Maternal Genetic Composition of a Medieval Population from a Hungarian-Slavic Contact Zone in Central Europe.

The genetic composition of the medieval populations of Central Europe has been poorly investigated to date. In particular, the region of modern-day Slovakia is a blank spot in archaeogenetic research. This paper reports the study of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in ancient samples from the 9th-12th centuries originating from the cemeteries discovered in Nitra-Sindolka and Cakajovce, located in western Slovakia (Central Europe). This geographical region is interesting to study because its medieval multi-ethnic population lived in the so-called contact zone of the territory of the Great Moravian and later Hungarian state formations. We described 16 different mtDNA haplotypes in 19 individuals, which belong to the most widespread European mtDNA haplogroups: H, J, T, U and R0. Using comparative statistical and population genetic analyses, we showed the differentiation of the European gene pool in the medieval period. We also demonstrated the heterogeneous genetic characteristics of the investigated population and its affinity to the populations of modern Europe

Maternal Genetic Ancestry and Legacy of 10(th) Century AD Hungarians.

The ancient Hungarians originated from the Ural region in today's central Russia and migrated across the Eastern European steppe, according to historical sources. The Hungarians conquered the Carpathian Basin 895-907 AD, and admixed with the indigenous communities. Here we present mitochondrial DNA results from three datasets: one from the Avar period (7(th)-9(th) centuries) of the Carpathian Basin (n = 31); one from the Hungarian conquest-period (n = 76); and a completion of the published 10(th)-12(th) century Hungarian-Slavic contact zone dataset by four samples. We compare these mitochondrial DNA hypervariable segment sequences and haplogroup results with published ancient and modern Eurasian data. Whereas the analyzed Avars represents a certain group of the Avar society that shows East and South European genetic characteristics, the Hungarian conquerors' maternal gene pool is a mixture of West Eurasian and Central and North Eurasian elements. Comprehensively analyzing the results, both the linguistically recorded Finno-Ugric roots and historically documented Turkic and Central Asian influxes had possible genetic imprints in the conquerors' genetic composition. Our data allows a complex series of historic and population genetic events before the formation of the medieval population of the Carpathian Basin, and the maternal genetic continuity between 10(th)-12(th) century and modern Hungarians

Maternal Genetic Composition of a Medieval Population from a Hungarian-Slavic Contact Zone in Central Europe.

The genetic composition of the medieval populations of Central Europe has been poorly investigated to date. In particular, the region of modern-day Slovakia is a blank spot in archaeogenetic research. This paper reports the study of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in ancient samples from the 9th-12th centuries originating from the cemeteries discovered in Nitra-Šindolka and Čakajovce, located in western Slovakia (Central Europe). This geographical region is interesting to study because its medieval multi-ethnic population lived in the so-called contact zone of the territory of the Great Moravian and later Hungarian state formations. We described 16 different mtDNA haplotypes in 19 individuals, which belong to the most widespread European mtDNA haplogroups: H, J, T, U and R0. Using comparative statistical and population genetic analyses, we showed the differentiation of the European gene pool in the medieval period. We also demonstrated the heterogeneous genetic characteristics of the investigated population and its affinity to the populations of modern Europe

Levelplot of the linearized Slatkin population differentiation (F_ST) values and significant p values.

<p>(A) Levelplot of the linearized Slatkin F_ST values of the European medieval populations. (B) significant p values (< 0.05) are indicated in green. The exact F_ST and p values and population information can be found in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0151206#pone.0151206.s009" target="_blank">S6 Table</a>.</p

PCA of the investigated medieval and modern-day populations.

<p>The PCA is based on mtDNA haplogroup frequencies of the medieval population from Slovakia and 33 modern-day populations from Eurasia, and represents PC1 and PC2. For the frequencies and the list of abbreviations see <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0151206#pone.0151206.s011" target="_blank">S8 Table</a>.</p

PCA and hierarchical clustering of medieval populations.

<p>PCA (A) and hierarchical clustering (B) based on mtDNA haplogroup frequencies of 12 medieval populations show a clustering of medieval populations from Slovakia (SVK-medieval), Lombards from Hungary (HUN-Lombards) and a medieval population from Poland (POL-medieval). The medieval populations and the Vikings of North Europe are clustered together, as are the medieval populations from South Europe. The index of abbreviations is in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0151206#pone.0151206.s010" target="_blank">S7 Table</a>.</p

Location of medieval cemeteries from the contact zone of Central Europe.

<p>(1) Čakajovce (Slovakia). (2) Nitra-Šindolka (Slovakia). (3) Lébény (Hungary). (Illustration).</p