Ancient DNA reveals reproductive barrier despite shared Avar-period culture.

ABSTRACT: After a long-distance migration, Avars with Eastern Asian ancestry arrived in Eastern Central Europe in 567 to 568 CE and encountered groups with very different European ancestry^1,2. We used ancient genome-wide data of 722 individuals and fine-grained interdisciplinary analysis of large seventh- to eighth-century CE neighbouring cemeteries south of Vienna (Austria) to address the centuries-long impact of this encounter^1,2. We found that even 200 years after immigration, the ancestry at one site (Leobersdorf) remained dominantly East Asian-like, whereas the other site (Mödling) shows local, European-like ancestry. These two nearby sites show little biological relatedness, despite sharing a distinctive late-Avar culture^3,4. We reconstructed six-generation ped

SUBMITTER: Wang K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11864967 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature