Ancestral Journeys: The Peopling of Europe from the First Venturers to the… (utgåvan 2013)

In this well-written and informative account of the ancient history of Europe. The author weaves together multiples strands of genetic evidence, archaeology, history and linguistics to present this narrative of the movement of people, DNA distribution and the spread of languages throughout Europe. This book includes numerous illustrations and maps. ( )

This book examines the question of where the peoples of Europe came from, and how they spread across the continent. The author combines the latest genetic analysis, archaelogical information, and linguistic analysis to provide multidimensional answers to these complex questions. The author stresses -- helpfully, I think -- the switch in views on the European past over the past thirty years or so. The consensus has moved to an emphasis on migration (people and cultures moved) away from the stable population approach (culture moved, people pretty much stayed in place). Here, genetic analysis has been invaluable, showing that ancestral DNA in many locales does NOT bear a close relationship to the DNA of people who live there now.

Her time span ranges from the deepest past up to the Viking age, and presents a lot of information of which I was not aware -- a lot of which focusses on how fast populations actually have changed. The Slavs, for example, appear to have emerged well into the first millenium. Another key point she emphasizes is that cultures retreat as well as advancing, due to sickness, climate change, or war. She stresses that population dropped sharply in many areas on many occasions.

My only quarrel with the book is that I found it tedious at time. That is likely to be more my fault than the authors (haplogroup analysis is critical, but I don't know enough to find it thrilling). In addition to this book, however, I would recommend "The Horse, The Wheel and Language" by David Anthony. This book is a tad older than Manco's (2007) but for whatever reason I found it even more interesting. How fortunate history buffs like me are to live in a period when research is uncovering so much about unwritten human history! ( )