Researchers from the Institute of Archeology of the University of Wroclaw worked in an international team of scientists from Europe and the United States. The results of their research are described in the prestigious journal Nature.

The international team of 144 geneticists, archaeologists and anthropologists has attempted to explain the “beaker phenomenon” – a riddle related to the appearance of similar objects between 4750 and 4400 years ago in the graves across Europe.

Because of the exclusive bell-shaped beakers the findings were called the bell- beakers culture. It triggered a debate that lasted over a hundred years whether they are traces of migration of people on a large scale.

The results of genetic examinations of about 400 skeletons described in “Nature” from various sites in Europe indicate that the spread of the “beakers phenomenon” between Iberia and Central Europe took place without significant population movement.