Just thought I would throw this out there…
With recent results suggesting that Neolithic Britons were at least predominantly I2a, I read this modern distribution in an entirely different way. For me, the modern distribution of I2a appears very highly correlated to mining and and trading of tin, c3300-2000BCE. As such, distribution may be best explained by the introduction of I2a along tin trading routes from NW Europe to the Black sea (Rhine -> Danube), the Adriatic (Rhine then across the Alps to the Po) and central Italy (Rhine -> Mediterarian coast -> Tiber -> Foggia -> Greece).
In this scenario, I2a – DIN may have been initially occurred and then been passed to local populations in the Balkans by early tin traders from Germany or Britain at trading posts on the Danube. The date of 3100BC works very nicely for this.
Although the original source of the tin for the European Bronze age is generally framed as a debate between Erzgebirge vs. Conrwall, it is also worth noting that other ‘hot spots’ in the modern I2a2 distribution (e.g. Skelleftia in Sweden and Argur-Dessus in the Pyranees) are today both areas with operational tin mines.
With recent results suggesting that Neolithic Britons were at least predominantly I2a, I read this modern distribution in an entirely different way. For me, the modern distribution of I2a appears very highly correlated to mining and and trading of tin, c3300-2000BCE. As such, distribution may be best explained by the introduction of I2a along tin trading routes from NW Europe to the Black sea (Rhine -> Danube), the Adriatic (Rhine then across the Alps to the Po) and central Italy (Rhine -> Mediterarian coast -> Tiber -> Foggia -> Greece).
In this scenario, I2a – DIN may have been initially occurred and then been passed to local populations in the Balkans by early tin traders from Germany or Britain at trading posts on the Danube. The date of 3100BC works very nicely for this.
Although the original source of the tin for the European Bronze age is generally framed as a debate between Erzgebirge vs. Conrwall, it is also worth noting that other ‘hot spots’ in the modern I2a2 distribution (e.g. Skelleftia in Sweden and Argur-Dessus in the Pyranees) are today both areas with operational tin mines.