Ancient Roman mitochondrial genomes and isotopes reveal relationships and geographic origins at the local and pan-Mediterranean scales

Emery, Matthew V.; Duggan, Ana T.; Murchie, Tyler J.; Stark, Robert J.; Klunk, Jennifer; Hider, Jessica; Eaton, Katherine; Karpinski, Emil; Schwarcz, Henry P.; Poinar, Hendrik N.; Prowse, Tracy

doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2018.04.036

Cited by 12 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…The population from Feldioara were compared to an ancient dataset consisting of 747 sequences of European populations and a Byzantine group [ 27 ]: Lombards from Italy [ 28 , 29 ] and Hungary [ 29 ], Avars [ 30 , 31 , 32 ], Vikings from Norway [ 33 ] and Denmark [ 34 ], medieval Basques [ 35 ], Italians [ 36 ], Bulgarians [ 37 ], medieval population of Conquest period from Hungary [ 30 , 38 ], medieval populations from Poland [ 39 ], Slovakia [ 40 ], Iceland [ 41 ], southeastern Romania [ 20 , 42 ] and Bavaria [ 43 ]. In addition to these medieval groups, an Iron Age population attributed to Goths [ 44 ] and a population from Italy dated to the Roman period [ 45 ] were used in comparative analyses. Characterizing spatio-temporal variables and mitochondrial haplogroup frequencies are given in Table S4 .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mitochondrial DNA Profiles of Individuals from a 12th Century Necropolis in Feldioara (Transylvania)

Gînguță

Rusu

Mircea

et al. 2021

Genes

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The genetic signature of modern Europeans is the cumulated result of millennia of discrete small-scale exchanges between multiple distinct population groups that performed a repeated cycle of movement, settlement, and interactions with each other. In this study we aimed to highlight one such minute genetic cycle in a sea of genetic interactions by reconstructing part of the genetic story of the migration, settlement, interaction, and legacy of what is today the Transylvanian Saxon. The analysis of the mitochondrial DNA control region of 13 medieval individuals from Feldioara necropolis (Transylvania region, Romania) reveals a genetically heterogeneous group where all identified haplotypes are different. Most of the perceived maternal lineages are of Western Eurasian origin, except for the Central Asiatic haplogroup C seen in only one sample. Comparisons with historical and modern populations describe the contribution of the investigated Saxon settlers to the genetic history of this part of Europe.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mitochondrial DNA Profiles of Individuals from a 12th Century Necropolis in Feldioara (Transylvania)

Gînguță

Rusu

Mircea

et al. 2021

Genes

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“…We combined the newly produced mitochondrial sequences with data collected from the literature (Lazaridis et al, 2017(Lazaridis et al, , 2016Hofmanová et al, 2016;Lipson et al, 2017;Martiniano et al, 2017;Olivieri et al, 2017;Olalde et al, 2019Olalde et al, , 2018Emery et al, 2018;Fregel et al, 2018;Zalloua et al, 2018;González-Fortes et al, 2019;Villalba-Mouco et al, 2019;Fernandes et al, 2020;Marcus et al, 2020;Rivollat et al, 2020;Skourtanioti et al, 2020;Diroma et al, 2021). We included Sicilian individuals from Fernandes et al (2020) as other samples from populations of the Mediterranean (Supplementary Table S1).…”

Section: Mitochondrial Genetic Structure Of Ancient Sicily and Patter...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic structure and differentiation from early bronze age in the mediterranean island of sicily: Insights from ancient mitochondrial genomes

et al. 2022

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Sicily is one of the main islands of the Mediterranean Sea, and it is characterized by a variety of archaeological records, material culture and traditions, reflecting the history of migrations and populations’ interaction since its first colonization, during the Paleolithic. These deep and complex demographic and cultural dynamics should have affected the genomic landscape of Sicily at different levels; however, the relative impact of these migrations on the genomic structure and differentiation within the island remains largely unknown. The available Sicilian modern genetic data gave a picture of the current genetic structure, but the paucity of ancient data did not allow so far to make predictions about the level of historical variation. In this work, we sequenced and analyzed the complete mitochondrial genomes of 36 individuals from five different locations in Sicily, spanning from Early Bronze Age to Iron Age, and with different cultural backgrounds. The comparison with coeval groups from the Mediterranean Basin highlighted structured genetic variation in Sicily since Early Bronze Age, thus supporting a demic impact of the cultural transitions within the Island. Explicit model testing through Approximate Bayesian Computation allowed us to make predictions about the origin of Sicanians, one of the three indigenous peoples of Sicily, whose foreign origin from Spain, historically attributed, was not confirmed by our analysis of genetic data. Sicilian modern mitochondrial data show a different, more homogeneous, genetic composition, calling for a recent genetic replacement in the Island of pre-Iron Age populations, that should be further investigated.

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“…The abundance of data have subsequently stimulated a number of multidisciplinary research projects focusing on various aspects of mobility during the Roman Empire, with a wide range of contexts including Britain, Italy, and Germany (e.g. Eckardt et al , 2014Emery et al 2018a;Emery et al 2018b;Killgrove 2010b; Killgrove and Montgomery 2016;Prowse et al 2010;Schweissing and Grupe 2003;Stark 2017).…”

Section: Roman Mobility and Irregular Burial Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Different in death: Different in life? Diet and mobility correlates of irregular burials in a Roman necropolis from Bologna (Northern Italy, 1st–4th century CE)

Milella

Gerling

Doppler

et al. 2019

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

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The study of migration within the Roman Empire has been a focus of the bioarchaeological and biogeochemical research during the last decade. The possible association of diet and sex, age, and funerary treatment during the 1 st-4 th centuries AD have been extensively explored in Britain, and Central-Southern Italy. Conversely, no knowledge is available about these processes for the North of the Italian Peninsula. In the present work we analyse a set (N=16) of Roman inhumations from Bologna (Northern Italy, 1 st-4 th c. AD), some of which are characterized by unusual features (prone depositions, transfixion of the skeleton by iron nails). Analysis of strontium, oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon isotopes is used to test for the possible correlation between funerary treatment, geographic origin, and diet. Here we provide the first biogeochemical data for a Northern Italian Imperial sample, wherein our results show no clear association between these variables, suggesting that funerary variability, at least in the analysed context, was shaped by a variety of heterogeneous factors, and not a representation of vertical social differences or differential geographic origins

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Ancient Roman mitochondrial genomes and isotopes reveal relationships and geographic origins at the local and pan-Mediterranean scales

Cited by 12 publications

References 48 publications

Mitochondrial DNA Profiles of Individuals from a 12th Century Necropolis in Feldioara (Transylvania)

Mitochondrial DNA Profiles of Individuals from a 12th Century Necropolis in Feldioara (Transylvania)

Genetic structure and differentiation from early bronze age in the mediterranean island of sicily: Insights from ancient mitochondrial genomes

Different in death: Different in life? Diet and mobility correlates of irregular burials in a Roman necropolis from Bologna (Northern Italy, 1st–4th century CE)

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