Ancestry and kinship in a Late Antiquity-Early Middle Ages cemetery in the EasternItalian Alps

Francesco

Francesco

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ABSTRACT
In South Tyrol (Eastern Italian Alps) during Late Antiquity-Early Middle Ages, archeological
records indicate cultural hybridization among alpine groups and peoples of various origin. Using
paleogenomics, we reconstructed the ancestry of 20 individuals (4th-7th cent. AD) from a cemetery
to analyse whether they had heterogeneous or homogenous ancestry and to study their social
organization. The results revealed a primary genetic ancestry from southern Europe and additional
ancestries from south-western, western and northern Europe suggesting that cultural hybridization
was accompanied by complex genetic admixture. Kinship analyses found no genetic relatedness
between the only two individuals buried with grave goods. Instead, a father-son pair was
discovered in one multiple grave, together with unrelated individuals and one possible non-local
female. These genetic findings indicate the presence of a high social status familia which is
supported by the cultural materials and the proximity of the grave to the most sacred area of the
church.

I rapidly skimmed throug it. The samples come from Alto Adige (Burgusio), with the majority of them being tuscan-northern italian like (late antiquity northern italian?), with some oultiers more shifted towards the western mediterranean and others more northern european like.
 
Mybe the tuscan-northern Italian like cluster is representative of the late Roman northern Italian population, while I wonder whether the Spanish like individuals could be seen as some kind of remnant of the pre-roman alpine populations or if they happen to be more west med shifted by mere chance.
 
Coia et alia state that haplogroups E1b1b1 and J-M304 go with TSI-like and mixed TSI/IBS ancestries while R1b1a, I2a2a1b and G2a go with individuals with more mixed ancestry (TSI/IBS/GBR/FIN in various combinations).

All 18 samples had some TSI present ranging from 31.1pc to 98.1pc with an average of 66.6pc.
IBS averaged 18.3pc with a range of 0 to 51.4pc while GBR averaged 12.8pc and FIN 2.3pc.
 
There are two E1b1b/E-V13 and they both are TSI-like with a bit of Northern admixture.
The admixture runs in the paper are pretty bad though, using less relevant references (like British and Finnish).
I hope for the G25 coordinates and better models.
 
Vallicanus said:
Coia et alia state that haplogroups E1b1b1 and J-M304 go with TSI-like and mixed TSI/IBS ancestries while R1b1a, I2a2a1b and G2a go with individuals with more mixed ancestry (TSI/IBS/GBR/FIN in various combinations).

All 18 samples had some TSI present ranging from 31.1pc to 98.1pc with an average of 66.6pc.
IBS averaged 18.3pc with a range of 0 to 51.4pc while GBR averaged 12.8pc and FIN 2.3pc.
Click to expand...

They used the usual method with samples from 1000 Genomes but it is a very crude and inaccurate method. They have been using it for years, and every time, the results do not prove to be very accurate.

In South Tyrol at such a time there may have been survivals of the Rhaetians, Celts (many transalpine Celts joined the Rhaetian communities in the Iron Age), other unknown Alpine peoples, Roman Imperal era migrants, and who knows, perhaps even the very first Germanic individuals.

Burgusio was founded as a fortified Roman village. So Roman soldiers may have arrived there from anywhere.
 
considering that the last place in Italy which was conquered by the Romans was the Italian alpine areas in 15BC ....I find it odd Genomes can have such a bad reading on data
 
In the total sample, Anatolian Neolithic averaged 55.9pc; Pontic Steppe (Yamnaya) 36.2pc; Hunter-Gatherer Groups 4.4pc and Iranian Farmer just 3.5pc.

The relative lack of WHG does not fit in well with any theory of sizeable northern (both Transalpine Celtic/Gallic and Germanic) in this sample from the South Tyrol (Alto Adige) of the 4th to 7th centuries.
 
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Vallicanus said:
In the total sample, Anatolian Neolithic averaged 55.9pc; Pontic Steppe (Yamnaya) 36.2pc; Hunter-Gatherer Groups 4.4pc and Iranian Farmer just 3.5pc.

The relative lack of WHG does not fit in well with any theory of sizeable northern (both Transalpine Celtic/Gallic and Germanic) in this sample from the South Tyrol (Alto Adige) of the 4th to 7th centuries.
Click to expand...


I read the paper and have some doubts about the complete accuracy of its numbers. In the paper what is called Hunter-Gatherer Groups looks like WHG. In the PCA, which does not seem like the best PCA that could be done, 4/5 individuals are toward the Central European cluster.

