Y-chromosome haplogroups from Hun, Avar and conquering Hungarian period nomadic people of the Carpathian Basin

Abstract

Hun, Avar and conquering Hungarian nomadic groups arrived into the Carpathian Basin from the Eurasian Steppes and significantly influenced its political and ethnical landscape. In order to shed light on the genetic affinity of above groups we have determined Y chromosomal haplogroups and autosomal loci, from 49 individuals, supposed to represent military leaders. Haplogroups from the Hun-age are consistent with Xiongnu ancestry of European Huns. Most of the Avar-age individuals carry east Eurasian Y haplogroups typical for modern north-eastern Siberian and Buryat populations and their autosomal loci indicate mostly unmixed Asian characteristics. In contrast the conquering Hungarians seem to be a recently assembled population incorporating pure European, Asian and admixed components. Their heterogeneous paternal and maternal lineages indicate similar phylogeographic origin of males and females, derived from Central-Inner Asian and European Pontic Steppe sources. Composition of conquering Hungarian paternal lineages is very similar to that of Baskhirs, supporting historical sources that report identity of the two groups.

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

“…Recent results in the field of archaeogenetics highlight the same regions as an important source of Hungarian ethnogenesis (Neparáczki et al 2018(Neparáczki et al , 2019. According to the median-joining network analysis of our study, one of the Fig.…”

“…The resulting sequences were assembled and edited using the software Sequencher, version 5.1 (Gene Codes). The SNP N-Z1936 was typed by Neparáczki et al (2019) at the Department of Genetics, University of Szeged.…”

“…6). Only the Karos grave 29 sample was tested for Z1936 by Neparáczki et al (2019), but due to Karos grave 14 and Bodrogszerdahely grave 3 have analogous genetic markers, it can be assumed that these belong to the same subgroup. Post et al (2019) verified with high-resolution Y chromosome sequencing that the N3a4-B539 subclade links Ob-Ugric Khanty and Mansi with Hungarians as well as Bashkirs and Tatars, and Hungarians form paternal genetic clusters with Bashkirs and Tatars both below B540/L1034 and B545 with an expansion time of 2700-2900 yBP.…”

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

“…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 .…”

“…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%.…”