Yamnaya invaders took over the Iberian peninsula 4500 years ago Natalia Shishlina

A genetic analysis has revealed that, about 4500 years ago, part of southern Europe was conquered from the east. In what is now Spain and Portugal, the local male line vanished almost overnight, and males from outside became the only ones to leave descendants.

David Reich of Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts presented the results on Saturday at New Scientist Live in London, UK.

Reich and his colleagues have spent the last few years reading the DNA of people who lived in Europe and Asia several thousand …