1. Ancestry and kinship in a Late Antiquity-Early Middle Ages cemetery in the Eastern Italian Alps
- Author
-
Valentina Coia, Alice Paladin, Stefania Zingale, Christina Wurst, Myriam Croze, Frank Maixner, and Albert Zink
- Subjects
Human geography ,Human Genetics ,Paleogenetics ,Archeology ,Science - Abstract
Summary: 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 analyze whether they had heterogeneous or homogeneous 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.
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF