A new study, drawing on DNA unearthed from one of the Orkney Islands, suggests the transition from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age was complex, and possibly peaceful—and that women may have led the way.
About 4500 years ago, farmers on the Orkney Islands off Scotland’s north coast had a sophisticated way of life, likely holding ceremonies amid great stone circles that may have served as templates for Stonehenge. But within 1 millennium, their lifestyle had changed: Their grave goods were less ostentatious, their tools simpler, and their farming has switched from cattle-focused to sheep herding.
“This is not an invasion scenario,” says Thomas Booth, a geneticist at the Francis Crick Institute who was not involved with the research. “It’s a really cool find,” he says, that may show how the details of large-scale migration patterns varied more than previously recognized. The ruins of houses show the village once had a population of between 60 and 100 people, buildings made of stone and wood, and even a stone sauna big enough to seat 10. Nearby, a cemetery held the remains of about 100 people buried around 1800 B.C.E.
The phenomenon could help explain why Bronze Age artifacts are scarce on the Orkney Islands: Women married into an existing society a few at a time over the course of centuries, mostly adopting the culture and customs of the island.
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