PUBLICATIONS
Anastassiya Tchaikovsky | Bendeguz Tobias | Margit Berner et al.
This work compares n(87Sr)/n(86Sr) results of the same physical sample, which were determined using internal calibration (internal mass bias correction) and external calibration (standard-sample-bracketing) in a large sample set. Reference materials and environmental samples showed consistent results, while 66% of investigated tooth enamel samples showed significantly different n(87Sr)/n(86Sr) isotope ratios depending on the calibration method used. In-depth evaluation ruled out sample preparation or measurement errors. Instead, internal calibration delivered biased results, because the δ(88Sr/86Sr)SRM987 values in the affected samples deviated by more than -0.60‰ from the – assumingly constant – reference value. The bias amounted up to 0.00043 and was 2-times larger than theoretically predicted. Ultimately, using internally calibrated n(87Sr)/n(86Sr) data, led to false classification of 6% of individuals in a provenance study focusing on past human migration. In contrast, external calibration yielded accurate data leading to classification results that were in alignment with existing knowledge on the population under investigation.
Analytica Chimica Acta
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aca.2025.344783
Published: October 17th 2025
Joscha Gretzinger | Felix Biermann | Hellen Mager et al.
Ancient DNA connects large-scale migration with the spread of Slavs
The second half of the first millennium ce in Central and Eastern Europe was accompanied by fundamental cultural and political transformations. This period of change is commonly associated with the appearance of the Slavs, which is supported by textual evidence and coincides with the emergence of similar archaeological horizons. However, so far there has been no consensus on whether this archaeological horizon spread by migration, Slavicisation or a combination of both. Genetic data remain sparse, especially owing to the widespread practice of cremation in the early phase of the Slavic settlement. Here we present genome-wide data from 555 ancient individuals, including 359 samples from Slavic contexts from as early as the seventh century ce. Our data demonstrate large-scale population movement from Eastern Europe during the sixth to eighth centuries, replacing more than 80% of the local gene pool in Eastern Germany, Poland and Croatia. Yet, we also show substantial regional heterogeneity as well as a lack of sex-biased admixture, indicating varying degrees of
cultural assimilation of the autochthonous populations. Comparing archaeological and genetic evidence, we find that the change in ancestry in Eastern Germany coincided with a change in social organization, characterized by an intensification of inter- and intra-site genetic relatedness and patrilocality. On the European scale, it appears plausible that the changes in material culture and language between the sixth and eighth centuries were connected to these large-scale population movements
Nature
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09437-6
Published: September 3rd 2025
Paul Klostermann | Sandra Wabnitz | Bendeguz Tobias et al.
This study investigates adolescence in the early medieval period in Austria by combining historical, archaeological, genetic, and osteological data. To better understand adolescence in the Avar period (650-800 CE), we consulted early medieval inscriptions and historical sources on steppe peoples and correlated them to the osteological findings on the timing of development and the pubertal growth spurt from two Austrian sites. We found that non-specific stress indicators were useful in explaining some of the variance in the timing of the growth spurt, in the absence of severe chronic diseases. The distribution of pathological changes over the duration of adolescence illustrated potential changes in the roles and responsibilities of adolescents. Differences in inflammatory changes may reflect distinct living conditions of male and female adolescents.
Childhood in the Past 18 (1)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17585716.2025.2538967
Published: August 11th 2025
Guido Alberto Gnecchi-Ruscone | Zsófia Ráczc | Salvatore Liccardo et al.
