Genetic analysis of male Hungarian Conquerors: European and Asian paternal lineages of the conquering Hungarian tribes

Abstract

According to historical sources, ancient Hungarians were made up of seven allied tribes and the fragmented tribes that split off from the Khazars, and they arrived from the Eastern European steppes to conquer the Carpathian Basin at the end of the ninth century AD. Differentiating between the tribes is not possible based on archaeology or history, because the Hungarian Conqueror artifacts show uniformity in attire, weaponry, and warcraft. We used Y-STR and SNP analyses on male Hungarian Conqueror remains to determine the genetic source, composition of tribes, and kin of ancient Hungarians. The 19 male individuals paternally belong to 16 independent haplotypes and 7 haplogroups (C2, G2a, I2, J1, N3a, R1a, and R1b). The presence of the N3a haplogroup is interesting because it rarely appears among modern Hungarians (unlike in other Finno-Ugric-speaking peoples) but was found in 37.5% of the Hungarian Conquerors. This suggests that a part of the ancient Hungarians was of Ugric descent and that a significant portion spoke Hungarian. We compared our results with public databases and discovered that the Hungarian Conquerors originated from three distant territories of the Eurasian steppes, where different ethnicities joined them: Lake Baikal-Altai Mountains (Huns/Turkic peoples), Western Siberia-Southern Urals (Finno-Ugric peoples), and the Black Sea-Northern Caucasus (Caucasian and Eastern European peoples). As such, the ancient Hungarians conquered their homeland as an alliance of tribes, and they were the genetic relatives of Asiatic Huns, Finno-Ugric peoples, Caucasian peoples, and Slavs from the Eastern European steppes.

Early Medieval Genetic Data from Ural Region Evaluated in the Light of Archaeological Evidence of Ancient Hungarians

“…Interestingly, a Hungarian conqueror from Sárrétudvari-Hízóföld (SH/81) carries the J2a1a subgroup 16 , however Uyelgi11 could not be typed downstream to J2 and therefore further assumptions cannot be made at this level. Uyelgi4 belongs to G-L1266 (G2a2b2a1a1a1b in ISOGG 14.255), which sublineage is confirmed to be present outside of Europe within the European G-L140 branch of G. Among Hungarian conquerors the presence of G-L30 (G2a2b in ISOGG 14.255) was attested by Neparáczki et al 16 from Karos II (K2/33) without further classification or STR data, but recently G-L1266 is confirmed by Fóthi et al 15 which sample could also be included in our STR analysis. By using 14 STR markers in this case, due to the limitations of the database, MJ network shows a Caucasian affinity of both Hungarian conqueror (RP/2) and Uyelgi individuals ( Supplementary Fig.…”

“…S11, Supplementary Table S9), however, neither identity nor monophyly can be observed between them. Both studies 15,16 indicate Caucasian origin for part of the Hungarian conquerors based on the prevalence of this specific G2a Y-haplogroup. This hypothesis cannot be confidently excluded by our data nor our network analysis, however its presence in Uyelgi site could reshape this theory in the future.…”

“…Additionally, further mentioned relations such as the Xiongnu (Hunnic) genetic dataset is bare from Eurasia, and Huns' genetic heritage is basically unknown, as well. Two recent articles have investigated the Y-haplogroup variability of Hungarian conquerors describing the conqueror´s elite population as heterogenous, with significant proportion of European, Finno-Permic, Caucasian and Siberian (or East Eurasian) paternal lineages 15,16 . Fóthi et al have claimed that the Hungarian conquerors originated from three distant sources: Inner Asia (Lake Baikal -Altai Mountains), Western Siberia -Southern Urals (Finno-Ugric peoples) and the Black Sea -Northern Caucasus (Northern Caucasian Turks, Alans, and Eastern Europeans) 15 .…”

“…Two recent articles have investigated the Y-haplogroup variability of Hungarian conquerors describing the conqueror´s elite population as heterogenous, with significant proportion of European, Finno-Permic, Caucasian and Siberian (or East Eurasian) paternal lineages 15,16 . Fóthi et al have claimed that the Hungarian conquerors originated from three distant sources: Inner Asia (Lake Baikal -Altai Mountains), Western Siberia -Southern Urals (Finno-Ugric peoples) and the Black Sea -Northern Caucasus (Northern Caucasian Turks, Alans, and Eastern Europeans) 15 . Both studies 15,16 pointed out the presence of the Y-haplogroup N-Z1936 (also known as N3a4-Z1936 under N-Tat/M46), which is frequent among Finno-Ugric speaking peoples 17 .…”

“…Fóthi et al have claimed that the Hungarian conquerors originated from three distant sources: Inner Asia (Lake Baikal -Altai Mountains), Western Siberia -Southern Urals (Finno-Ugric peoples) and the Black Sea -Northern Caucasus (Northern Caucasian Turks, Alans, and Eastern Europeans) 15 . Both studies 15,16 pointed out the presence of the Y-haplogroup N-Z1936 (also known as N3a4-Z1936 under N-Tat/M46), which is frequent among Finno-Ugric speaking peoples 17 . This lineage also occurs among modern Hungarians in a frequency up to 4%.…”