Network of large pedigrees reveals social practices of Avar communities

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Gnecchi-Ruscone, Guido Alberto; Racz, Zsofia; Samu, Levente; Szeniczey, Tamas; Farago, Norbert; Knipper, Corina; Friedrich, Ronny; Zlamalova, Denisa; Traverso, Luca; Liccardo, Salvatore; Wabnitz, Sandra; Popli, Divyaratan; Wang, Ke; Radzeviciute, Rita; Gulyas, Bence; Koncz, Istvan; Balogh, Csilla; Lezsak, Gabriella M.; Macsai, Viktor; Bunbury, Magdalena M. E.; Spekker, Olga; le Roux, Petrus; Szecsenyi-Nagy, Anna; Mende, Balazs Gusztav; Colleran, Heidi; Hajdu, Tamas; Geary, Patrick; Pohl, Walter; Vida, Tivadar; Krause, Johannes; Hofmanova, Zuzana
• 署名单位: Max Planck Society; