In October 2019, journals Science and Journal of Science published an article "Ancient Rome: genetic crossroads of Europe and Mediterranean", presenting Italian region. The most fascinating thing is large amount of data on ancient DNA of that time. ancient Roman Empire.
1. Sample
This article presents a total of 134 ancient specimens, all from central region of Italy, which is main ancestral land of ancient Latin tribes, Roman Republic, and Roman Empire. According to epoch, it can be divided into following eight periods.
● Mesolithic (ME): 10,000 - 6,000 BC. e.【Mesolithic era】
● Neolithic (NE): 6000-3500 BC. e.【Neolithic era】
● Copper Age (California): 3500-2300 BC. e. 【Copper Age】
● Bronze Age (BA): 2300-900 BC. e.【Bronze Age】
● Iron Age and Roman Republic (IA): 900–27 BC. BC【Iron Age/Roman Republic】
● Imperial Rome (IR): 27 BC. – 300 A.D.【Era of Roman Empire】
● Late Antiquity (LA): 300–700 AD. n. e. 【Late Roman/Classic/Barbarian Invasion】
● Medieval and Early Modern (MD): 700–1800. n. 【Medieval/Early Modern】
Second, normal coloring
In general, ancient and modern autosomes in Italy differ at different periods in terms of mixing. Simply put, Ancient Roman Empire was more purely Mediterranean, and after invasion of barbarians became more European.
According to source of genes in Stone Age, it can be divided into five main sources. This is change of five original genes in Italy from ancient to modern times.
l Western European Neolithic hunter-gatherers WHG-Western hunter-gatherers;
l Anatolian Neolithic Anatolian Neolithic group;
l Iranian Neolithic group of Iranian Neolithic;
l Moroccan hunter-gatherer (Morocco-Iberomaurs);
l Steppe Eneolithic, Neolithic population of Eastern European steppe.
The Mesolithic in Mesolithic era is entirely composed of WHG-Western hunter-gatherers, Neolithic hunter-gatherers in Western Europe, who are very different from late Romans and modern Italians.
Major Changes Occurred in Neolithic Neolithic Anatolian Neolithic and Iranian Neolithic Iranian Neolithic These Near Eastern agriculturalists migrated to Europe, brought agriculture, and also wiped out indigenous peoples of later masters.
Compared to Neolithic era in Bronze Age, Iron Age/Roman Republic, there were more Steppe Chalcolithic people in grasslands of Eastern Europe, and Roman Empire basically followed this situation.
In era of barbarian invasion, compared with previous Roman Empire, Eneolithic population of steppes in Eastern European steppes, which was brought by Germanic barbarians, increased significantly, but original Anatolian Neolithic population, Iranian Neolithic population of Iranian Neolithic group still remains main one, and Germanic barbarians contributed a lot to Roman genes, but are not a major part of them.
From PCA chart, we can also see characteristics of Ancient Roman Empire (the marked number is an example of Ancient Rome).
In era of Roman Empire, most ancient Romans were most closely associated with three groups: Greece_Mycenaean (Greek Mycenaean culture), Greek Minoan lassithi (Greek Cretan lassithi), and Phoenician_IA (Phoenician Iron Age). , several instances of Roman Empire close to Iberia_BA (Iberian Bronze population) and NE_Iberia (Iberian Neolithic population), Roman Empire of this period was a purely Mediterranean population.
By time of barbarian invasions and Middle Ages, although population of central Italy was still very close to that of ancient Roman Empire, there was a tendency to deviate from main area at NGN. It is close to areas of Germany_Medieval (Medieval Germany), England_IA (England, Iron Age), England Roman (England, Roman era), England saxon (England, Saxon invasion era), Sweden Viking (Swedish Vikings), but still there are differences with these areas The distance shows that Germanic and Celtic peoples had a blood influence on Italy after Roman Empire. During this period, Italy became more European.
3. Maternal and paternal lines of Romans in different periods
Let's talk about matrilineal and paternal lines of Romans in different periods.
The paternal line undergoes some changes in each period. In Middle Ages, they were all local hunters, type I (constituting 100%), in period of Latin tribes largest type was R1b (71.4%), in Roman era largest type was J (54.1%). , followed by type G (20.8%); in era of barbarian invasion, J was still largest type, accounting for 31.3%, R was second largest type, accounting for 18.8%; in medieval Italy, J was largest type at 27.8% R and G were second largest type, each accounting for 22.2%, closer to other European countries.
The matriarchal period of Paleolithic was entirely U5b, which is 100%. After Neolithic period, U, H and T basically became three largest types and they were very stable. This pattern is similar to other European regions: during wars and regime changes, paternal line is constantly changing, but matrilineal line has always been stable. This brutal substitution behavior was still in place when Europeans invaded South America. Most of Native American paternal lines were replaced by white ones, but South American Indian maternal lines survived.
Types of Paleolithic, Neolithic, Copper Age. Crowd I in Paleolithic era had blue eyes and dark skin, while agriculturalists who migrated from Middle East in Neolithic era had dark eyes and fair skin. During this period, population changes should be most dramatic.
In era of Roman Republic, letter R was largest, accounting for 71.4%.
The era of Roman Empire, during period of Roman Empire, territory was vast, and diversity of population within empire was high. In area of the city of Rome (Central Italy) during this period, most numerous type is J (54.1%), both J2 and J1, these people form largest basis of Rome, followed by type G (20.8%). The most interesting thing is that during this period letter D appeared in female line. How did this eastern type get into Ancient Rome? Was it brought by the Huns-barbarians?
In Classical/Barbarian Invasion era, northern type came. J is still largest type, accounting for 31.3%, R is second largest type, accounting for 18.8%, and I is third largest type, accounting for 18.8%;
In medieval Italy, letter J retained status of largest font - 27.8% and finally retained traces of Roman Empire. generally closer to other European countries.