Credit: Institute of Archaeological Sciences, Eötvös Loránd University Múzeum, Budapest, HungaryExploring the kinship, social customizeds, and improvements of early medieval steppe communities in Europe through ancient DNA and historical evidence.The Avars, originating from Eastern Central Asia, dominated big parts of Eastern Central Europe for over two and a half centuries, from the 6th to the 9th century CE. Contrary to typical practice in ancient DNA research, the team aimed to study entire neighborhoods and for that reason focused on sampling all available human remains from 4 totally excavated Avar period cemeteries.Thanks to remarkable ancient DNA preservation, they were able to evaluate an overall of 424 people and found that around 300 had a close (1st and 2nd degree) relative buried in the same cemetery. This permitted the reconstruction of several substantial pedigrees, the biggest of which is nine generations deep and covers about 250 years.Community dynamicsThe scientists were able to identify neighborhoods that practiced a stringent patrilineal descent system, where patrilocality (male people remaining in the neighborhood after marital relationship) and female exogamy (female individuals moving to their partners neighborhood after marital relationship) were the standard. Communities were locally centered around a main patriline, and were related to each other through the systematic practice of female exogamy.Zuzana Hofmanová, senior author of the research study states: “In a method, this pattern shows the role of women in promoting the cohesion of this society, it was the role of females that connected the specific communities”. This finding highlights how genetic connection at the level of ancestry can still hide replacements of whole communities, and has essential implications for future studies comparing hereditary origins and archaeological shifts.Reference: “Network of large pedigrees exposes social practices of Avar neighborhoods” by Guido Alberto Gnecchi-Ruscone, Zsófia Rácz, Levente Samu, Tamás Szeniczey, Norbert Faragó, Corina Knipper, Ronny Friedrich, Denisa Zlámalová, Luca Traverso, Salvatore Liccardo, Sandra Wabnitz, Divyaratan Popli, Ke Wang, Rita Radzeviciute, Bence Gulyás, István Koncz, Csilla Balogh, Gabriella M. Lezsák, Viktor Mácsai, Magdalena M. E. Bunbury, Olga Spekker, Petrus le Roux, Anna Szécsényi-Nagy, Balázs Gusztáv Mende, Heidi Colleran, Tamás Hajdu, Patrick Geary, Walter Pohl, Tivadar Vida, Johannes Krause and Zuzana Hofmanová, 24 April 2024, Nature.DOI: 10.1038/ s41586-024-07312-4This research study project has actually been moneyed by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Unions Horizon 2020 research and development program (Grant Agreement No. 856453 ERC-2019-SyG HistoGenes).
This allowed the restoration of numerous comprehensive pedigrees, the largest of which is nine generations deep and spans about 250 years.Community dynamicsThe scientists were able to determine communities that practiced a stringent patrilineal descent system, where patrilocality (male people remaining in the neighborhood after marriage) and female exogamy (female people moving to their partners community after marital relationship) were the standard. Communities were locally centered around a primary patriline, and were related to each other through the methodical practice of female exogamy.Zuzana Hofmanová, senior author of the study states: “In a method, this pattern reveals the role of females in promoting the cohesion of this society, it was the role of women that connected the specific communities”. This finding highlights how genetic continuity at the level of ancestry can still conceal replacements of whole neighborhoods, and has important implications for future studies comparing hereditary ancestry and historical shifts.Reference: “Network of large pedigrees exposes social practices of Avar communities” by Guido Alberto Gnecchi-Ruscone, Zsófia Rácz, Levente Samu, Tamás Szeniczey, Norbert Faragó, Corina Knipper, Ronny Friedrich, Denisa Zlámalová, Luca Traverso, Salvatore Liccardo, Sandra Wabnitz, Divyaratan Popli, Ke Wang, Rita Radzeviciute, Bence Gulyás, István Koncz, Csilla Balogh, Gabriella M. Lezsák, Viktor Mácsai, Magdalena M. E. Bunbury, Olga Spekker, Petrus le Roux, Anna Szécsényi-Nagy, Balázs Gusztáv Mende, Heidi Colleran, Tamás Hajdu, Patrick Geary, Walter Pohl, Tivadar Vida, Johannes Krause and Zuzana Hofmanová, 24 April 2024, Nature.DOI: 10.1038/ s41586-024-07312-4This research job has actually been moneyed by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Unions Horizon 2020 research study and innovation program (Grant Agreement No. 856453 ERC-2019-SyG HistoGenes).