Grand Est Middle Neolithic

The Middle Neolithic of Grand-Est unfolds between roughly 4800 and 3350 BCE across the plains and low hills of eastern France. Archaeological evidence from sites such as Bergheim (Saulager), Buchères (PLA D39), Pont-sur-Seine (Ferme de l'Ile), Rosheim ("Mittelfeld" / Rosenmeer) and Wettolsheim documents settlements embedded in river valleys and fertile loess soils. Ceramic styles, lithic reduction debris and agricultural indicators point to communities practicing cereal cultivation, animal husbandry and pottery production adapted to local resources.

Genetic data from ten published individuals sampled across these sites reveal a tapestry of ancestries. Archaeological data indicate continuity of settlement through the Middle Neolithic, and ancient DNA suggests this cultural horizon was composed of people with mixed ancestries: incoming Anatolian-derived farmer-related ancestry interacting with persistent Western hunter-gatherer ancestry. Limited sample numbers and uneven spatial sampling mean these patterns are provisional; they nevertheless align with broader European Neolithic trends that show admixture and regional differentiation rather than wholesale replacement.

Visually and materially, the Grand-Est record appears as an intimate landscape of fields, ponds and hamlets—communities shaped by riverine corridors and long-distance connections that threaded cultural elements across the Seine and Rhine drainage basins.

Ten individuals sampled from Grand-Est Middle Neolithic contexts display a mixture of paternal and maternal lineages that reflect both local continuity and incoming diversity. On the Y chromosome the most represented lineage is haplogroup I (4 individuals), a paternal lineage commonly associated with European Mesolithic hunter-gatherers and frequently found in Neolithic contexts as part of regional continuity. The presence of Y-haplogroups annotated as H and H2 (each observed once) introduces additional paternal diversity; H2 has been reported in some early farmer-associated contexts elsewhere in Europe. These findings suggest a palimpsest of male ancestries rather than a single incoming paternal wave.

Mitochondrial diversity is likewise mixed: U lineages (4 individuals) are often linked to pre-Neolithic European hunter-gatherer maternal ancestry, while W5b, J, K and H5u—each observed among the remaining samples—are commonly associated with Neolithic farmer maternal lineages originating from Anatolia and surrounding regions. Together, the mtDNA and Y-DNA patterns align with a model of Anatolian-derived farmer ancestry admixing with resident Western hunter-gatherer groups during the Middle Neolithic.

Caveats: with only ten samples the portrait is preliminary. Archaeogenetic inference of proportions of ancestry, kinship networks and demographic events will sharpen as sample sizes grow and temporal resolution improves. Nevertheless, the current dataset from Bergheim, Buchères, Pont-sur-Seine, Rosheim and Wettolsheim offers a vivid snapshot of genetic pluralism in Middle Neolithic eastern France.