A study by Coutinho et al. (2020) combines archaeological and genetic information to understand better Battle Axe cultural influences discovered in graves of the Pitted Ware culture. The genomic data show that all individuals belonged to one genetic population—a population associated with the Pitted Ware culture—irrespective of the burial style.
The authors conclude that the Pitted Ware culture communities were not impacted by gene flow, that is, via migration or exchange of mates. These different cultural expressions in the Pitted Ware culture burials are instead a consequence of cultural exchange.
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