LOFWbRZ.png
 
this was posted by ChrisR user in GeneArchivist Forum 👍
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Vallicanus said:
The lack of R1b-U152 is interesting.
Click to expand...

why ?
here those individuals:
2404- S8183 ( r1b- u152 downstream)
2417-S8183( r1b-u152 downstream)
1895-L20( r1b-u152 downstream)
 
Francesco said:
Mybe the tuscan-northern Italian like cluster is representative of the late Roman northern Italian population, while I wonder whether the Spanish like individuals could be seen as some kind of remnant of the pre-roman alpine populations or if they happen to be more west med shifted by mere chance.
Click to expand...
I agree. Because of the relatively extreme border location of these samples it appears to me as if these are representative of a combination of Rhaetic descended individuals and southern Gallic individuals, which was probably an uncommon situation both in Italy and outside of it. I don't believe these Spanish and S. French types will be representative of most of the Italian alps, much less Po valley, but it's interesting to note that they still show a clear majority of Italic influence. One should keep in mind that many of the geographically southern and eastern gauls of the iron age have come up as basque-like as opposed to modern CEU-like. It would not surprise me if these Spanish-like individuals are representative of gallic ethnic group descendents which no longer exist in alto adige. I also find it very peculiar that the authors chose to use Tuscans instead of more northern Italians such as populations from Trentino as a proxy for local ancestry. There are almost no northern Italians represented on the PCA and the PCA itself seems very poorly mapped out. It would be stellar to get G25 coordinates for these populations to compare them to moderns to get a better picture of what's going on instead of trying to divide ancestry based on some silly TSI/IBS/GBR/FIN contribution scheme.

Anyways, I don't see a lot of modern CEU-like ancestry, either way. The average would appear to be vastly majority southern shifted if we were to combine all samples.
 
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Late Antiquity Northeastern Italians more related to Central Italians than modern days, Rassenic-Adriatic Veneti+ Alpine Celt(La Tene Austria) + Roman Imperial, probably lack the Elbe Germanic Ancestry(Lagonbard, Bavarian + Eastern Celt). I should add that High Ranks of Imperial Italy probably were more Proto Italic or Local Iron Age Italian than Hellenistic Anatolian/Eastern Med imperial, and by the rules of Social Selection would brought more DNA to Middle Ages Italians than the Lower Classes(as we consider the massive reduction of the population).
 
Oh , I just wanted one R1a-Z280 from Adriatic Veneti, i really want to larp of being one Adriatic Veneti , a true Slavic tribe(like some bullshit theories said), It is a joke but I should like it(I m R1a-Z280).
Some Slavic influence could been saw on low middle Ages , probably as a result of Croatians and other Balkanic Settlers. More intense around XV century cause more than 60% of Venetian population died at the XIV century(only considering Black Death's numbers).
Well, I guess that everybody expect a result like it, I m anxious for G25 Coordinates. Let's see if some of them could been a good source for Adriatic Veneti, i usually uses Iron Age Croatian that were between Etruscan and Illyrian sources as Adriatic Veneti references, got interesting results.
 
felipefanfarao said:
Oh , I just wanted one R1a-Z280 from Adriatic Veneti, i really want to larp of being one Adriatic Veneti , a true Slavic tribe(like some bullshit theories said), It is a joke but I should like it(I m R1a-Z280).
Some Slavic influence could been saw on low middle Ages , probably as a result of Croatians and other Balkanic Settlers. More intense around XV century cause more than 60% of Venetian population died at the XIV century(only considering Black Death's numbers).
Well, I guess that everybody expect a result like it, I m anxious for G25 Coordinates. Let's see if some of them could been a good source for Adriatic Veneti, i usually uses Iron Age Croatian that were between Etruscan and Illyrian sources as Adriatic Veneti references, got interesting results.
Click to expand...
Slavic influence in north eastern Italy has historically been extremely limited and small. Their invasions were halted by the Lombards and to this day their influence is really only seen in the furthest border regions of Friuli, east of the Natisone river. Even these types are disappearing and commonly have a large sum of influence from proper Friuliani of Udine. As a result in the past 100 years their population has gone from an estimated 300k to 80-100k. Similar to the Germanic speakers, while they do exist as a population, they are not particularly influential. and mostly restricted to border regions in and around the alps.

I think you're 100% correct in using Iron age Croatians (Illyrians) or just modern northern Italians as a proxy for the Iron age Veneti. The northern adriatic appears broadly genetically and culturally connected to northern Italy on the whole in the bronze age. The Picenes in the coming study should also have a similar profile based off of their description.
 
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Vitruvius said:
Slavic influence in north eastern Italy has historically been extremely limited and small. Their invasions were halted by the Lombards and to this day their influence is really only seen in the furthest border regions of Friuli, east of the Natisone river. Even these types are disappearing and commonly have a large sum of influence from proper Friuliani of Udine. As a result in the past 100 years their population has gone from an estimated 300k to 80-100k. Similar to the Germanic speakers, while they do exist as a population, they are not particularly influential. and mostly restricted to border regions in and around the alps.

I think you're 100% correct in using Iron age Croatians (Illyrians) or just modern northern Italians as a proxy for the Iron age Veneti. The northern adriatic appears broadly genetically and culturally connected to northern Italy on the whole in the bronze and iron age. The Picenes in the coming study should also have a similar profile based off of their description.
Click to expand...

