Prehistory of Brittany

Some notes about the prehistory of Western Europe, mostly centered around the region of Brittany in modern France.

Foragers (Western Hunter Gatherers)

Some foragers arrived in Western Europe around 12000 BCE and replaced the earlier Magdalenian culture.

• Epigravettian culture

Farmers (Early European Farmers)

Some farmers arrived in Brittany around 5000 BCE, and in Britain around 4100 BCE where they mostly replaced the previous population of foragers.

The population declined at the end of the neolithic.

Herders (Western Steppe Herders)

Some herders again mostly replaced the previous population around 2500 BCE in Britain.

Bell Beaker culture

• Early Bronze Age culture
• Started from Portugal and spread from the sea to form enclaves inland, like in the southern coast of Brittany
• From 2400 BCE to 1800 BCE in Britain

Unetice culture

Armorican Tumulus culture

• From 2200 BCE to 1400 BCE
• Atlantic Bronze Age culture, recently proposed to be at the origin of proto-Celtic
• 1200 BCE: Late Bronze Age collapse
• From 1300 BCE to 800 BCE: migration from Gaul into southern Britain, perhaps bringing Celtic to the island

A large number of Britons from Britain migrated to Brittany at the end of the Roman period after the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons on the island around 500 CE.

References

• Genetic population structure across Brittany and the downstream Loire basin provides new insights on the demographic history of Western Europe (2022)
• Large-scale migration into Britain during the Middle to Late Bronze Age (2022)
• The Anglo-Saxon migration and the formation of the early English gene pool (2022)