Agriculture spread across Europe through coexistence and gradual mixing

Agriculture spread across Europe through coexistence and gradual mixing
by Robert Schreiber
Berlin, Germany (SPX) Aug 21, 2025

The spread of farming across Europe was shaped by long-term coexistence and gradual interbreeding between migrating Anatolian farmers and local hunter-gatherers, according to new research by the University of Geneva (UNIGE) with partners in Fribourg and Mainz. Using computer simulations calibrated with ancient DNA, the study finds that genetic mixing intensified locally over time along the "Danube route" of Neolithic expansion. Published in Science Advances, the results refine our understanding of one of history's most transformative eras.

Nearly 9,000 years ago, farming communities from the Aegean and western Anatolia began advancing into Europe, bringing agriculture northward to present-day Germany. Archaeological finds and paleogenomic evidence have shown that they lived alongside indigenous hunter-gatherers for generations before farming fully took hold. The question has been whether this transition was driven mainly by knowledge exchange or by genetic admixture.

To probe this, the research team led by UNIGE geneticist Mathias Currat modeled the demographic and migratory dynamics of the Neolithic expansion. Their simulations incorporated geography, reproduction rates, migration jumps, and competition. "These simulations generated thousands of genetic scenarios, which we then compared to data from 67 prehistoric individuals from regions where the two groups had coexisted," Currat explained. Statistical analysis revealed that admixture was limited at first but grew steadily as farmers advanced into new regions. "Our results show that the Neolithic transition was not characterized by violent confrontation or complete replacement, but rather by prolonged coexistence with increasing levels of interbreeding," added lead author Alexandros Tsoupas.

The study also found that early farmers enjoyed a major demographic edge: their effective population size was about five times greater than that of local hunter-gatherers. Occasional long-distance migration jumps further accelerated their spread. These combined factors explain how agriculture gradually supplanted foraging while leaving a genetic legacy across Europe.

By merging ancient DNA with simulation techniques, the research provides a nuanced picture of Neolithization: not as a single colonization wave, but as a process of contact, cohabitation, and steadily intensifying interaction.

Research Report:Local increases in admixture with hunter-gatherers followed the initial expansion of Neolithic farmers across continental Europe