To what extent has DNA technology helped our understanding of human colonisation and the spread of agriculture in Europe over the past 10 000 years? How is this supported by language evidence?

Although the focus of this essay is to discuss how DNA technology helped our understanding of human colonisation and the spread of agriculture in Europe over the past 10 000 years, it will first look at the recent African origin theory as it is relevant to show how modern humans arrived in Europe in the first place. As later discussed it will also have a bearing on the development of agriculture. The two main hypotheses agree that …

…each other. Interpretations of the past are also "subject to distortion by contemporary socio-political influences."(Evison) Despite this, DNA evidence has given a much fuller picture of prehistory, not only in archaeology, but also in linguistics and many other disciplines. References Perspectives on the Holocene in Britain: Human DNA, by Martin P. Evison (Quaternary Proceedings, 1999) The four faces of Eve: hypothesis compatibility and human origins, by John D. Hawks and Milford H. Wolpoff (Quaternary International)