In archaeogenetics, the term Western Hunter-Gatherer, West European Hunter-Gatherer or Western European Hunter-Gatherer, is the name given to a distinct ancestral component that represents descent from Mesolithic hunter-gatherers of Western, Southern and Central Europe. The term is often abbreviated as WHG. During the Mesolithic, the WHGs inhabited an area stretching from the British Isles in the west to the Carpathians in the east.