agricultural communities, with WHGs being effectively replaced across Europe. During the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Age, people who had Western Steppe Herder (WSH) ancestry moved into Europe and mingled with the EEF population; these WSH, originating from the Yamnaya culture of the Pontic steppe of Eastern Europe, probably spoke Indo-European languages. EEF ancestry is common in modern European and Northwest African populations, with EEF ancestry highest in Southern Europeans, mostly Sardinians and Basque people.

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Genetic history of Europe in the context of Europeans

"European people" is an umbrella term for people who belong to any ethnic, racial, or national group with origins in Europe. Today, it primarily refers to people who are from Europe and reside in the continent, as well as the European diaspora. By extension, however, the term "European" may be applied to identify people in the context of demographics in certain countries outside of Europe—namely in the Americas and in Oceania—where people of European ancestry constitute the majority of the population while being part of a non-European national group. Additionally, any person who holds European Union citizenship may be identified as European in that particular context.

As of 2025, Europe's total population is estimated to be 744 million people, with nearly 87 million international migrants in 2020. Per a 2015 estimate, over 480 million people in countries outside of Europe have at least some European ancestry. Most indigenous Europeans are racially classified as White, which is also the most common term applied to people of European descent in non-European countries. Between the 18th and 20th centuries, a now-disproven race concept classified European people as part of the so-called Caucasian race, which broadly grouped together the populations of Europe, West Asia and North Africa, Central Asia, and South Asia. Although it is generally avoided in modern academic discourse, "Caucasian" is still used in official data for United States censuses to racially classify people whose ancestry or ethnicity is European, Middle Eastern, or North African.

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LINKED FROM (PARENTS)
← Anatolian Neolithic Farmers ← Early European Farmers ← Europeans ← European people
LINKS TO (CHILDREN)
Ethnogenesis → DNA → Population → Indigenous peoples → Europe → European early modern humans → Aurignacian → Recent human evolution → Founder effect → Last Glacial Maximum → Gravettian →