Understanding 6th-century barbarian social organization and migration through paleogenomics
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-06024-4AbstractDespite 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.
IntroductionWestern Europe underwent a major socio-cultural and economic transformation from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages (i.e., third to tenth centuries CE). This period is often characterized by two major events: the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, and its invasion by various western and eastern barbarian/non-Romanized peoples such as the Goths, Franks, Anglo-Saxons, and Vandals, as well as by nomadic Huns; as such it has come to be known as the Migration Period, in German the Völkerwanderung, and in French Les invasions barbares. However, written accounts of these events are laconic, stereotypical, and largely written decades or even centuries later1,2. Because barbarian populations of the Migration Period left no written record, the only direct evidence of their societies comes from their archeological remains, chiefly grave goods, that have been used to make inferences about group identities, social structures, and migration patterns3,4,5. Unfortunately, grave goods represent a limited and highly curated portion of material culture, and with little other archeological data available, fundamental questions about barbarian social organization and migration remain unanswered6 and vigorously debated7,8. Were specific barbarian peoples described in texts culturally and ethnically homogeneous populations, or were they ad-hoc and opportunistic confederations of diverse, loosely connected groups? What role did biological relatedness, being that of close kinship relations or long-term shared ancestry, play in the organization of these barbarian communities and how are such relationships related to patterns of material culture? Did this period involve long-distance migrations as described by late-antique authors?
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