Living with archaeogenetics: three decades on

The aftermath of the Neolithic transition has the longest pedigree of any topic in archaeogenetics and is an ideal lens through which to track the growth of the discipline. Here, I retrace from a personal perspective the history of archaeogenetic accounts of the European Neolithic, including some of the missteps and stumbles along the way. In particular, I emphasize the neglect of the uniparental markers, especially mitochondrial DNA, in much recent work. I argue that incorporating such analyses can move on the narratives written using aDNA from sweeping, broad-brush narratives to more nuanced discussion of the detailed processes involved in colonisation and integration. As a case study, I take a closer look at the mitochondrial and Y-chromosome evidence from Neolithic Britain and Ireland, illustrating the complexity of the picture emerging for both the Neolithic transition and the arrival of Beaker-using people, at the beginning and end of the period.