In one of the new papers, Reich and a cast of dozens of collaborators chart the spread of an ancient culture known by its stylized bell - shaped pots, the so - called Bell Beaker phenomenon.
The variety of Beaker artefacts makes it hard to define them as emerging from one distinctive culture: many researchers prefer to call their spread the «Bell Beaker phenomenon», says Marc Vander Linden, an archaeologist at University College London.