Ancient genomes reveal trans-Eurasian connections between the European Huns and the Xiongnu Empire
The Huns appeared in Europe in the 370s, establishing an Empire that reshaped West Eurasian history. Yet until today their origins remain a matter of extensive debate. Traditional theories link them to the Xiongnu, the founders of the first nomadic empire of the Mongolian steppe. The Xiongnu empire dissolved, however, ~300 y before the Huns appeared in Europe, and there is little archaeological and historical evidence of Huns in the steppe during this time gap. Furthermore, despite the rich 5th to 6th centuries current era (CE) archaeological record of the Carpathian Basin, the cultural elements of connections with the steppe are limited to few findings and even fewer solitary eastern-type burials. In this study, we coanalyze archaeological evidence with 35 newly sequenced and published genomic data for a total of 370 individuals—from 5th to 6th century CE contexts in the Carpathian Basin including 10 Hun-period eastern-type burials, 2nd to 5th century sites across Central Asia and 2nd c. before current era (BCE) to 1st c. CE Xiongnu period sites across the Mongolian steppe. We find no evidence for the presence of a large eastern/steppe descent community among the Hun- and post-Hun-period Carpathian Basin population. We also observe a high genetic diversity among the eastern-type burials that recapitulates the variability observed across the Eurasian Steppe. This suggests a mixed origin of the incoming steppe conquerors. Nevertheless, long-shared genomic tracts provide compelling evidence of genetic lineages directly connecting some individuals of the highest Xiongnu-period elite with 5th to 6th century CE Carpathian Basin individuals, showing that some European Huns descended from them.
PNAS 122 (9)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2418485122
Published: February 24th 2025
Ke Wang | Bendeguz Tobias | Doris Pany-Kucera et al.
Ancient DNA reveals reproductive barrier despite shared Avar-period culture
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. 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. 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. We reconstructed six-generation pedigrees at both sites including up to 450 closely related individuals, allowing per-generation demographic profiling of the communities. Despite different ancestry, these pedigrees together with large networks of distant relatedness show absence of consanguinity, patrilineal pattern with female exogamy, multiple reproductive partnerships (for example, levirate) and direct correlation of biological connectivity with archaeological markers of social status. The generation-long genetic barrier was maintained by systematically choosing partners with similar ancestry from other sites in the Avar realm. Leobersdorf had more biological connections with the Avar heartlands than with Mödling, which is instead linked to another site from the Vienna Basin with European-like ancestry. Mobility between sites was mostly due to female exogamy pointing to different marriage networks as the main driver of the maintenance of the genetic barrier.
Nature
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08418-5
Published: January 15th 2025
Salvatore Liccardo
Who in the world are the Heruli? Reconsidering late antique migrations
The history of the Heruli represents a historical conundrum. Because of the poor state of the sources, caution is required when analysing this subject. However, the peculiarity of the case encourages us to rethink the way we
conceive of and describe migrations in Late Antiquity. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach to the history of the Heruli, this article offers a new analysis of the written evidence, identifies a need for different mapping
strategies, and offers a possible interpretation of the origins of the so-called eastern and western Heruli.
Early Medieval Europe 32 (3)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/emed.12712
Published: August 2024
Clemens Gantner
This contribution is dedicated to the well-documented and peculiar case of Anastasius, librarian of the Roman Church. It will show how Anastasius, despite great erudition and thorough plans, did not succeed with his plans as a (ecclesiastical) politician and diplomat on several occasions – but still remained a powerful figure in Rome and beyond due to his unique language skills and cultural knowledge. It will address if and in what way Anastasius can be seen as a cultural broker.
Medieval Worlds Vol.20
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1553/medievalworlds_no20_2024s172
Published: June 24th, 2024
Yijie Tian | István Koncz | Walter Pohl | Johannes Krause | Patrick J. Geary | Krishna R. Veeramah
Elites played a pivotal role in the formation of post-Roman Europe on both macro- and microlevels during the Early Medieval period. Our approach combines history and archaeology with paleogenomic and isotopic data to explore the role of elite groups in the development of a 6 to 8th-century community at Collegno, Italy. Analyzing 28 new genomes with 24 previous ones revealed that the site was formed around biologically and socially connected high-ranking groups. The community also integrated newcomers and embraced individuals with diverse genetic ancestries. This study highlights how power shifts and migration after the fall of the Roman Empire influenced community formation in the rural areas in one of the core territories of the former Western Roman Empire.
