From around 2750 to 2500 bc, Bell Beaker pottery became widespread across western and central Europe, before it disappeared between 2200 and 1800 bc. The forces that propelled its expansion are a matter of long-standing debate, and there is support for both cultural diffusion and migration having a role in this process. Here we present genome-wide data from 400 Neolithic, Copper Age and Bronze Age Europeans, including 226 individuals associated with Beaker-complex artefacts. We detected limited genetic affinity between Beaker-complex-associated individuals from Iberia and central Europe, and thus exclude migration as an important mechanism of spread between these two regions. However, migration had a key role in the further dissemination of the Beaker complex. We document this phenomenon most clearly in Britain, where the spread of the Beaker complex introduced high levels of steppe-related ancestry and was associated with the replacement of approximately 90% of Britain's gene pool within a few hundred years, continuing the east-to-west expansion that had brought steppe-related ancestry into central and northern Europe over the previous centuries.

Albion Archaeology Bedford MK42 0AS UK

ANTEA Bureau d'étude en Archéologie Habsheim 68440 France

Archaeological Research Services Ltd Bakewell DE45 1HB UK

Archaeom Departament de Prehistòria Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Cerdanyola del Vallès 08193 Spain

Área de Prehistoria Universidad de Murcia Murcia 30001 Spain

ARGEA S L Madrid 28011 Spain

Australian Centre for Ancient DNA School of Biological Sciences University of Adelaide Adelaide 5005 South Australia Australia

BioArCh Department of Archaeology University of York York YO10 5DD UK

Bristol Radiocarbon Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Facility University of Bristol Bristol BS8 1UU UK

Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard Cambridge Massachusetts 02142 USA

Budapest History Museum Budapest 1014 Hungary

Cambridge Archaeological Unit Department of Archaeology University of Cambridge Cambridge CB3 0DT UK

Center of Natural and Cultural History of Man Danube Private University Krems 3500 Austria

Centre for GeoGenetics Natural History Museum University of Copenhagen Copenhagen 1350 Denmark

Centro de Arqueologia Universidade de Lisboa Lisboa 1600 214 Portugal

Cuidad Real Street Parla 28982 Spain

Departament d'Història i Arqueologia Universitat de Barcelona Barcelona 08001 Spain

Departament de Prehistòria Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Cerdanyola del Vallès 08193 Spain

Departamento de Ciencias de la Vida Universidad de Alcalá Alcalá de Henares 28801 Spain

Departamento de Prehistoria Facultad de Filosofía y Letras Universidad de Valladolid Valladolid 47011 Spain

Departamento de Prehistoria Universidad Complutense de Madrid Madrid 28040 Spain

Departamento de Prehistoria y Arqueología Universidad Autónoma de Madrid Madrid 28049 Spain

Department of Anthropology and Institute for Energy and the Environment The Pennsylvania State University University Park Pennsylvania 16802 USA

Department of Anthropology National Museum Prague 115 79 Czech Republic

Department of Anthropology The Pennsylvania State University University Park Pennsylvania 16802 USA

Department of Anthropology University of Iowa Iowa City Iowa 52240 USA

Department of Anthropology University of Vienna Vienna 1090 Austria

Department of Archaeogenetics Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History Jena 07745 Germany

Department of Archaeology and Anthropology University of Bristol Bristol BS8 1UU UK

Department of Archaeology University of Exeter Exeter EX4 4QE UK

Department of Biological Anthropology Eötvös Loránd University Budapest 1117 Hungary

Department of Biology University of Florence Florence 50121 Italy

Department of Biomedical Engineering Basel University Basel 4123 Switzerland

Department of Earth Sciences Natural History Museum London SW7 5BD UK

Department of Environmental Biology Sapienza University of Rome Rome 00185 Italy

Department of Genetics Harvard Medical School Boston Massachusetts 02115 USA

Department of Human Genetics Leiden University Medical Center Leiden 2333 ZC The Netherlands

Department of Philosophy History Culture and Art Studies Section of Archaeology University of Helsinki Helsinki 00014 Finland

Department of Prehistory and Archaeology Faculty of Philosophy and Letters Valladolid University Valladolid 47011 Spain

Déri Museum Debrecen 4026 Hungary

Earth Institute University College Dublin Dublin 4 Ireland

Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia Università di Palermo Palermo 90133 Italy

Faculty of Archaeology Leiden University 2333 CC Leiden The Netherlands

Ferenczy Museum Center Szentendre 2100 Hungary

General Department of Cultural Heritage Rhineland Palatinate Department of Archaeology Mainz 55116 Germany

Great Orme Mines Great Orme Llandudno LL30 2XG UK

Historic Environment Scotland Edinburgh EH9 1SH UK

Howard Hughes Medical Institute Harvard Medical School Boston Massachusetts 02115 USA

Humanities Institute University College Dublin Dublin 4 Ireland

Hungarian Natural History Museum Budapest 1083 Hungary

INRAP Institut National de Recherches Archéologiques Préventives Buffard 25440 France

