Understanding 6th-century barbarian social organization and migration through paleogenomics

Abstract

Despite centuries of research, much about the barbarian migrations that took place between the fourth and sixth centuries in Europe remains hotly debated. To better understand this key era that marks the dawn of modern European societies, we obtained ancient genomic DNA from 63 samples from two cemeteries (from Hungary and Northern Italy) that have been previously associated with the Longobards, a barbarian people that ruled large parts of Italy for over 200 years after invading from Pannonia in 568 CE. Our dense cemetery-based sampling revealed that each cemetery was primarily organized around one large pedigree, suggesting that biological relationships played an important role in these early medieval societies. Moreover, we identified genetic structure in each cemetery involving at least two groups with different ancestry that were very distinct in terms of their funerary customs. Finally, our data are consistent with the proposed long-distance migration from Pannonia to Northern Italy.

Genetic insights into the social organisation of the Avar period elite in the 7thcentury AD Carpathian Basin

“…The Lombards for e.g., who directly preceded the Avars in Transdanubia (today's Western Hungary), migrated across the Carpathian Basin to Italy in the mid-6 th century. The population of two analysed Lombard cemeteries in Hungary and Italy showed the Central and North European genomic ancestry of this Germanic tribe 18,19 .…”

A genomic dating tool resolves the origins of ancient Eurasian genomes

“…They subsequently invaded Italy in 568 CE and were eventually conquered by Charlemagne in 774 CE (35). A total of 10 samples were excavated from Pannonia at Szólád, a site considered to be of a Longobard type in terms of grave goods, location, and burial practices (36). Amorim et 10 al.…”

“…Amorim et 10 al. (36) suggested that the graves of nine of the samples (SZ2-SZ5, SZ11, SZ15, SZ36, SZ43, SZ45) are from the mid-sixth century after radiocarbon-dated one individual (SZ43: 1,475-1,355 BP). We TPS-dated all the nine individuals.…”

“…TPS confidence intervals overlapped with the sixth century Longobardian association (1,415-1,199 BP), with an intermediate confidence score in the range of 3-3.91 (Table S4). Amorim et al assigned the tenth individual SZ1 to the older Bronze 15 Age (3,800-2,900 BP) (36), likely based on the archaeological context. TPS, instead, dated SZ1 along with the first nine individuals between the sixth and eighth centuries.…”

“…They subsequently invaded Italy in 568 CE and were eventually conquered by Charlemagne 10 in 774 CE (35). A total of 10 samples were excavated from Pannonia at Szólád, a site considered to be of a Longobard type in terms of grave goods, location, and burial practices (36). Amorim et al (36) suggested that the graves of nine of the samples (SZ2-SZ5, SZ11, SZ15, SZ36, SZ43, SZ45) are from the mid-sixth century after radiocarbon-dated one individual (SZ43: 1,475-1,355 BP).…”