Genetic Genealogy & Ancient DNA (TITLES/ABSTRACTS)

[Pylsteen]

More Italic samples to come (seen at one of the other fora; no source provided).

Alfedena (AQ, Abruzzo, Italy), a 6th-5th century BCE Samnite community: analysis of kinship and social structure through archaeogenetic data

[parasar]

Ancient mitogenomes suggest complex maternal history of one of the oldest settlements of western India
Ahlawat et al
"The ancient township of Vadnagar tells a story of a long chain of cultural diversity and exchange. Vadnagar has been continuously habituated and shows a presence of rich cultural amalgamation and continuous momentary sequences between the 2th century BCE and present-day. Seven cultural periods developed a complex and enriched settlement at Vadnagar in spatio-temporality. Although archaeological studies done on this oldest settlement suggested a rich cultural heritage, the genetic studies to pinpoint the genetic ancestry was lacking till date. In our current study we have for the first time reconstructed the complete mitogenomes of medieval individuals of the Vadnagar archaeological site in Gujarat. The study aimed to investigate the cosmopolitan nature of the present population as well as the migratory pattern and the inflow of different groups through trade, cultural and religious practices. Our analysis suggests heterogeneous nature of the medieval population of Vadnagar with presence of deeply rooted local ancestral components as well as central Asian genetic ancestry. This Central Asian component associated with mitochondrial haplotype U2e was not shared with any individual from India, but rather with individuals from the Bronze Age of Tajikistan and with an earlier age of coalescence. In summary, we propose that the medieval site of Vadnagar in western India was rich in cultural and genetic aspects, with both local and western Eurasian components."

[J1_DYS388=13]

I don't think this interesting paper has been mentioned here.

Tibor Fehér
High Resolution Paternal Genetic History of Ireland and its Implications for Demographic History

Ireland is ideal for researching long Y-DNA pedigrees due to an early adoption of surnames based on early medieval clans, and having a rich mythological tradition of how various clans were related to each other before written records began and surnames got fixed. Recent developments of high-resolution Y-DNA testing (BigY) enable us to define specific SNP mutations with an accuracy of 2-3 generations and link them to specific surname clusters or even early historical or mythological persons. We present 6778 individual BigY SNP results (roughly half of all Irish results available) to accurately align septs/clans/surnames with more comprehensive tribal groupings. A general tendency should be noted that surnames typical for a certain geographic area typically appear in multiple Y-DNA lines but in most cases the chief/original line can be identified. Modern DNA research is able to prove (e.g. most of Connachta,  Airgíalla and Dal gCais) or refute (many septs of Éoganachta) traditional claims of descent, and can also prove/establish (Éoganachta-Ui Fidgenti) or disprove (Éoganachta-Dal gCais) ancient links between traditional clans. Another tendency shows that most traditional tribal groupings go back genetically to the first centuries CE, which might be caused by a demographic bottleneck effect in Ireland around the beginning of Common Era. Most surname-septs however date from the 9th-12th centuries. Irish paternal genetics signatures in general can be characterized by a high frequency of original Gaelic paternal lines (R1b-L21 and I2), who still made up two-thirds of Irish male lines around 1500 CE, before the colonial/plantation era. Similarly high Celtic genetic dominance in Britain can only be observed in Wales, Cornwall...

https://www.academia.edu/107278216/High_...ic_History

[pegasus]

Ancient mitogenomes suggest complex maternal history of one of the oldest settlements of western India
Ahlawat et al
"The ancient township of Vadnagar tells a story of a long chain of cultural diversity and exchange. Vadnagar has been continuously habituated and shows a presence of rich cultural amalgamation and continuous momentary sequences between the 2th century BCE and present-day. Seven cultural periods developed a complex and enriched settlement at Vadnagar in spatio-temporality. Although archaeological studies done on this oldest settlement suggested a rich cultural heritage, the genetic studies to pinpoint the genetic ancestry was lacking till date. In our current study we have for the first time reconstructed the complete mitogenomes of medieval individuals of the Vadnagar archaeological site in Gujarat. The study aimed to investigate the cosmopolitan nature of the present population as well as the migratory pattern and the inflow of different groups through trade, cultural and religious practices. Our analysis suggests heterogeneous nature of the medieval population of Vadnagar with presence of deeply rooted local ancestral components as well as central Asian genetic ancestry. This Central Asian component associated with mitochondrial haplotype U2e was not shared with any individual from India, but rather with individuals from the Bronze Age of Tajikistan and with an earlier age of coalescence. In summary, we propose that the medieval site of Vadnagar in western India was rich in cultural and genetic aspects, with both local and western Eurasian components."

