Ancient DNA reveals population replacement in France 5,000 years ago
An international team uncovered genetic evidence of a sharp demographic collapse followed by population replacement in northern France around 5,000 years ago. The findings, published April 3 in Nature Ecology and Evolution, shed light on a key puzzle of European prehistory. Researchers analyzed DNA from 132 individuals buried at the megalithic tomb of Bury, 50 kilometers north of Paris.
The study, led by scientists from the Lundbeck Foundation GeoGenetics Centre at the University of Copenhagen, showed the burial site served two distinct phases separated by a clear genetic break. The first phase, around 3200–3100 B.C., bore signs of unusually high mortality, especially among younger people. The site then lay abandoned for centuries before reuse by a genetically distinct population.
"We see a clear genetic rupture between the two burial phases. People using the tomb before and after the collapse belong to entirely different populations," said Frederik Seersholm, a researcher at the University of Copenhagen. The later group shared close genetic ties with southern France and the Iberian Peninsula, suggesting migration northward into the Paris Basin after the original population vanished.
The Bury site ties into the broader "Neolithic decline," when northwest European populations shrank late in the fourth millennium B.C. Radiocarbon data across the region show collective megalithic tomb construction, typical of Neolithic societies, stopped around 3100 B.C. Burial activity receded generally from 3000 to 2600 B.C.
Researchers also found pathogen DNA in the remains. "Pathogen DNA proves infectious diseases struck human populations then," said Martin Sikora, associate professor at the University of Copenhagen. A 2024 study of Scandinavian burial sites identified ancient plague strains from the same era, hinting disease contributed to the downturn.
The collapse appears to have cleared space for new communities. "These results suggest the decline created room for new groups to settle the region," said co-author Laure Salanova. Forest regeneration traces during abandonment point to lasting drops in human activity before newcomers arrived.
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