An international team, led by researchers at the University of Huddersfield, has used ancient DNA to rewrite the history of the Orkney islands. They have discovered that Orkney was much less insular than has long been assumed and actually experienced large-scale female immigration during the Early Bronze Age, which replaced much of the local population. The project was a close collaboration between genetic researchers in Huddersfield and Edinburgh, led by Professor Martin Richards and Dr Ceiridwen Edwards, and archaeologists living and working on Orkney.
Orkney Britain’s Ancient Capital
Orkney is world-famous for its archaeological heritage. Around 5000 years ago, during the Neolithic period when farming first took hold, it was a hugely influential cultural centre. With many superbly preserved stone dwellings, temples and megalithic monuments, and a style of ceramics that appears to have spread out across Britain and Ireland, it has even been described as “Britain’s ancient capital”.
Over the thousand years that followed, however, as Europe moved into the Bronze Age, it has been widely viewed that somehow Orkney became left behind. Its influence dwindled and the islands became more insular. But with fewer archaeological remains to study, much less was known about this time. By combining archaeology with the study of ancient DNA from Bronze Age human remains from the Links of Noltland site, on the remote northern island of Westray, researchers now know much more about this time than ever before, and the results have come as a great surprise to geneticists and archaeologists alike. Professor Martin Richards, University of Huddersfield said: “This research shows how much we still have to learn about one of the most momentous events in European prehistory – how the Neolithic came to an end.”
Firstly, despite the supposed insularity, the team has shown that Orkney experienced large-scale immigration during the Early Bronze Age, which replaced much of the local population. The new arrivals were probably the first to speak Indo-European languages and carried genetic ancestry derived in part from pastoralists living on the steppe lands north of the Black Sea. This mirrored what was happening in the rest of Britain and Europe in the third millennium BC. But the researchers found a fascinating difference that makes Orkney highly distinctive. Across most of Europe, the expansion of pastoralists on the eve of the Bronze Age was typically led by men, with women being sucked into the expanding populations from local farming groups. But in Orkney, the researchers found exactly the opposite. The Bronze Age newcomers were mainly women, while male lineages from the original Neolithic population survived for at least another thousand years – something not seen anywhere else. These Neolithic lineages, however, were replaced from the Iron Age and are vanishingly rare today.
Why was Orkney so different?
But why was Orkney so different? Dr Graeme Wilson and Hazel Moore of the Orkney-based EASE Archaeology, who excavated the Links of Noltland, argue that the answer may lie in the long-term stability and self-sufficiency of farmsteads on Orkney, which the genetic data suggests may have already been male-dominated by the peak of the Neolithic. When a Europe-wide recession hit towards the end of the Neolithic, they may have been uniquely placed to weather harsher times and maintain their grip on the population as newcomers arrived. This implies that Orkney was much less insular than has long been assumed and that there was a protracted period of negotiation between the indigenous males and the newcomers from the south, over many generations.
“This shows that the third-millennium BC expansion across Europe was not a monolithic process but was more complex and varied from place to place,” explained Dr George Foody, one of the lead researchers on the project from the University of Huddersfield. The results have been surprising for both the archaeologists and geneticists on the team, although for different reasons: the archaeologists did not expect such large-scale immigration, whereas the geneticists did not foresee survival of the Neolithic male lineages.
The University’s Director of the Evolutionary Genomics Research Centre Professor Martin Richards said: “This research shows how much we still have to learn about one of the most momentous events in European prehistory – how the Neolithic came to an end.”
Main photo: The settlement at Links of Noltland extends from the late 4th millennium BC to the mid-1st millennium BC. Over 35 buildings have so far been excavated. This house was constructed around 2900 BC. Photo courtesy EASE Archaeology (Graeme Wilson and Hazel Moore).
