Ancient DNA reveals origin of first Bronze Age civilizations in Europe

The first civilisations to build monumental palaces and urban centres in Europe are more genetically homogenous than expected, according to genomes gathered from archaeological sites around the Aegean. Individuals from the northern Aegean were considerably different by the Middle Bronze Age, sharing half their ancestry with people from the Pontic-Caspian steppe. These populations were highly similar to present-day Greeks. This supports theories that Proto-Greek and Indo-European languages originated in Anatolia or the Pontic-Caspian Steppe region.