The only difference observed was again from the U2e1 mitochondrial haplogroup sample, which had proportions of Bronze Age Central Asian groups rather than South Asian samples. This clade commonality was evident in both our Bayesian phylogeny and U2e haplotype networks (Fig. 3), where the Vadnagar U2e individual shares the haplotype with the Tajikistan Bronze Age individual rather than with any of the Indian U2e haplotypes. The coalescence age of the Steppe_MLBA or Tajikistan_BA haplotypes of the Vadnagar U2e haplotype was much earlier than other reference individuals from South Asia (modern Indian or Swat Valley Iron Age)

  I4160 Tajikistan_BA_DashtiKozy I17287_mt_U2e1 24 2172.732211

[Rozenfeld]

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/...5.585102v1

High-resolution genomic ancestry reveals mobility in early medieval Europe

Leo Speidel, Marina Silva, Thomas Booth, Ben Raffield, Kyriaki Anastasiadou, Christopher Barrington, Anders Gotherstrom, Peter Heather, Pontus Skoglund

doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.03.15.585102

This article is a preprint and has not been certified by peer review [what does this mean?].

Abstract

Ancient DNA has unlocked new genetic histories and shed light on archaeological and historical questions, but many known and unknown historical events have remained below detection thresholds because subtle ancestry changes are challenging to reconstruct. Methods based on sharing of haplotypes and rare variants can improve power, but are not explicitly temporal and have not been adopted in unbiased ancestry models. Here, we develop Twigstats, a new approach of time-stratified ancestry analysis that can improve statistical power by an order of magnitude by focusing on coalescences in recent times, while remaining unbiased by population-specific drift. We apply this framework to 1,151 available ancient genomes, focussing on northern and central Europe in the historical period, and show that it allows modelling of individual-level ancestry using preceding genomes and provides previously unavailable resolution to detect broader ancestry transformations. In the first half of the first millennium ~1-500 CE (Common Era), we observe an expansion of Scandinavian-related ancestry across western, central, and southern Europe. However, in the second half of the millennium ~500-1000 CE, ancestry patterns suggest the regional disappearance or substantial admixture of these ancestries in multiple regions. Within Scandinavia itself, we document a major ancestry influx by ~800 CE, when a large proportion of Viking Age individuals carried ancestry from groups related to continental Europe. This primarily affected southern Scandinavia, and was differentially represented in the western and eastern directions of the wider Viking world. We infer detailed ancestry portraits integrated with historical, archaeological, and stable isotope evidence, documenting mobility at an individual level. Overall, our results are consistent with substantial mobility in Europe in the early historical period, and suggest that time-stratified ancestry analysis can provide a new lens for genetic history.

Note: this preprint does not have new data, this is analysis, with a new tool of already published data.

[Michalis Moriakos]

The Genomic portrait of the Picene culture: new insights into the Italic Iron Age and the legacy of the Roman expansion in Central Italy.
Background: The Italic Iron Age was characterized by the presence of various ethnic groups partially examined from a genomic perspective. To explore the evolution of Iron Age Italic populations and the genetic impact of Romanization, we focused on the Picenes, one of the most fascinating pre-Roman civilizations, who flourished on the Middle Adriatic side of Central Italy between the 9th and the 3rd century BCE, until the Roman colonization. Results: We analyzed more than 50 samples, spanning more than 1,000 years of history from the Iron Age to Late Antiquity. Despite cultural diversity, our analysis reveals no major differences between the Picenes and other coeval populations, suggesting a shared genetic history of the Central Italian Iron Age ethnic groups. Nevertheless, a slight genetic differentiation between populations along the Adriatic and Tyrrhenian coasts can be observed, possibly due to genetic contacts between populations residing on the Italian and Balkan shores of the Adriatic Sea. Additionally, we found several individuals with ancestries deviating from their general population. Lastly, In the Late Antiquity period, the genetic landscape of the Middle Adriatic region drastically changed, indicating a relevant influx from the Near East. Conclusions: Our findings, consistently with archeological hypotheses, suggest genetic interactions across the Adriatic Sea during the Bronze/Iron Age and a high level of individual mobility typical of cosmopolitan societies. Finally, we highlighted the role of the Roman Empire in shaping genetic and phenotypic changes that greatly impacted the Italian peninsula.

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/...8.585512v1

[RCO]

The Genomic portrait of the Picene culture: new insights into the Italic Iron Age and the legacy of the Roman expansion in Central Italy.
Posted March 19, 2024.

