The Origin of R1b-P312 Bell Beaker

[rmstevens2]

Without writing a longwinded opening post on the various models of Beaker origins, let me just say up front that I think the so-called "Dutch Model" of Van Der Waals, Glasbergen, and Lanting is the closest to correct. It derives Beaker from Single Grave Corded Ware, specifically from the Protruding Foot Beaker variant of Single Grave Corded Ware, in the Netherlands and NW Germany. 

I am open to being convinced otherwise, but that will take some doing, since I have been looking at this and reading about it for some years now and think the evidence supports something very close to the Dutch Model. 

Anyway, let's discuss Beaker and its beginnings. If you disagree with me, convince me I'm wrong, or at least present your case. 

I put this thread here because thus far, in terms of Y-DNA, Beaker is overwhelmingly R1b-P312, by which I mean P312 as a simple rubric that includes the various P312 subclades found in ancient Beaker samples.

Where I might appear controversial to some is that I do not think Iberia had much at all to do with the origin of Beaker. It was a rich receiver of Beaker, obviously, but Beaker did not begin there.

[rmstevens2]

So. let's discuss the fundamental basics of what makes Beaker Beaker. It's not just a pot. 

Typical male Beaker burial orientation and artifacts:



Typical male Corded Ware burial orientation and artifacts:



Hmmm . . .

Shockingly different, eh?

And some Beaker burials - like north of the Tees in Britain - were just like Corded Ware burials, and some Corded Ware burials were like Beaker burials.

Both cultures practiced sexual dimorphism in burial rites. In typical Beaker burials, women were buried on their right sides, facing east, with heads to the south. In Corded Ware, women were buried on their left sides with heads to the east, facing south.

[Rodoorn]

Hahaha sorry based on our chat I created spontaneous:

https://genarchivist.com/showthread.php?tid=370

[rmstevens2]

It seems to me pretty clear that Beaker began as an offshoot of Single Grave Corded Ware in the Netherlands and NW Germany. 

Here's some of what Davidski wrote in his Eurogenes Blog back in 2019 (notice that this predates both Linderholm et al and Papac et al):

- the Dutch Beakers are unlikely to be the result of a recent migration from afar into what is now The Netherlands and surrounds, but rather the descendants, by and large, of the earlier local Single Grave (and thus Corded Ware) populations


- the R1b-P312 lineages in the Dutch and British Beakers probably derive from Single Grave R1b-P312, which suggests that R1b-P312 was common among some clans within the Corded Ware culture

- the spread of most of the Yamnaya-related or steppe ancestry and quintessential Beaker physique across the Beaker world and into Western Europe can probably be blamed on the massive expansions of Beakers from what is now The Netherlands and surrounds (ie. the Lower Rhine region)

Single Grave > Bell Beakers

Notice also that it is extremely unlikely that Beaker began in Iberia, since ancient Beaker remains outside Iberia lack Iberian Neolithic DNA. The following is from the 2018 Olalde et al paper, "The Beaker phenomenon and the genomic transformation of northwest Europe", pages 3-4:

Conversely, the Neolithic related ancestry in Beaker-complex-associated individuals outside of Iberia was most closely related to central and northern European Neolithic populations with relatively high hunter-gatherer admixture (for example, Poland_LN, P = 0.18 and Sweden_MN, P = 0.25), and we could significantly exclude Iberian sources (P < 0.0104) (Fig. 2c). These results support mostly different origins for Beaker-complex associated individuals, with no discernible Iberia-related ancestry outside of Iberia.

[rmstevens2]

The following couple of quotes are from page 31 of 47 of archaeologist Völker Heyd's 2021 paper, "Yamnaya, Corded Wares, and Bell Beakers on the Move":

One could nevertheless imagine the Iberian ‘pioneers’ (one might also want to call them ‘missionaries’), bringing over the novel Beaker idea, are rather archaeologically and genetically invisible. They may not have been large in numbers.

In that excerpt above, Heyd seems to still be attributing the Maritime beaker to pioneers or missionaries from Iberia who yet were so scarce they were "archaeologically and genetically invisible". Personally, I think they were archaeologically and genetically invisible because they didn't exist. The Maritime beaker developed from Corded Ware beakers in the Netherlands/NW Germany and spread west from there. I think Van Der Waals, Glasbergen, and Lanting demonstrated that pretty well. What they proposed is highly visible in both archaeology and genetics.

