About 4600 years ago, the population of Britain was replaced by a people who brought Bell Beaker pottery with them. Now, ancient DNA has uncovered the murky story of where these people came from

Around 2400 BC, a new group arrived in Britain, quickly replacing most of the local population who had built Stonehenge. Ancient DNA analysis links them to the Bell Beaker culture, a widespread early Bronze Age phenomenon known for its distinctive pottery.

While the Bell Beaker culture likely originated in Iberia (modern Portugal or Spain), the study shows that the British newcomers specifically came from the river deltas of the Low Countries (modern Netherlands and Belgium). These migrants carried a surprising amount of hunter-gatherer ancestry, suggesting that some communities in western Europe had maintained traditional lifestyles even after farming populations had spread across much of the continent.

This genetic evidence highlights how migration, cultural exchange, and survival of older ways of life shaped Britain’s population and contributed to the dramatic demographic shifts of the Bronze Age.