My idea of the Veneti is that they were closer connected to the cremating Eastern Urnfield and later Eastern Hallstatt groups, which might, probably, have resulted in them receiving some E-V13 from the Channelled Ware, later Basarabi sphere earlier and more so than the neighbouring J-L283 dominated groups.
Those Veneti and Alpine Celts might therefore had more E-V13 than the Illyrians and Italics. Of course, this sample would support such a claim, but the sample size is too small and they are too young. The present lineages could have come in from many directions in many different times up to this point.
 
Vitruvius said:
I think you're 100% correct in using Iron age Croatians (Illyrians) or just modern northern Italians as a proxy for the Iron age Veneti. The northern adriatic appears broadly genetically and culturally connected to northern Italy on the whole in the bronze and iron age. The Picenes in the coming study should also have a similar profile based off of their description.
Click to expand...

So now we are at "Panillirismo". Interesting how theories from the past return cyclically in the forums. They were not completely uninhabited places before the end of the Bronze Age.

The Picenes do indeed have a very well known recent Balkan influence in addition to local ones.

"The basis of its formation has been recognized to be the concurrence of different cultures, the Apennine, Proto-Villanovan and Trans-Adriatic peoples."

www.treccani.it

Popoli e culture dell'Italia preromana. I Piceni in "Il Mondo dell'Archeologia"

Popoli e culture dell'Italia preromana. I Piceni Giulia Rocco I piceni Con il nome di Piceni si designano le popolazioni di lingua umbro- sabellica abitanti la fascia medio-adriatica convenzionalmente compresa tra il fiume Foglia a nord, il Tronto a sud e i rilievi della dorsale...
www.treccani.it www.treccani.it

Riverman said:
My idea of the Veneti is that they were closer connected to the cremating Eastern Urnfield and later Eastern Hallstatt groups, which might, probably, have resulted in them receiving some E-V13 from the Channelled Ware, later Basarabi sphere earlier and more so than the neighbouring J-L283 dominated groups. Those Veneti and Alpine Celts might therefore had more E-V13 than the Illyrians and Italics. Of course, this sample would support such a claim, but the sample size is too small and they are too young. The present lineages could have come in from many directions in many different times up to this point.
Click to expand...

The problem is that one continues to make the equivalence of late Bronze Age material cultures with Iron Age ethnic groups or even modern ones and consider Iron Age populations as monolithic blocks and as having appeared biologically only at the beginning of their earliest archaeological chronological phase (which for Italy usually coincides with the transition phase between the Bronze Age and the Iron Age). Although it is quite plausible that they had some E-V13 and even some J2b-L283, after all they bordered us with the northern Balkans, until we have the analysis we cannot make any conclusions.

The ancient Venetic language is considered Indo-European, but its affiliation to a specific family is still a matter of debate, although in general, even on the basis of conferences recently held in Italy at the university, there is a tendency to recognize a link between ancient Venetic and the Latin-Faliscan languages. Talking to an archaeologist recently, he made me realize how certain "models" are nonsense; it is also possible that in the ethnogenesis of the Veneti, but this is also true for other populations of pre-Roman Italy, there were several different layers of Indo-European-speaking populations, with different dates, which obviously merged gradually together, and with one Indo-European language then prevailing over the others and being used centuries later when the alphabet was introduced. The fact that it is possible does not imply that it actually happened; it means that it cannot be ruled out.
 
The issue about the Veneti is not just their linguistic affiliation, but the obvious Eastern cultural influences. They were known for horse breeding and excellent riders, cavalry soldiers. The Veneti proper did strictly cremate their dead and were clearly closer connected to groups like Frög and Kalenderberg from the Eastern Hallstatt sphere.
Therefore regardless of their exact linguistic position, they likely received more Eastern influences, especially from the cremating post-Urnfield/Eastern Hallstatt into Basarabi sphere, than say other Italics or even many Illyrians.
The near total absense of E-V13 in the Italics up to this point really sticks out in this respect and the Veneti might be different for the mentioned reasons, being always closer related to the Carpathian basin people than the rest of Italy, with the possible exception of the Alpine Celts and Ligurians of course.
 
Riverman said:
The issue about the Veneti is not just their linguistic affiliation, but the obvious Eastern cultural influences. They were known for horse breeding and excellent riders, cavalry soldiers. The Veneti proper did strictly cremate their dead and were clearly closer connected to groups like Frög and Kalenderberg from the Eastern Hallstatt sphere.
Therefore regardless of their exact linguistic position, they likely received more Eastern influences, especially from the cremating post-Urnfield/Eastern Hallstatt into Basarabi sphere, than say other Italics or even many Illyrians.
The near total absense of E-V13 in the Italics up to this point really sticks out in this respect and the Veneti might be different for the mentioned reasons, being always closer related to the Carpathian basin people than the rest of Italy, with the possible exception of the Alpine Celts and Ligurians of course.
Click to expand...

Agreed but the Eastern cultural influences don't imply they all were recent migrants from there. Cremation/incineration was widespread throughout northern Italy at that time, plus Etruria and Latium vetus. While inhumation was the most common rite among Osco-Umbrian-speaking peoples (except perhaps for a very ancient phase in the Umbrians).
 
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