PNAS: Vol.121 N°36
DOI: doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2317868121
Published: August 19th, 2024
Salvatore Liccardo | Sandra Wabnitz
Family Matters: The Levirate Marriage as a Nomadic Custom in Medieval Eurasis
Family life among medieval Eurasian nomads is still largely unknown due to the scarcity of written sources and the need to rely on ethnographic information originating from disparate chronological and geographical contexts. Thanks to developments in aDNA research, these uncharted territories are being progressively explored. This allows us to re-evaluate past paradigms on ethnicity, family dynamics, and human mobility. This article attempts to reassess the social limits and cultural connotations of the levirate marriage by drawing on recent genetic findings in burial sites of the Carpathian Basin (in today’s Austria and Hungary). medieval worlds | no. 20 | 2024 | Pages 191 - 227
Medieval Worlds Vol.20
DOI: 10.1553/medievalworlds_no20_2024s191
Published: June 24th, 2024
Guido Alberto Gnecchi-Ruscone | Zsófia Rácz | Levente Samu | et al.
Network of large pedigrees reveals social practices of Avar communities
From ad 567–568, at the onset of the Avar period, populations from the Eurasian Steppe settled in the Carpathian Basin for approximately 250 years. Extensive sampling for archaeogenomics (424 individuals) and isotopes, combined with archaeological, anthropological and historical contextualization allowed for a detailed description of the genomic structure of these communities.
Nature 629 (2024)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07312-4
Published: April 24th, 2024
Levente Samu, Ursula Koch und Falko Daim
Die tauschierten awarenzeitlichen Gürtelgarnituren im Mitteldonaubecken – Vorbilder und Parallelen.
Im gewaltigen Fundstoff aus dem Awarenreich (568-822 n. Chr.) findet sich auch eiserner Zierrat mit Silber- oder Kupfertauschierungen, der sich vom sonstigen Typenspektrum scharf abhebt. Meist handelt es sich um Beschläge von Gürteln, einige stammen von Zaumzeugen. Sie wurden auch noch als Einzelstücke wertgeschätzt und überwiegend von vermögenden Männern in die heimische Ausstattung integriert. Als gesichert gilt, dass sie aus dem Westen, dem langobardischen Italien, dem Frankenreich oder dem heutigen Süddeutschland stammen bzw. dort zumindest ihre Vorbilder hatten.
Die vorliegende Studie bietet einen eingehenden systematischen Vergleich der Funde aus dem Karpatenbecken mit den westlichen Exemplaren. Dabei gelingt es, einige Herstellungszentren wahrscheinlich zu machen, von denen die für die awarische Gesellschaft ungewohnten Schmuckobjekte in das Karpatenbecken gelangten. Vermutlich erfolgte der Transport durch Fahrende Händler; manche tauschierte Eisengegenstände könnten freilich auch im Awarenland hergestellt worden sein.
Die »westlichen« Fundtypen im Khaganat belegen die Verbindungen mit Norditalien, dem Frankenreich und dem heutigen Süddeutschland, bilden aber auch zugleich Brücken zwischen den in der deutschen Archäologie und den im Karpatenbecken gebräuchlichen Chronologiesystemen.
Veröffentlichungen des Landesamtes für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt Hgg. Harald Meller
Leseprobe: 4-4-95 Leseprobe-kom.pdf
Published: February 2024
Tivadar Vada
The Migration-Period Countryside in the Former Roman Province of Pannonia
The European Countryside during the Migration Period
Patterns of Change from Iberia to the Caucasus (300–700 CE),
Band 137 der Reihe Ergänzungsbände zum Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde, Pages 103 -130
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110778298-006
Published: December 31st, 2023
Falko Daim | Walter Pohl | et al.
Kinship, Sex, and Biological Relatedness.