Timu ya watafiti wa Chuo Kikuu cha Huddersfield nchini Uingereza wametumia DNA ya kale kuunda historia ya visiwa vya Orkney. "Wanajua kwamba Orkney ilikuwa ""isile"" kama ilivyodhaniwa kwa muda mrefu na kwa kweli ilipata uhamiaji mkubwa wa wanawake wakati wa Enzi ya Mapema ya Shaba, ambayo ilibadilisha idadi kubwa ya watu wa eneo hilo." Utafiti huo ulifanywa kwa ushirikiano wa karibu kati ya watafiti wa maumbile huko Huddersfield na Edinburgh, wakiongozwa na Profesa Martin Richards na Dk Ceiridwen Edwards, na wataalamu wa akiolojia wanaoishi na kufanya kazi Orkney. Mji mkuu wa kale wa Uingereza Orkney Orkney ni maarufu ulimwenguni pote kwa urithi wake wa kiakiolojia. Karibu miaka 5000 iliyopita, wakati wa kipindi cha Neolithic, wakati kilimo kilipoanza, ilikuwa kituo cha utamaduni chenye ushawishi mkubwa. Kwa kuwa kuna nyumba nyingi za mawe, mahekalu, na makaburi ya mawe, na mtindo wa kauri unaonekana kuenea kotekote Uingereza na Ireland, jiji hilo limeitwa hata "mji mkuu wa kale wa Uingereza". Hata hivyo, katika miaka elfu moja iliyofuata, Ulaya ilipokuwa ikiingia katika Enzi ya Shaba, watu wengi walidhani kwamba kwa njia fulani Orkney iliachwa nyuma. Uvutano wake ulipungua na visiwa hivyo vikawa mbali zaidi. Lakini kwa kuwa kulikuwa na mabaki machache ya kiakiolojia ya kuchunguza, mambo machache sana yalijulikana kuhusu wakati huo. Kwa kuchanganya utafiti wa kiakiolojia na utafiti wa DNA ya kale kutoka kwa mabaki ya binadamu ya Enzi ya Shaba kutoka kwenye eneo la Links of Noldor, kwenye kisiwa cha kaskazini cha Westray, watafiti sasa wanajua mengi zaidi juu ya wakati huu kuliko hapo awali, na matokeo yamekuja kama mshangao mkubwa kwa wataalamu wa urithi na wataalamu wa akiolojia. "Mwanasayansi Martin Richards, Profesa wa Chuo Kikuu cha Huddersfield, alisema: ""Utafiti huu unaonyesha ni kiasi gani bado tuna kujifunza kuhusu moja ya matukio muhimu zaidi katika historia ya Ulaya - jinsi Neolithic alikuja mwisho.""" Waingereza waliofika huko walikuwa watu wa kwanza kuzungumza lugha za Indo-Ulaya na walikuwa na urithi wa asili kutoka kwa wachungaji waliokaa kwenye nyanda za kaskazini mwa Bahari Nyeusi. Jambo hilo lilifanana na lililokuwa likitukia katika sehemu nyingine za Uingereza na Ulaya katika milenia ya tatu K.K. Lakini watafiti walipata tofauti yenye kuvutia ambayo hufanya Orkney iwe ya kipekee sana. Katika sehemu kubwa ya Ulaya, kupanuka kwa wachungaji kabla ya Enzi ya Shaba kwa kawaida kuliongozwa na wanaume, na wanawake wakichukuliwa katika idadi ya watu inayopanuka kutoka kwa vikundi vya kilimo vya ndani. Lakini katika Orkney, watafiti walipata kinyume kabisa. Wageni wa Enzi ya Shaba walikuwa hasa wanawake, huku ukoo wa kiume kutoka kwa idadi ya awali ya Neolithic ukiendelea kuishi kwa angalau miaka elfu nyingine - jambo ambalo halijawahi kuonekana mahali pengine popote. Hata hivyo, nasaba hizo za Neolithic zilibadilishwa kuanzia Enzi ya Chuma na ni nadra sana leo. Kwa nini Orkney ilikuwa tofauti sana? Lakini kwa nini Orkney ilikuwa tofauti sana? Graeme Wilson na Hazel Moore, wa EASE Archaeology, wanasema kuwa jibu la swali hilo linaweza kuwa katika uthabiti wa muda mrefu na kujitegemea kwa mashamba ya Orkney, ambayo data ya maumbile yaweza kuwa tayari ilitawaliwa na wanaume. Wakati wa ukame wa Ulaya mwishoni mwa Neolithic, huenda walikuwa na nafasi ya kipekee ya kukabiliana na nyakati ngumu na kudumisha udhibiti wao juu ya idadi ya watu walipowasili. Hii ina maana kwamba Orkney ilikuwa chini ya kisiwa kuliko muda mrefu imekuwa assumed na kwamba kulikuwa na kipindi cha muda mrefu wa mazungumzo kati ya wanaume wenyeji na wageni kutoka kusini, juu ya vizazi vingi. "Hii inaonyesha kwamba milenia ya tatu KK upanuzi katika Ulaya haikuwa mchakato monolithic lakini ilikuwa ngumu zaidi na tofauti kutoka mahali hadi mahali, ""alieleza Dk George Foody, mmoja wa watafiti wa kuongoza juu ya mradi kutoka Chuo Kikuu cha Huddersfield." Matokeo hayo yamewashangaza wataalamu wa vitu vya kale na wataalamu wa urithi, ingawa kwa sababu tofauti: wataalamu wa vitu vya kale hawakutazamia uhamiaji mkubwa kama huo, wakati wataalamu wa urithi hawakutazamia kuokoka kwa ukoo wa kiume wa Neolithic. "Mkurugenzi wa Kituo cha Utafiti wa Genome ya Mageuzi cha Chuo Kikuu cha Oxford, Profesa Martin Richards, alisema: ""Utafiti huu unaonyesha ni kiasi gani bado tunajifunza juu ya moja ya matukio muhimu zaidi katika historia ya Ulaya, jinsi Neolithic ilivyokwisha." Hadi sasa, zaidi ya majengo 35 yamechimbuliwa. Jengo hilo lilijengwa karibu mwaka wa 2900 KK. Picha ya heshima EASE Archaeology (Graeme Wilson na Hazel Moore).