Ancient DNA Reveals How Europe Changed After the Fall of Rome

A new study combining ancient human DNA with archaeological evidence is challenging the idea that 'Barbarians' simply took over Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire. Under the HistoGenes project, led by Yijie Tian of Stony Brook University and Istvan Koncz of Eotvos Lorand University in Hungary, researchers sequenced genomes from more than 300 people who lived in the Little Hungarian Plain, a region in northwestern Hungary. The findings were published in the journal Science.

During the Roman period, communities in the region mainly carried southern European genetic ancestry, along with notable genetic diversity from Asia and Africa reflecting the Roman Empire's cosmopolitan character. After Roman rule ended, sites in the region showed a rise in northern European genetic ancestry, pointing to major population movements into the area.

Combining the genetic data with archaeological evidence, the researchers concluded this influx of people with northern European ancestry likely reflected the historically documented, though still debated, expansion of the Lombard Kingdom from north of the Danube River into former Roman territories in the early sixth century. They found this was not one simple mass migration but a pattern of complex, sustained movement, with genetic ties linking people in the Little Hungarian Plain to populations farther north.

The new communities built a diverse, hierarchical society with ruling elites who shaped a new political order after Roman authority faded. "The project has revealed both gradual and localized forms of movement across short and long distances, as well as rapid, large-scale population shifts from Eastern Asia into the Carpathian Basin," said Patrick Geary, a HistoGenes co-principal investigator and professor emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study's School of Historical Studies. "It has also demonstrated that material culture and genetic ancestry do not necessarily coincide."

The HistoGenes project is funded by the European Research Council.