Check out this excellent post on the subject of the spread of CW-type pottery from east to west.

Second excerpt from Heyd:

In this scenario, some of these pioneers may have arrived at the Upper Rhine region from the Mediterranean via the Rhône-Saône river system, making use of the versatile/volatile boundary situation and finding thus acceptance and conversion in locals. In doing so, these create a first Central European ‘Maritime’ hotspot for further Bell Beaker radiation. The same may have happened at the Lower Rhine region via the Atlantic and North Sea networks but materialised differently, i.e. more syncretistic via the AOC/AOO beakers. I would not be surprised if there will soon be visible Y-chromosome differences between the Lower and Upper Rhine. Within a few generations, at some point around 2500 BC, this radiation turned into a proper demic event. It would send Bell Beaker users, as descendants of local Single Grave Culture/Corded Ware users rich in steppe ancestry, on the move to regions further to the west, triggering the ‘Beakerisation’ of Britain and Ireland, and the Rückstrom to France and finally Iberia.

[rmstevens2]

I have posted this graphic in other threads before: here, at the old GenArchivist site, and at AG before that. Sorry to post it again, but I think one picture is worth a thousand words in showing the development of the bell beaker from earlier Corded Ware beakers.

One can see how the undecorated bands on Corded Ware pots gradually became wider, eventually leading to the Maritime bell beaker on the right.

[rmstevens2]

The following is from page 470 of "Corded Ware from East to West", by Janusz Czebreszuk, pages 467-475 in the book, Ancient Europe 8000 B.C.–A.D. 1000: Encyclopedia of the Barbarian World (edited by Peter Bogucki and Pam Crabtree; New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2004):

Protruding Foot Beaker Culture. The Protruding Foot Beaker culture is the best-known part of the Corded Ware story. It is found along the Lower Rhine, in a key place for long-range contacts between the British Isles and the Alpine area, as well as along the Atlantic shore to the Baltic Sea. There exists an accurate typology of its basic object: the beaker. Much is known about the culture’s settlements. To assure proper living conditions (that is, a dry place on the wet landscape of the Rhine Delta), permanent settlements were built on artificial platforms consisting of layers of shells, organic remains, and clay. The dwellings were rectangular huts of post construction. The funeral rites were characterized by the presence of flat graves as well as barrows, in which according to the Corded Ware custom, only one individual was laid. The Protruding Foot Beaker culture is also important because in 1955 Johannes D. van der Waals and Willem Glasbergen were able to demonstrate stylistic links that its beakers shared with the Bell Beakers. This became a basis for one of the main models for the genesis of the Bell Beakers called the “Dutch Model.”

From page 16 of the 1955 paper by Van Der Waals and Glasbergen, "Beaker Types and their Distribution in the Netherlands":

Where is the origin of the Dutch Beakers with protruding foot to be sought? Sangmeister has discussed the distribution of this Beaker class - his Westdeutsche Becherguppe - in Western Germany and the Netherlands. There is undoubtedly a close affinity to the Central German Schnurkeramik [Corded Ware] culture, and it can be assumed that this latter culture represents the origin of sub-group Ia of the Dutch Beakers with protruding foot.

[Mitchell-Atkins]

Central German Corded Ware Culture. The Central German Corded Ware culture is known mainly from flat, single-burial graves, where the body was placed in the classical Corded Ware position (on an east-west axis with the face to the south; women on their left side with the head pointing to the east, men on the right side with the head pointing to the west). The usual cemetery consisted of from several to dozens of graves. Many types of vessels richly ornamented with cord impressions were placed in the graves, along with faceted battle-axes. Infrequently, there were also copper items in the shape of wire decorations and beads.

An interesting find in this group was the grave at Göhlitzsch. On one of the stone slabs forming the grave there was engraved the image of a reflex bow and quiver. It is one of the earliest representations of this technologically advanced form of bow. This confirms the significance of bow-hunting equipment in the entire Corded Ware culture. Relatively little is known of the economic base of these people. The fact that they lived in a region that had a long agricultural tradition might be an indicator that they engaged in farming practices, especially the raising of animals.

