LINK: Linking archaeology, anthropology and genomics to study the evolution and social organisation of Neolithic-Bronze Age communities in southwest France – LINK

The aim of the LINK project is to better understand the cultural and biological processes underlying the transition from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age in South-western France by conducting a fully integrated study including archaeology, C14 datation, anthropology and genomics. This period is marked by diversity and evolution of funerary places with both collective burials in cave and dolmens and individual burials in open-air pits. By targeting human remains originating from key regions localized between the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts and dated between 3000 and 1300 B.C, we will study the direct confrontation of ancient groups’ cultural and genetic diversities to uncover the role played by migration, admixture and acculturation in the diffusion of new cultures. At the local communities’ level, this multidisciplinary approach will provide major information regarding the identities of the deceased and its implication in the funerary practices organisation or funerary sites’ structuration.