Modern scholars have generally accepted the theory that violent invaders from the steppes (dry, grassy plains) of Eastern Europe used murderous means to displace many populations in Western Europe in the distant past. One such displacement was said to have occurred on the southeastern Iberian Peninsula in approximately 2,200 BC, marking the transition from the Copper (Chalcolithic) Age to the Bronze Age in that part of the world. It is known that the lands of modern-day southern Spain experienced a sudden population crash at this time, which could have been caused by warfare. This coincided with a shift in the genetic makeup of the descendants of the survivors of that crash, as past analyses of DNA taken from skeletal samples dating to this era showed an influx of genetic material from the Pontic-Caspian steppe region. Putting two and two together, archaeologists and historians concluded that invading armies from the steppes of Eastern Europe were responsible for both the population decline and the subsequent introduction of fresh DNA into the local gene pool. But this idea has now been firmly rejected by a team of archaeologists from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) and the University of Murcia, who recently completed a study that looked more deeply into this tumultuous period in Iberian Peninsula history. These researchers uncovered evidence to show that population losses preceded the arrival of the Pontic-Caspian DNA in the region, which is not at all consistent with the invasion theory. Read moreSection: NewsEvolution & Human OriginsRead Later