A genetic history of the Balkans from Roman frontier to Slavic migrations

[Summary] The rise and fall of the Roman Empire was a socio-political process with enormous ramifications for human history. The Middle Danube was a crucial frontier and a crossroads for population and cultural movement. Here, we present genome-wide data from 136 Balkan individuals dated to the 1st millennium CE. Despite extensive militarization and cultural influence, we find little ancestry contribution from peoples of Italic descent. However, we trace a large-scale influx of people of Anatolian ancestry during the Imperial period. Between ∼250 and 550 CE, we detect migrants with ancestry from Central/Northern Europe and the Steppe, confirming that “barbarian” migrations were propelled by ethnically diverse confederations. Following the end of Roman control, we detect the large-scale arrival of individuals who were genetically similar to modern Eastern European Slavic-speaking populations, who contributed 30%–60% of the ancestry of Balkan people, representing one of the largest permanent demographic changes anywhere in Europe during the Migration Period.We thank the funding agencies for this study: PGC2018-0955931-B-100 grant (MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE) of the Spanish Ministry of Science of Innovation (C.L.-F.), PID2021-124590NB-100 grant of the Spanish Ministry of Science of Innovation (C.L.-F.), fellowship from “la Caixa” Foundation (ID 100010434), code LCF/BQ-ES11/10000073 (I.O.), grant “Ayudas para contratos Ramón y Cajal” funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by “ESF Investing in your future” (I.O.), FPI-2019 (Spanish Ministry of Science of Innovation, BDNS ID: 476421) (P.C.), NSERC Discovery grant (Canada) RGPIN-2018-05989 (M.G.), Ministry of Science and Education of the Republic of Croatia (grant 533-03-19-0002) (M.N.), National Institutes of Health funding (HG012287) (D.R.), John Templeton Foundation (grant 61220) (D.R.), gifts from J.-F. Clin (D.R. and I.O.), the Allen Discovery Center, a Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group advised program of the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation (D.R.), and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (D.R.).Peer reviewe

Stable population structure in Europe since the Iron Age, despite high mobility

Ancient DNA research in the past decade has revealed that European population structure changed dramatically in the prehistoric period (14,000–3000 years before present, YBP), reflecting the widespread introduction of Neolithic farmer and Bronze Age Steppe ancestries. However, little is known about how population structure changed from the historical period onward (3000 YBP - present). To address this, we collected whole genomes from 204 individuals from Europe and the Mediterranean, many of which are the first historical period genomes from their region (e.g. Armenia and France). We found that most regions show remarkable inter-individual heterogeneity. At least 7% of historical individuals carry ancestry uncommon in the region where they were sampled, some indicating cross-Mediterranean contacts. Despite this high level of mobility, overall population structure across western Eurasia is relatively stable through the historical period up to the present, mirroring geography. We show that, under standard population genetics models with local panmixia, the observed level of dispersal would lead to a collapse of population structure. Persistent population structure thus suggests a lower effective migration rate than indicated by the observed dispersal. We hypothesize that this phenomenon can be explained by extensive transient dispersal arising from drastically improved transportation networks and the Roman Empire’s mobilization of people for trade, labor, and military. This work highlights the utility of ancient DNA in elucidating finer scale human population dynamics in recent history

Proceedings from the 10th Scientific Conference Methodology and Archaeometry

Methodology and Archaeometry (MetArh) is an annual scientific conference organized since 2013 by the Department of Archaeology of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Zagreb, and the Croatian Archaeological Society. The goal of the conference is to entice interdisciplinarity, critical thinking, new insights and approaches as well as new theoretical frameworks in contemporary archaeological science. This edition of the conference Proceedings contains four papers from the 10th MetArh conference which was held in a hybrid format at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Zagreb from 1st – 2nd of December 2022 (https://metarh.ffzg.unizg.hr/). Considering the rapid and dynamic progress in the field of methodology and archaeometry, the goal of the Proceedings is to publish papers within the current year. Although this edition has a relatively small number of articles, we have decided to continue with the same dynamic of publication, so that the results of research and new methodological tools are made available to all interested researchers. We will continue to work in the same way in the coming years.Methodology and Archaeometry (MetArh) is an annual scientific conference organized since 2013 by the Department of Archaeology of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Zagreb, and the Croatian Archaeological Society. The goal of the conference is to entice interdisciplinarity, critical thinking, new insights and approaches as well as new theoretical frameworks in contemporary archaeological science. This edition of the conference Proceedings contains four papers from the 10th MetArh conference which was held in a hybrid format at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Zagreb from 1st – 2nd of December 2022 (https://metarh.ffzg.unizg.hr/). Considering the rapid and dynamic progress in the field of methodology and archaeometry, the goal of the Proceedings is to publish papers within the current year. Although this edition has a relatively small number of articles, we have decided to continue with the same dynamic of publication, so that the results of research and new methodological tools are made available to all interested researchers. We will continue to work in the same way in the coming years