Francesco Ravasini, Helja Niinemae, Anu Solnik, Luciana de Gennaro, Francesco Montinaro, Ruoyun Hui, Chiara Delpino, Stefano Finocchi, Pierluigi Giroldini, Oscar Mei, Elisabetta Cilli, Mogge Hajiesmaeil, Letizia Pistacchia, Flavia Risi, Chiara Giacometti, Christiana Lyn Scheib, Kristiina Tambets, Mait Metspalu, Fulvio Cruciani, Eugenia D'Atanasio, Beniamino Trombetta

Abstract
Background: The Italic Iron Age was characterized by the presence of various ethnic groups partially examined from a genomic perspective. To explore the evolution of Iron Age Italic populations and the genetic impact of Romanization, we focused on the Picenes, one of the most fascinating pre-Roman civilizations, who flourished on the Middle Adriatic side of Central Italy between the 9th and the 3rd century BCE, until the Roman colonization. Results: We analyzed more than 50 samples, spanning more than 1,000 years of history from the Iron Age to Late Antiquity. Despite cultural diversity, our analysis reveals no major differences between the Picenes and other coeval populations, suggesting a shared genetic history of the Central Italian Iron Age ethnic groups. Nevertheless, a slight genetic differentiation between populations along the Adriatic and Tyrrhenian coasts can be observed, possibly due to genetic contacts between populations residing on the Italian and Balkan shores of the Adriatic Sea. Additionally, we found several individuals with ancestries deviating from their general population. Lastly, In the Late Antiquity period, the genetic landscape of the Middle Adriatic region drastically changed, indicating a relevant influx from the Near East. Conclusions: Our findings, consistently with archeological hypotheses, suggest genetic interactions across the Adriatic Sea during the Bronze/Iron Age and a high level of individual mobility typical of cosmopolitan societies. Finally, we highlighted the role of the Roman Empire in shaping genetic and phenotypic changes that greatly impacted the Italian peninsula.

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/...8.585512v1

doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.03.18.585512

[J1_DYS388=13]

A modern study which ties in with ancient DNA.  Moderator will delete if this abstract does not qualify for this forum.

Large-Scale Assessment of the Iranian population structure of Mitochondrial and Ychromosome Haplogroups

Neda Mazaheri1,2, Amin Ghahremani1,3, Masoumeh Babazadeh1,3
, Damoun NashtaAli1,3, Seyyed
Abolfazl Motahari1,3

The Iranian plateau, strategically positioned as a corridor for population diffusion across Eurasia,
holds a pivotal role in elucidating the dynamics of human migrations originating from Africa
around 60,000 years ago. Both prehistoric and historic movements of populations between Africa,
Asia, and Europe may have been influenced by the unique geographical features of the Iranian
plateau. Iran boasts ancient cultures and urban settlements predating some of the earliest
civilizations, including the Neolithic revolution in neighboring Mesopotamia. Spanning from the
Balkans and Egypt in the west to the Indus Valley in Pakistan and northern India in the southeast,
the Iranian plateau encompasses a vast area characterized by incredible ethnocultural diversity.
This region served as the origin for numerous mt-DNA/Y-DNA haplogroups that expanded to West
Asia, Europe, Siberia, Central Asia, and South Asia. By examining both maternal and paternal
haplogroups within the Iranian context, we aim to contribute to the broader narrative of human
dispersals and elucidate the role those specific regions, such as the Iranian plateau, played in
shaping the observed genetic diversity today. Due to the lack of comprehensive studies on mtDNA /Y-DNA haplogroups in the Iranian population, our study sought to uncover the distribution
of haplogroups among Iranian peoples using a large sample size. Our analysis focused on the
frequency of ancestral haplogroups in Iran through the examination of large-scale whole-exome
sequencing (WES) and SNP microarray data from 18,184 individuals. In our study, we observed
24 mt-DNA super haplogroups in the Iranian population, with the most common haplogroups
belonging to West-Eurasian lineages U (20.73%), H (18.84%), J (12.10%), HV (9.22%), and T
(8.98%), collectively comprising 69.70% of all Iranian samples. Notably, subclades J1 and U7
emerged as the two most frequent subclades, with frequencies of 11.24% and 7.30%, respectively.
We also revealed the presence of 14 distinct Y-DNA haplogroups, with J, R, G, T, and Q emerging
as the five predominant lineages. Notably, J2 (including J-L26) exhibited the highest frequency at
35.64%, followed by R1a at 14.68%. also, The detected mtDNA and Y-chromosome haplogroups
were clustered into distinct groups that confirmed the heterogenicity of the Iranian population
because of various factors including geographic or linguistic ethnic groups.
Keywords: Iranian Plateau, mt-DNA haplogroup, Y-DNA haplogroup, Whole Exome Sequencing
(WES), SNP microarray

