A genetic history of the Balkans from Roman frontier to Slavic migrations

• Published in: Cell Vol. 186; no. 25; p. 5472
• Main Authors: Olalde, Iñigo, Carrión, Pablo, Mikić, Ilija, Rohland, Nadin, Mallick, Swapan, Lazaridis, Iosif, Mah, Matthew, Korać, Miomir, Golubović, Snežana, Petković, Sofija, Miladinović-Radmilović, Nataša, Vulović, Dragana, Alihodžić, Timka, Ash, Abigail, Baeta, Miriam, Bartík, Juraj, Bedić, Željka, Bilić, Maja, Bonsall, Clive, Bunčić, Maja, Bužanić, Domagoj, Carić, Mario, Čataj, Lea, Cvetko, Mirna, Drnić, Ivan, Dugonjić, Anita, Đukić, Ana, Đukić, Ksenija, Farkaš, Zdeněk, Jelínek, Pavol, Jovanovic, Marija, Kaić, Iva, Kalafatić, Hrvoje, Krmpotić, Marijana, Krznar, Siniša, Leleković, Tino, M de Pancorbo, Marian, Matijević, Vinka, Milošević Zakić, Branka, Osterholtz, Anna J, Paige, Julianne M, Tresić Pavičić, Dinko, Premužić, Zrinka, Rajić Šikanjić, Petra, Rapan Papeša, Anita, Paraman, Lujana, Sanader, Mirjana, Radovanović, Ivana, Roksandic, Mirjana, Šefčáková, Alena, Stefanović, Sofia, Teschler-Nicola, Maria, Tončinić, Domagoj, Zagorc, Brina, Callan, Kim, Candilio, Francesca, Cheronet, Olivia, Fernandes, Daniel, Kearns, Aisling, Lawson, Ann Marie, Mandl, Kirsten, Wagner, Anna, Zalzala, Fatma, Zettl, Anna, Tomanović, Željko, Keckarević, Dušan, Novak, Mario, Harper, Kyle, McCormick, Michael, Pinhasi, Ron, Grbić, Miodrag, Lalueza-Fox, Carles, Reich, David
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 07-12-2023
• Subjects: Balkan Peninsula; Europe; Human Migration; Humans; White People - genetics; Balkan Peninsula; Europe; demographic changes; cosmopolitanism; Great Migration Period; ancient DNA; the Roman Empire; archaeogenetics; Balkan Peninsula; population dynamics; Slavic migrations
• ISSN: 1097-4172
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2023.10.018

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
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.