Archaeologists have been debating for over a century whether the changes in material culture were due to demic or cultural diffusion. Since 2010, the advancement in the study of ancient DNA has introduced a new actor in the debate-genes. Archaeogenetics has reframed the way we think about the past, leading to a shift towards big data, and large-scale narratives, bringing back migration stories. But the fact that genetics is currently driving the discussion on past historical processes raises important ethical and interpretative issues. This project questions what lies behind large-scale prehistoric migration narratives in order to bring into focus human-scale histories. Paradoxically, what is missing from these narratives seem to be the people supposedly involved in the migration. This study will focus on the Early Neolithic (6500-5600 BC) period in southeast Europe. Based on the published funerary evidence, many of these communities seem to have selected and interred certain individuals in collective deposits. By studying the biographies of those interred we can move beyond biologizing narratives of migration towards performative ones. The Early Neolithic dead are the “footprints” of the comings and goings of past communities. But these people’s journeys were not straight lines, resembling arrows and dots on large-scale maps. They were winding journeys, stories of cooperation, but also of conflict.