The Neolithic first appears outside its core region in the Near East and central Anatolia after 7.000 BC, in the western part of Anatolia. This is a key staging area for the further spread of the Neolithic culture through Europe. The mode and tempo of the spread of the Neolithic remains problematic: although detailed chronologies of Neolithisation exist for individual regions, a precise and comprehensive Neolithisation theory is still needed for the entire area between central Anatolia and central Europe.
Marie Curie International Training Network aims to build a new generation of students able to identify and address the main aspects of this crucial period for the future history of the entire Eurasian continent.The BEAN network focuses on demographic questions surrounding the dissemination of the cultural, technological, and biological components of the Neolithic from western Anatolia and the Balkans to the rest of Europe. The following are the primary research questions of
Marie Curie International Training Network :
1. To determine the extent to which humans migrated (along with their domesticates) into new lands during the establishment of the Neolithic in western Anatolia and southeastern Europe.
2. To understand the mode and tempo of the change from foraging to farming in the Neolithic of western Anatolia and southeastern Europe and the degree of cultural exchange between local and migrant populations.
3. To reconstruct the patterns of circulation of raw materials, manufactured goods and ideas.
4. To map the population structure and estimate demographic parameters of the human groups involved in the transition.
BEAN is a Marie Curie initial training network (ITN). The aim of the BEAN training network is to educate a new generation of researchers that will be able to combine the important aspects of prehistoric archaeology, palaeodemography, population genetics, biostatistics, and next-generation molecular genetics while developing specialized skills in their particular scientific discipline. The broader question of the Neolithisation of Europe will serve as an intellectual framework structuring the research and training opportunities provided by BEAN network participants.
The BEAN network proposes to carry out much-needed research into the origins of settled farming life in Europe and the Europeans themselves while training the next generation of European researchers in the cutting-edge techniques of three different research areas:
The BEAN network proposes to carry out much-needed research into the origins of settled farming life in Europe and the Europeans themselves while training the next generation of European researchers in the cutting-edge techniques of three different research areas:
1. Anthropology and Genetics
2. Simulations and Modelling
3. Prehistoric Archaeology
These scientific disciplines reinforce each other to form a robust research framework within which researchers in the BEAN network can approach one of the most pressing archaeological questions of our time: the Neolithisation of Europe.
Simulations and Modelling
Advanced computer models can be used to simulate the diffusion of genes through a population with time, in order to test hypothetical demographic scenarios for the Neolithic transition in Western Anatolia and the Balkans. These models can be built using data obtained from archaeological and palaeodemographic research, and evaluated using modern and ancient DNA from populations living in the region. By altering demographic and biological parameters, alternative hypotheses can be explored. Modelling prehistoric gene flow will enable researchers to better understand the genetic correlates and consequences of the Neolithic transition.
Anthropology and Genetics
Recent advances in the anthropological sciences have made the Neolithisation question much more tractable for modern researchers. With the advent of palaeogenetic methods such as the analysis of DNA from archaeological skeletons, and especially with the possibilities of the next generation sequencing technologies (NGS), new data have become available that now render prehistoric demographic inferences possible. When ancient DNA data are analysed by appropriate statistical inference methods, particularly those applying coalescent theory, a reliable reconstruction of past populations structure is feasible. The increasingly sophisticated methods employed by biological anthropologists to examine the morphology and composition of fossilized tissues have further enhanced the informative potential of ancient human remains.
Recent advances in the anthropological sciences have made the Neolithisation question much more tractable for modern researchers. With the advent of palaeogenetic methods such as the analysis of DNA from archaeological skeletons, and especially with the possibilities of the next generation sequencing technologies (NGS), new data have become available that now render prehistoric demographic inferences possible. When ancient DNA data are analysed by appropriate statistical inference methods, particularly those applying coalescent theory, a reliable reconstruction of past populations structure is feasible. The increasingly sophisticated methods employed by biological anthropologists to examine the morphology and composition of fossilized tissues have further enhanced the informative potential of ancient human remains.
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