The contribution of archaeogenetics to the understanding of social and biological relations
Tagungen des Landesmuseums für Vorgeschichte Halle/Saale | Band 28 | 2023 | Pages 307 - 340
DOI: https://doi.org/10.11588/propylaeum.1280.c18014
Published: Autum, 2023
Janet E Kay | István Koncz
Archaeological Approaches to Multiple Burials and Mass Graves in Early Medieval Europe
Medieval Archaeology, Volume 67, 2023 - Issue 1, Pages 115-136
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00766097.2023.2204667
Published: June 26th, 2023
Deven N. Vyas | István Koncz, et. al.
Fine-scale sampling uncovers the complexity of migrations in 5th–6th century Pannonia
Currentt Biology 33, (2023): 3951-3961
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2023.07.063
Published: August 25th, 2023
Nos ancêtres médiévaux révélés par la paléogénomique
In this article published in La Recherche, Patrick J. Geary describes how the combination of palaeogenetic, archaeological, anthropological and historical analysis of 5th to 9th centuries cemeteries has revealed the complexity of early medieval communities: In some cases, differences in material culture and even diet may be correlated with different genetic origins; in other cases, neighbouring communities sharing the same material culture may have different genetic backgrounds, which was maintained for generations. The analysis of common DNA segments, linked to historical texts, can also be used to trace population movements across an area stretching from Asia to central Europe. These interdisciplinary methods open up new perspectives for our understanding of the emergence of European society at the end of Antiquity.
La Recherche | N°574 daté juillet-septembre 2023
Published: June 20th, 2023
Olga Spekker, et al.
Plos One
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0265416
Published: June 23rd, 2022
Konstantina Saliari | Bendeguz Tobias | Erich Draganits
Environmental Archaeology
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14614103.2022.2053827
Published: April 5th, 2022
Guido Alberto Gnecchi-Ruscone | Anna Szécsényi-Nagy | István Koncz | Gergely Csiky | Zsófia Rácz | A.B. Rohrlach |
Guido Brandt | Nadin Rohland | Veronika Csáky | Olivia Cheronet | Bea Szeifert | Tibor Ákos Rácz | András Benedek |
Zsolt Bernert | Norbert Berta | Szabolcs Czifra | János Dani | Zoltán Farkas | Tamara Hága Tamás Hajdu | Mónika Jászberényi | Viktória Kisjuhász | Barbara Kolozsi | Péter Major | Antónia Marcsik | Bernadett Ny. Kovacsóczy | Csilla Balogh | Gabriella M. Lezsák | János Gábor Ódor | Márta Szelekovszky | Tamás Szeniczey | Judit Tárnoki | Zoltán Tóth | Eszter K. Tutkovics | Balázs G. Mende | Patrick Geary | Walter Pohl | Tivadar Vida | Ron Pinhasi | David Reich | Zuzana Hofmanová | Choongwon Jeong | Johannes Krause
Ancient genomes reveal origin and rapid trans-Eurasian migration of 7th century Avar elites
Cell 185, 1–12.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2022.03.007
Published: April 1st, 2022
Olga Spekker, et al.
Plos One
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0264286
Published: February 18th, 2022
Walter Pohl | Johannes Krause | Tivadar Vida | Patrick Geary
Historical Studies on Central Europe 1 (1), 213–228.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.47074/HSCE.2021-1.09
Published: April 30th, 2021
Walter Pohl, Johannes Krause, Tivadar Vida, Patrick J. Geary,
Archaeological notices. Newsletter of the Slovenian Archaeological Society, issue 38, year 2021.
Responsible person of the publisher: Predrag Novaković, President of SAD. Editorial board,
Kaja Pavletič, Daša Pavlovič, Brina Škvor Jernejčič, Manca Vinazza; Arheo 38, 2021, 73–81.
Patrick J. Geary
Das mittelalterliche Jahrtausend, Herausgegeben von Michael Borgolte. Bd. 7. Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag, 2020.
https://edoc.bbaw.de/files/3887/BBAW_Geary_Herausforderungen_Genomdaten_MAJ_07.pdf