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/...1.full.pdf

[teepean]

Archaeogenetic analysis revealed East Eurasian paternal origin to the Aba royal family of Hungary

Abstract

The Aba family played a pivotal role in the early history of Medieval Hungary dominating extensive territories and giving rise to influential figures. We conducted an archaeogenetic examination of remains uncovered at the necropolis in Abasar, the political centre of the Aba clan, to identify Aba family members and shed light on their genetic origins. Utilizing Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) data from 19 individuals, complemented by radiocarbon measurements, we identified 6 members of the Aba family who shared close kinship relations. Our analysis revealed that 4 males from this family carried identical N1a1a1a1a4~ haplogroups. Significantly, our phylogenetic investigation traced this royal paternal lineage back to Mongolia, strongly suggesting its migration to the Carpathian Basin with the conquering Hungarians. Genome analysis, incorporating ADMIXTURE, Principal Component Analysis (PCA), and qpAdm, revealed East Eurasian patterns in the studied genomes, consistent with our phylogenetic results. Shared Identity by Descent (IBD) analysis confirmed the family kinship relations and shed light on further external kinship connections. It revealed that members of the Aba family were related to members of prominent Hungarian medieval noble families the Arpads, Bathorys and Corvinus as well as to the first-generation immigrant elite of the Hungarian conquest.

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/...85718v1?ct=

[J1_DYS388=13]

New analysis of previously published samples

High-resolution genomic ancestry reveals mobility in early medieval Europe

Leo Speidel,  Marina Silva,  Thomas Booth, Ben Raffield,  Kyriaki Anastasiadou,  Christopher Barrington, Anders Götherström, Peter Heather,  Pontus Skoglund

Abstract
Ancient DNA has unlocked new genetic histories and shed light on archaeological and historical questions, but many known and unknown historical events have remained below detection thresholds because subtle ancestry changes are challenging to reconstruct. Methods based on sharing of haplotypes1,2 and rare variants3,4 can improve power, but are not explicitly temporal and have not been adopted in unbiased ancestry models. Here, we develop Twigstats, a new approach of time-stratified ancestry analysis that can improve statistical power by an order of magnitude by focusing on coalescences in recent times, while remaining unbiased by population-specific drift. We apply this framework to 1,151 available ancient genomes, focussing on northern and central Europe in the historical period, and show that it allows modelling of individual-level ancestry using preceding genomes and provides previously unavailable resolution to detect broader ancestry transformations. In the first half of the first millennium ∼1-500 CE (Common Era), we observe an expansion of Scandinavian-related ancestry across western, central, and southern Europe. However, in the second half of the millennium ∼500-1000 CE, ancestry patterns suggest the regional disappearance or substantial admixture of these ancestries in multiple regions. Within Scandinavia itself, we document a major ancestry influx by ∼800 CE, when a large proportion of Viking Age individuals carried ancestry from groups related to continental Europe. This primarily affected southern Scandinavia, and was differentially represented in the western and eastern directions of the wider Viking world. We infer detailed ancestry portraits integrated with historical, archaeological, and stable isotope evidence, documenting mobility at an individual level. Overall, our results are consistent with substantial mobility in Europe in the early historical period, and suggest that time-stratified ancestry analysis can provide a new lens for genetic history.

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/...1.abstract

[Rozenfeld]

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-46161-7

The Persian plateau served as hub for Homo sapiens after the main out of Africa dispersal

    Leonardo Vallini, Carlo Zampieri, Mohamed Javad Shoaee, Eugenio Bortolini, Giulia Marciani, Serena Aneli, Telmo Pievani, Stefano Benazzi, Alberto Barausse, Massimo Mezzavilla, Michael D. Petraglia & Luca Pagani

Nature Communications volume 15, Article number: 1882 (2024)

Abstract

A combination of evidence, based on genetic, fossil and archaeological findings, indicates that Homo sapiens spread out of Africa between ~70-60 thousand years ago (kya). However, it appears that once outside of Africa, human populations did not expand across all of Eurasia until ~45 kya. The geographic whereabouts of these early settlers in the timeframe between ~70-60 to 45 kya has been difficult to reconcile. Here we combine genetic evidence and palaeoecological models to infer the geographic location that acted as the Hub for our species during the early phases of colonisation of Eurasia. Leveraging on available genomic evidence we show that populations from the Persian Plateau carry an ancestry component that closely matches the population that settled the Hub outside Africa. With the paleoclimatic data available to date, we built ecological models showing that the Persian Plateau was suitable for human occupation and that it could sustain a larger population compared to other West Asian regions, strengthening this claim.

Note: there are no new data in this paper, they analyze already published data.

