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Accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon (AMS 14C) dates (n = 78) from human bone collagen were analyzed in the largest high-resolution chronology study to date at the ancient city of Teotihuacan in central Mexico (ca. AD 1–550). Samples originate from the residential neighborhood of La Ventilla, located in the heart of this major urban center. Here, a trapezoidal model using Bayesian statistics is built from 14C dates combined with data derived from the stylistic analysis of ceramics from burial contexts. Based on this model, we suggest possible refinements to Teotihuacan’s ceramic chronology, at least within the La Ventilla neighborhood. We also explore the abandonment and reoccupation of La Ventilla after the political collapse of Teotihuacan in the Metepec and Coyotlatelco phases. Findings suggest that these ceramic phases began earlier than is currently projected and that the well-documented abandonment period of La Ventilla may have occurred more abruptly than originally estimated.

We report genome-wide data for 33 Ashkenazi Jews (AJ), dated to the 14th century, following a salvage excavation at the medieval Jewish cemetery of Erfurt, Germany. The Erfurt individuals are genetically similar to modern AJ and have substantial Southern European ancestry, but they show more variability in Eastern European-related ancestry than modern AJ. A third of the Erfurt individuals carried the same nearly-AJ-specific mitochondrial haplogroup and eight carried pathogenic variants known to affect AJ today. These observations, together with high levels of runs of homozygosity, suggest that the Erfurt community had already experienced the major reduction in size that affected modern AJ. However, the Erfurt bottleneck was more severe, implying substructure in medieval AJ. Together, our results suggest that the AJ founder event and the acquisition of the main sources of ancestry pre-dated the 14th century and highlight late medieval genetic heterogeneity no longer present in modern AJ.

We report genome-wide data from 33 Ashkenazi Jews (AJ), dated to the 14