An Interesting Read as the Pandemic Fades

As the pandemic fades, but its influence on politics, commuting patterns, remote education, and everything else lingers, The Guardian has an interesting read on how pandemics shaped the British population and wiped out the builders of Stonehenge.

...Anatolian immigrants... constructed that icon of Britishness, Stonehenge, between about 5,000 and 4,500 years ago. But not long afterwards, they vanished and were replaced by another genetically distinct population group who were taller and fairer. The newcomers were nomadic pastoralists from the Eurasian steppe, where they used cutting-edge technology – horses and wagons – to raise herds of animals. About 5,000 years ago, these steppe herders began to migrate westwards through northern Europe, reaching the British Isles half a millennium later. The Amesbury Archer was one of the new immigrants. His 4,300-year-old grave was discovered by builders a couple of miles from Stonehenge in 2002.

Later invaders.

Violence may have played a role in the replacement of the Stonehenge builders from Anatolia: 90% of the steppe herders involved in the great westward migration were males, and domesticated horses and metal weapons would have provided them with a distinct advantage in conflict. But even taking all this into account, it is almost impossible to explain how a small group of nomadic herders was able to replace a large, well-established farming society.

The US geneticist David Reich suggests that the most similar historical parallel is the European colonisation of the Americas in the 16th century. Tiny numbers of Spanish conquistadors armed with guns and steel managed to vanquish vast and sophisticated empires. These seemingly miraculous victories were, of course, only possible because Old World germs – first smallpox, then others – raced ahead of the Spanish and devastated the enemy.

Similarly, it is possible that a prehistoric plague pandemic cleared the way for the steppe herders to migrate across northern Europe. Evidence points to a catastrophic demographic crash about 5,000 years ago. The population fell by as much as 60% and remained at that level for centuries. We can’t be sure that plague was responsible but it is the best explanation we currently have...

Full story at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jun/19/ancient-britons-stonehenge-killers-plague-britain-migration.