Taranis
Elite member
In that you may be right, however, I do see some problems with this interpretation. First of all, how and when would R1b have reached the Beaker lands? I myself am very skeptic about the palaeolithic R1b theory. We also have tested a fair amount of Neolithic y-DNA in Europe (though is is true that none belonging to the Beaker culture), and none has been R1b-positive. Also, there is a considerable amount of I2 in many parts that belonged to the Beaker Culture (including North Africa, and although the same applies to R1b, almost all of it in North Africa is R-V88). Besides that, the east-west STR cline of R1b in Europe does not apply well with the west-east Beaker expansion.
First off, let me say that I absolutely agree that Paleolithic R1b is out of the question, and in fact has been out of the question since Y-DNA from Neolithic sites (especially Treilles!) is known. As for how R1b could have reached Western Europe, I must admit that have no firm idea either, but I would argue that this is a general problem because from what I have seen so far, this applies to virtually every scenario. There is certainly the possibility that it arrived by sea (which matches the general idea that Beaker-Bell was a maritime/water-based culture), but at this point I'm also not ruling out the possibility of a very late arrival of R1b during the Bronze Age.
That is why, in my opinion, an expansion from Gaul any more to the south would not be feasible. Also, I recently thought that L21 could have originated around 3500 years ago between the upper Seine and middle Garonne and then spread west to Aremorica, from which it could have migrated to Britan and (to a lesser extent) Iberia.
I agree that a migration by land (espcially due to the presence of the Basques, and further eastward, the Iberians) is unlikely. From that perspective I agree that it is more likely that L21 spread via a maritime route.