A genetic history of the Balkans from Roman frontier to Slavic migrations

The rise and fall of the Roman Empire was a socio-political process with enormous ramifications for human history. The Middle Danube was a crucial frontier and a crossroads for population and cultural movement. Here, we present genome-wide data from 136 Balkan individuals dated to the 1st millennium CE. Despite extensive militarization and cultural influence, we find little ancestry contribution from peoples of Italic descent. However, we trace a large-scale influx of people of Anatolian ancestry during the Imperial period. Between ∼250 and 550 CE, we detect migrants with ancestry from Central/Northern Europe and the Steppe, confirming that "barbarian" migrations were propelled by ethnically diverse confederations. Following the end of Roman control, we detect the large-scale arrival of individuals who were genetically similar to modern Eastern European Slavic-speaking populations, who contributed 30%-60% of the ancestry of Balkan people, representing one of the largest permanent demographic changes anywhere in Europe during the Migration Period.

Early dispersal of domestic horses into the Great Plains and northern Rockies

The horse is central to many Indigenous cultures across the American Southwest and the Great Plains. However, when and how horses were first integrated into Indigenous lifeways remain contentious, with extant models derived largely from colonial records. We conducted an interdisciplinary study of an assemblage of historic archaeological horse remains, integrating genomic, isotopic, radiocarbon, and paleopathological evidence. Archaeological and modern North American horses show strong Iberian genetic affinities, with later influx from British sources, but no Viking proximity. Horses rapidly spread from the south into the northern Rockies and central plains by the first half of the 17th century CE, likely through Indigenous exchange networks. They were deeply integrated into Indigenous societies before the arrival of 18th-century European observers, as reflected in herd management, ceremonial practices, and culture.

Ancient DNA from Mesopotamia suggests distinct Pre-Pottery and Pottery Neolithic migrations into Anatolia

We present the first ancient DNA data from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic of Mesopotamia (Southeastern Turkey and Northern Iraq), Cyprus, and the Northwestern Zagros, along with the first data from Neolithic Armenia. We show that these and neighboring populations were formed through admixture of pre-Neolithic sources related to Anatolian, Caucasus, and Levantine hunter-gatherers, forming a Neolithic continuum of ancestry mirroring the geography of West Asia. By analyzing Pre-Pottery and Pottery Neolithic populations of Anatolia, we show that the former were derived from admixture between Mesopotamian-related and local Epipaleolithic-related sources, but the latter experienced additional Levantine-related gene flow, thus documenting at least two pulses of migration from the Fertile Crescent heartland to the early farmers of Anatolia.

The genetic history of the Southern Arc: A bridge between West Asia and Europe

By sequencing 727 ancient individuals from the Southern Arc (Anatolia and its neighbors in Southeastern Europe and West Asia) over 10,000 years, we contextualize its Chalcolithic period and Bronze Age (about 5000 to 1000 BCE), when extensive gene flow entangled it with the Eurasian steppe. Two streams of migration transmitted Caucasus and Anatolian/Levantine ancestry northward, and the Yamnaya pastoralists, formed on the steppe, then spread southward into the Balkans and across the Caucasus into Armenia, where they left numerous patrilineal descendants. Anatolia was transformed by intra-West Asian gene flow, with negligible impact of the later Yamnaya migrations. This contrasts with all other regions where Indo-European languages were spoken, suggesting that the homeland of the Indo-Anatolian language family was in West Asia, with only secondary dispersals of non-Anatolian Indo-Europeans from the steppe.

A genetic probe into the ancient and medieval history of Southern Europe and West Asia

Literary and archaeological sources have preserved a rich history of Southern Europe and West Asia since the Bronze Age that can be complemented by genetics. Mycenaean period elites in Greece did not differ from the general population and included both people with some steppe ancestry and others, like the Griffin Warrior, without it. Similarly, people in the central area of the Urartian Kingdom around Lake Van lacked the steppe ancestry characteristic of the kingdom's northern provinces. Anatolia exhibited extraordinary continuity down to the Roman and Byzantine periods, with its people serving as the demographic core of much of the Roman Empire, including the city of Rome itself. During medieval times, migrations associated with Slavic and Turkic speakers profoundly affected the region.

Hide and seek: Impacted maxillary and mandibular canines from the Roman period Croatia

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this paper was to analyse the dental remains of an adult male with three impacted canines from the Roman period cemetery in Osijek, Croatia.

MATERIALS

The dental remains of an adult male aged 35-45 years at the time of death were analysed.

METHODS

Macroscopic analysis of dental remains was accompanied by radiographic examination.

RESULTS

The individual also had additional dental pathologies (carious lesion, antemortem tooth loss). A total of 21 permanent teeth were present in maxillae and mandible. Eighteen of them were normal fully erupted dentition, while three were impacted: left maxillary canine and both mandibular canines. The left maxillary and mandibular canines were mesially inclined, and the right mandibular canine was relatively horizontally positioned.

CONCLUSION

A case of non-syndrome impaction in which the lack of eruptive force in combination with the unfavorable position of the tooth bud might have resulted in multiple impacted teeth is presented.

SIGNIFICANCE

Current clinical knowledge reports low frequency of this anomaly, with maxillary impaction occurring more often than mandibular. Furthermore, canine impaction is even more rarely reported in the archaeological material. The presented case is the only one from the archaeological setting with impaction present both in maxillae and mandible.

LIMITATIONS

In modern populations multiple impactions are often associated with various syndromes. Since the majority of syndromes affect soft tissue, their association with impaction cannot be confirmed in archaeological populations.

Rib anomalies in a Neolithic period skeleton from Croatia

ABSTRACT

Congenital anomalies develop during intrauterine development. They can occur in soft tissues as well as skeletal elements and vary from minor to life threatening. In this paper we present a case of an individual from the Neolithic site of Vinka, Croatia. This adult male exhibited multiple congenital anomalies on cranial and postcranial skeleton. These include several rib anomalies on the right side: hyperplasia of the third rib, bifid fourth rib and flaring of the eighth rib. Additionally, lambdoid ossicles, parastyle of the second maxillary molar and supracondylar processes of the humeri are present. In this study we put emphasis on rib anomalies, very rarely reported in archaeological settings, and compare them to clinical cases.

A case of Avar period trepanation from Croatia

The Avar period cemetery of Nuštar, situated in continental Croatia, is dated to the 8th and the beginning of the 9th century. Rescue archaeological excavation yielded 196 burials. During analysis of human skeletal remains, an individual with a large cranial lesion caused by trepanation was found. Trepanation is a surgical procedure performed on the skull in order to remove a fragment of the bone using a sharp instrument or drill. It has been practiced in various regions since the prehistoric period for both medical and ritual reasons. The aim of this paper is to provide a description of the observed lesion based on macroscopic appearance accompanied by radiography, computed tomography scanning and 3D optical scanning. Furthermore, possible cause and employed technique are taken into consideration, as well as cultural and historical implications of the case.