INRAP Institut National de Recherches Archéologiques Préventives Metz 57063 France

INRAP Institut National de Recherches Archéologiques Préventives Nice 06300 France

INRAP Institut National de Recherches Archéologiques Préventives Strasbourg 67100 France

Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats Barcelona 08010 Spain

Institut für Vor und Frühgeschichtliche Archäologie und Provinzialrömische Archäologie Ludwig Maximilians Universität München Munich 80539 Germany

Institute for Archaeological Sciences Archaeo and Palaeogenetics University of Tübingen Tübingen 72070 Germany

Institute for History of Medicine and Foreign Languages 1st Faculty of Medicine Charles University Prague 121 08 Czech Republic

Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology Polish Academy of Sciences Kraków 31 016 Poland

Institute of Archaeology Czech Academy of Sciences Prague 118 01 Czech Republic

Institute of Archaeology Research Centre for the Humanities Hungarian Academy of Sciences Budapest 1097 Hungary

Institute of Archaeology Silesian University in Opava Opava 746 01 Czech Republic

Institute of Archaeology University College London London WC1H 0PY UK

Institute of Archaeology University of Oxford Oxford OX1 2PG UK

Institute of Archaeology University of Wroclaw Wrocław 50 137 Poland

Institute of Evolutionary Biology CSIC Universitat Pompeu Fabra Barcelona 08003 Spain

Institute of Zoology and Biomedical Research Jagiellonian University Kraków 31 007 Poland

Instituto Universitario de Investigación en Ciencias Policiales Alcalá de Henares 28801 Spain

Integrative Prehistory and Archaeological Science Basel University Basel Switzerland

Laboratory for Archaeological Chemistry University of Wisconsin Madison Madison Wisconsin 53706 USA

Laboratory of Archaeogenetics Institute of Archaeology Research Centre for the Humanities Hungarian Academy of Sciences Budapest 1097 Hungary

Laboratory of Prehistoric Archaeology and Anthropology Department F A Forel for Environmental and Aquatic Sciences University of Geneva Geneva 4 Switzerland

Laboratory of Prehistory Research Center for Anthropology and Health Department of Life Science University of Coimbra Coimbra 3000 456 Portugal

Labrys o p s Prague 198 00 Czech Republic

Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History Jena 07745 Germany

Merchiston Gardens Edinburgh EH10 5DD UK

Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Parma Parma 43100 Italy

Museu i Poblat Ibèric de Ca n'Oliver Cerdanyola del Vallès 08290 Spain

National Museums Scotland Edinburgh EH1 1JF UK

Oxford Archaeology East Cambridge CB23 8SQ UK

Oxford Archaeology Oxford OX2 0ES UK

Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit RLAHA University of Oxford Oxford OX1 3QY UK

Physical Anthropology Section University of Philadelphia Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology Philadelphia Pennsylvania 19104 USA

Prima Archeologia del Mediterraneo Partanna 91028 Italy

Research Center for Anthropology and Health Department of Life Science University of Coimbra Coimbra 3000 456 Portugal

Research Department of Genetics Evolution and Environment University College London London WC1E 6BT UK

Romano Germanic Commission German Archaeological Institute Frankfurt am Main 60325 Germany

Salisbury Ltd Budaörs 2040 Hungary

School of Archaeological and Forensic Sciences University of Bradford Bradford BD7 1DP UK

School of History Classics and Archaeology Newcastle University Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU UK

School of History Classics and Archaeology University of Edinburgh Edinburgh EH8 9AG UK

Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre East Kilbride G75 0QF UK

Service archéologique Conseil Général de la Haute Savoie Annecy 74000 France

Soprintendenza Archeologia belle arti e paesaggio per la città metropolitana di Cagliari e per le province di Oristano e Sud Sardegna Cagliari 9124 Italy

Soprintendenza del Mare Palermo 90133 Italy

Soprintendenza per i beni culturali e ambientali di Trapani Trapani 91100 Italy

TRÉBEDE Patrimonio y Cultura SL Torres de la Alameda 28813 Spain

UMR 5199 Pacea équipe A3P Université de Bordeaux Talence 33400 France

UMR 5204 Laboratoire Edytem Université Savoie Mont Blanc Chambéry 73376 France

UMR 7268 ADES CNRS Aix Marseille Univ EFS Faculté de médecine Nord Marseille 13015 France

Universidade Aberta Lisboa 1269 001 Portugal

Università degli Studi di Palermo Agrigento 92100 Italy

Université Paul Valéry Montpellier 3 UMR 5140 ASM Montpellier 34199 France

University of Burgundy Dijon 21000 France

University of Gothenburg Gothenburg 405 30 Sweden

University of Santiago de Compostela Santiago de Compostela 15782 Spain

Wessex Archaeology Salisbury SP4 6EB UK

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Nature. 2018 Mar 21;555(7697):543. doi: 10.1038/nature26164. PubMed

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