Stable population structure in Europe since the Iron Age, despite high mobility

Ancient DNA research in the past decade has revealed that European population structure changed dramatically in the prehistoric period (14,000-3000 years before present, YBP), reflecting the widespread introduction of Neolithic farmer and Bronze Age Steppe ancestries. However, little is known about how population structure changed from the historical period onward (3000 YBP - present). To address this, we collected whole genomes from 204 individuals from Europe and the Mediterranean, many of which are the first historical period genomes from their region (e.g. Armenia and France). We found that most regions show remarkable inter-individual heterogeneity. At least 7% of historical individuals carry ancestry uncommon in the region where they were sampled, some indicating cross-Mediterranean contacts. Despite this high level of mobility, overall population structure across western Eurasia is relatively stable through the historical period up to the present, mirroring geography. We show that, under standard population genetics models with local panmixia, the observed level of dispersal would lead to a collapse of population structure. Persistent population structure thus suggests a lower effective migration rate than indicated by the observed dispersal. We hypothesize that this phenomenon can be explained by extensive transient dispersal arising from drastically improved transportation networks and the Roman Empire's mobilization of people for trade, labor, and military. This work highlights the utility of ancient DNA in elucidating finer scale human population dynamics in recent history

A genetic history of the Balkans from Roman frontier to Slavic migrations

The rise and fall of the Roman Empire was a socio-political process with enormous ramifications for human history. The Middle Danube was a crucial frontier and a crossroads for population and cultural movement. Here, we present genome-wide data from 136 Balkan individuals dated to the 1st millennium CE. Despite extensive militarization and cultural influence, we find little ancestry contribution from peoples of Italic descent. However, we trace a large-scale influx of people of Anatolian ancestry during the Imperial period. Between 250 and 550 CE, we detect migrants with ancestry from Central/Northern Europe and the Steppe, confirming that ‘‘barbarian’’ migrations were propelled by ethnically diverse confederations. Following the end of Roman control, we detect the large-scale arrival of individuals who were genetically similar to modern Eastern European Slavic-speaking populations, who contributed 30%–60% of the ancestry of Balkan people, representing one of the largest permanent demographic changes anywhere in Europe during the Migration Period

Stable population structure in Europe since the Iron Age, despite high mobility

International audienceAncient DNA research in the past decade has revealed that European populationstructure changed dramatically in the prehistoric period (14,000–3000 years before present, YBP),reflecting the widespread introduction of Neolithic farmer and Bronze Age Steppe ancestries.However, little is known about how population structure changed from the historical period onward(3000 YBP - present). To address this, we collected whole genomes from 204 individuals fromEurope and the Mediterranean, many of which are the first historical period genomes from theirregion (e.g. Armenia and France). We found that most regions show remarkable inter-individualheterogeneity. At least 7% of historical individuals carry ancestry uncommon in the region wherethey were sampled, some indicating cross-Mediterranean contacts. Despite this high level ofmobility, overall population structure across western Eurasia is relatively stable through the historicalperiod up to the present, mirroring geography. We show that, under standard population geneticsmodels with local panmixia, the observed level of dispersal would lead to a collapse of populationstructure. Persistent population structure thus suggests a lower effective migration rate than indi-cated by the observed dispersal. We hypothesize that this phenomenon can be explained by exten-sive transient dispersal arising from drastically improved transportation networks and the RomanEmpire’s mobilization of people for trade, labor, and military. This work highlights the utility ofancient DNA in elucidating finer scale human population dynamics in recent history