The Avars dominated southeastern central Europe for hundreds of years, leaving one of the richest archaeological heritages in Europe. Now scientists are using DNA to reveal details of their societies.
How do we understand past societies? For centuries, our main sources of information have been pottery sherds, burial sites and ancient texts.
Now, through the lens of “archaeogenetics”, we can delve even deeper into the intricate web of relationships among individuals who lived more than a millennium ago. Around 300 of these individuals had close relatives buried in the same cemetery. This allowed us to reconstruct multiple extensive pedigrees spanning up to nine generations and 250 years.
Read more: In a Stone Age cemetery, DNA reveals a treasured 'founding father' and a legacy of prosperity for his sons The transition, though significant, cannot be detected from higher-level genetic studies. Our results show an apparent genetic continuity can mask the replacement of entire communities. This insight may have far-reaching implications for future archaeological and genetic research.
Ancient DNA Anthropology Archaeogenetics Archaeology History Population Genetics Society
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