[Radko]

Weyher family DNA results - https://www.archeologia.uw.edu.pl/wp-con...erow-1.pdf

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weyher_family

Y-DNA - G-FGC962 (G2a2b2a1a1a1a1~)
Pk.M.120.KW.06 - Ernest Wejher (?)

[Capsian20]

Weyher family DNA results - https://www.archeologia.uw.edu.pl/wp-con...erow-1.pdf

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weyher_family

Y-DNA - G-FGC962 (G2a2b2a1a1a1a1~)
Pk.M.120.KW.06 - Ernest Wejher (?)

Maybe this family belong a this subclade G-Z38846 ?

[JMcB]

Unearthing who and Y at Harewood Cemetery and inference of George Washington’s Y-chromosomal haplotype

Courtney Cavagnino, Göran Runfeldt, Michael Sager, Thomas J. Parsons
Timothy P. McMahon, Charla Marshall, et al.


Summary

An excavation conducted at Harewood Cemetery to identify the unmarked grave of Samuel Washington resulted in the discovery of burials presumably belonging to George Washington’s paternal grandnephews and their mother, Lucy Payne. To confirm their identities this study examined Y-chromosomal, mitochondrial, and autosomal DNA from the burials and a living Washington descendant. The burial’s Y-STR profile was compared to FamilyTreeDNA’s database, which resulted in a one-step difference from the living descendant and an exact match to another Washington. A more complete Y-STR and Y-SNP profile from the descendant was inferred to be the Washington Y profile. Kinship comparisons performed in relation to the descendant, who is a 4th and 5th degree relative of the putative individuals, resulted in >37,000 overlapping autosomal SNPs and strong statistical support with likelihood ratios exceeding one billion. This study highlights the benefits of a multi-marker approach for kinship prediction and DNA-assisted identification of historical remains.


https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S...24)00574-1


As Göran Runfeldt and Michael Sager from Family Tree DNA took part in the study, there are also two blog posts on the subject.

Revolutionary Study: New Genetic Analysis Traces George Washington's Family

https://blog.familytreedna.com/george-wa...rLUwG5hK7f

&

Multi-Marker Research: A Closer Look at the Washington Family Study

http://blog.familytreedna.com/george-was...-research/

[Rozenfeld]

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar...via%3Dihub

Ancient genome of the Chinese Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou


https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2024.02.059



Highlights

• •Wudi had a typical East or Northeast Asian facial appearance
  
• •Pathogenic SNPs suggest an increased susceptibility of Wudi to stroke
  
• •Wudi derived ancestry from Northeast Asians but also has Han-related admixture
  

Summary
Emperor Wu (武帝, Wudi) of the Xianbei-led Northern Zhou dynasty, named Yuwen Yong (宇文邕, 543–578 CE), was a highly influential emperor who reformed the system of regional troops, pacified the Turks, and unified the northern part of the country. His genetic profile and physical characteristics, including his appearance and potential diseases, have garnered significant interest from the academic community and the public. In this study, we have successfully generated a 0.343×-coverage genome of Wudi with 1,011,419 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on the 1240k panel. By analyzing pigmentation-relevant SNPs and conducting cranial CT-based facial reconstruction, we have determined that Wudi possessed a typical East or Northeast Asian appearance. Furthermore, pathogenic SNPs suggest Wudi faced an increased susceptibility to certain diseases, such as stroke. Wudi shared the closest genetic relationship with ancient Khitan and Heishui Mohe samples and modern Daur and Mongolian populations but also showed additional affinity with Yellow River (YR) farmers. We estimated that Wudi derived 61% of his ancestry from ancient Northeast Asians (ANAs) and nearly one-third from YR farmer-related groups. This can likely be attributed to continuous intermarriage between Xianbei royal families, and local Han aristocrats.1,2 Furthermore, our study has revealed genetic diversities among available ancient Xianbei individuals from different regions, suggesting that the formation of the Xianbei was a dynamic process influenced by admixture with surrounding populations.

This individual was determined as male, and his Y chromosome was assigned as a haplogroup C2a1a1b1a-F3830+, F8497− (Data S1A) by PCR-based targeted amplification covering 485 Y chromosome SNPs, which was further confirmed by hybridization capture data as a downstream haplogroup C2a1a1b1a2a1-FGC28857 × (FGC28846, Z44095, FGC31362, Z45818) (Data S1B). Due to the higher copy number of mtDNA versus nuclear DNA,14 we generated an mtDNA genome with coverage of 507.08 X and determined his haplogroup as C4a1a + 195.15,16 His paternal and maternal lineages can both be traced back to Northeast Asia and still reach moderate frequency at present.17,18,19