2023/12/01 by Íñigo Olalde, Pablo J. Aguirre Carrión, Ilija Mikić +70 · 2 voices · 4 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Arts and Humanities · #Forensic and Genetic Research #Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies #Genetic diversity and population structure
paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/j.cell.2023.10.018
openalex publication_date 2023/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
The rise and fall of the Roman Empire was a socio-political process with enormous ramifications for human history. The Middle Danube was a crucial frontier and a crossroads for population and cultural movement. Here, we present genome-wide data from 136 Balkan individuals dated to the 1 st millennium CE. Despite extensive militarization and cultural influence, we find little ancestry contribution from peoples of Italic descent. However, we trace a large-scale influx of people of Anatolian ancestry during the Imperial period. Between ∼250 and 550 CE, we detect migrants with ancestry from Central/Northern Europe and the Steppe, confirming that "barbarian" migrations were propelled by ethnically diverse confederations. Following the end of Roman control, we detect the large-scale arrival of individuals who were genetically similar to modern Eastern European Slavic-speaking populations, who contributed 30%–60% of the ancestry of Balkan people, representing one of the largest permanent demographic changes anywhere in Europe during the Migration Period.