Reconstruction of the lifeways of Central European Late Bronze Age communities using ancient DNA, isotope and osteoarchaeological analyses.

ABSTRACT: The Late Bronze Age (ca. 1300-800 BCE) of Central Europe is often characterised as a period of increasing mobility, socioeconomic transformation, environmental fluctuations, and expanding cultural networks. However, reconstructing the demographic aspects of these changes has been hindered by cremation being the dominant mortuary practice, limiting biomolecular approaches. Here, we integrate ancient DNA, oxygen and strontium isotope analyses, and osteoarchaeology to examine rare inhumation burials from Kuckenburg and Esperstedt in Central Germany (n = 36) and compare them to contemporaneous inhumations from the neighbouring regions of South Germany, Bohemia (Czechia) and Southwest/Central Poland (n = 33). Genome-wide data show genetic continuity with preceding Early Bronze Age populations,

SUBMITTER: Orfanou E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12932679 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature