Demic Quotes

Recent DNA evidence shows that Europe experienced a massive population influx from the east, beginning around 4,500 years ago [10]. Several haplogroups were involved in this demic expansion, including the Indian-origin R1a1a. This was almost a total replacement event, which indicates that Indo-Aryans, among others, expanded westward into Europe and to a large extent replaced indigenous European males and their Y-chromosome strata. This indicates military expansion. Conquest. This genetic evidence indicates that several Y-chromosomal (patrilineal) lineages, one of which was the Indian-origin R1a1a, gave rise to the modern European population. Out of these lineages, R1a1a is the most widespread and numerous.

There has been a classic debate over whether the spread of agriculture was a “demic” or “cultural” diffusion—that is, whether farming populations replaced hunter-gatherers or hunter-gatherers adopted farming technologies. The pendulum has swung back and forth, and the truth clearly involves some mixture of both. But as ancient DNA has come to loom large in the debate, the demic explanation has found strong support.