Göhlitzsch is near the Saale river, 10 miles west of Leipzig.

https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/...the%20west)

[rmstevens2]

As I recall, there are actually quite a few CW burials that contain arrowheads at the very least. Those arrowheads were probably originally attached to shafts and were accompanied by bows, but wood doesn't usually hold up too well in ancient graves.

Arrowheads are part of a list of basic Corded Ware artifacts on page 467 of "Corded Ware from East to West", by Janusz Czebreszuk, pages 467-475 in the book, Ancient Europe 8000 B.C.–A.D. 1000: Encyclopedia of the Barbarian World (edited by Peter Bogucki and Pam Crabtree; New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2004):

However, a basic list of artifacts associated with the Corded Ware culture was compiled in the early twentieth century and included stone axes, beakers, amphorae, arrowheads, and flint flakes. These were usually found in single-burial tombs covered by a barrow.

I seem to remember that the Budzhak variant of Yamnaya also featured archery equipment in its burials.

[JonikW]

As I recall, there are actually quite a few CW burials that contain arrowheads at the very least. Those arrowheads were probably originally attached to shafts and were accompanied by bows, but wood doesn't usually hold up too well in ancient graves.

I seem to remember that the Budzhak variant of Yamnaya also featured archery equipment in its burials.

Are those arrowheads leaf shaped or the tanged variety that I more typically would associate with BA Britain? I'm not an expert on CW or Beaker but am enjoying the thread. My brother found a tanged flint arrowhead while walking up on the Mendips once. I was very jealous.

[rmstevens2]

As I recall, there are actually quite a few CW burials that contain arrowheads at the very least. Those arrowheads were probably originally attached to shafts and were accompanied by bows, but wood doesn't usually hold up too well in ancient graves.

I seem to remember that the Budzhak variant of Yamnaya also featured archery equipment in its burials.

Are those arrowheads leaf shaped or the tanged variety that I more typically would associate with BA Britain? I'm not an expert on CW or Beaker but am enjoying the thread. My brother found a tanged flint arrowhead while walking up on the Mendips once. I was very jealous.

They were tanged, at least in the Netherlands, which I gather from the 2017 paper by Virginia Garcia-Diaz, "The Domestic Sphere of the Corded Ware Culture:  A functional analysis of the domestic implements of three Dutch settlements", which refers to specific arrowheads with tangs.

[rmstevens2]

Here are a couple of quotes from that 2017 paper by Virginia Garcia-Diaz, "The Domestic Sphere of the Corded Ware Culture:  A functional analysis of the domestic implements of three Dutch settlements".

From page 1:

Males were mainly buried with battle-axes, arrowheads and flint daggers while female graves were characterized by the presence of ornaments and pottery (Vandkile in Westermann 2007).

About tangs on CW arrowheads, from page 183: 

One of the arrowheads (28821-82) shows traces of hafting, consisting of a bright line of mineral-like polish on the tang and one of the barbs, indicating that the projectile point was hafted (Figure 6.10).

. . .

Finally, one arrowhead (7188-1) shows use-wear traces which could not be interpreted. The tips of the barbs and the tang display slight rounding.

[rmstevens2]

Here's an interesting photo I came across while looking for stuff on Corded Ware arrowheads. It's an arrowhead embedded in the breastbone of a Single Grave Corded Ware skeleton in a stone cist tomb in Gjerrild, Denmark. I don't know if he was shot by another Corded Ware man or by someone of a different culture. Anyway, ouch!

[rmstevens2]

Here is a drawing of some tanged Corded Ware arrowheads.

[JonikW]

Here is a drawing of some tanged Corded Ware arrowheads.

Thanks for all that Rich. I’ve had an interest in the Beaker culture since I was a youngster and lived by a round barrow on the edge of Bristol. Here's a cropped view of some really nice artwork from a Ladybird book on ancient Britain that I pored over as a child and that I now credit with inspiring a lot of my later interests. A big stereotype going on there and it's a product of its time if a beautiful one. You might enjoy it.



If I'd been R1b I'm sure the Beakers would have become my passion, but nevertheless whenever I drive through the Stonehenge landscape it's the BA barrows that always speak to me and conjure up the past.

I assume the various CW and Beaker tang shapes can be dated and narrowed down to a broad locality in some instances. I'm a sucker for that stuff but life's unfortunately too short to study everything I'd like to investigate. This thread is filling in some useful gaps :-)