Abstract
From the first century AD, Europe has been interested by population movements, commonly known as Barbarian migrations. Among these processes, the one involving the Longobard culture interested a vast region, but its dynamics and demographic impact remains largely unknown. Here we report 87 new complete mitochondrial sequences coming from nine early-medieval cemeteries located along the area interested by the Longobard migration (Czech Republic, Hungary and Italy). From the same areas, we sampled necropoleis characterized by cultural markers associated with the Longobard culture (LC) and coeval burials where no such markers were found, or with a chronology slightly preceding the presumed arrival of the Longobards in that region (NLC). Population genetics analysis and demographic modeling highlighted a similarity between LC individuals, as reflected by the sharing of quite rare haplogroups and by the degree of genetic resemblance between Hungarian and Italian LC necropoleis estimated via a Bayesian approach, ABC. The demographic model receiving the strongest statistical support also postulates a contact between LC and NLC communities, thus indicating a complex dynamics of admixture in medieval Europe.
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Data and software availability
All newly generated data have been deposited in GenBank: MG182446–MG182470 and MG182472–MG182533.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Angela Livia Casadei for her help in the analysis of genetic data. This study has been supported by the following institutions and foundations: Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, Gerard B. Lambert Foundation, Università degli Studi di Padova, Institute for Advanced Study. KV and PG were supported by NSF #1450606. GB, AB and FT were supported by the ERC Advanced Grant Agreement No. 295733, ‘LanGeLin’ project.
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Vai, S., Brunelli, A., Modi, A. et al. A genetic perspective on Longobard-Era migrations. Eur J Hum Genet 27, 647–656 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41431-018-0319-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41431-018-0319-8
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