A New Perspective on the Arrival of the Eastern Mediterranean Genetic Influx in Central Italy Before the Onset of the Roman Empire.

ABSTRACT: Italian genetic history was profoundly shaped by the Romans. While the Iron Age Central Italian gene pool was comparable to that of other coeval Central/Western European regions, during the Imperial age, it was significantly influenced by Eastern Mediterranean ancestries. To explain this genetic shift, it has been proposed that people from eastern provinces of the Empire migrated toward its political center: Rome and its surroundings. In this study, by presenting a new Roman Republic individual (1.25×) and comparing it to other published Republican samples, we propose a novel perspective for the presence of the Eastern Mediterranean ancestry in the Imperial gene pool. We show that the spread of this genetic ancestry may have taken place earlier than previously thought, during the Late Repu

SUBMITTER: Ravasini F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12321521 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature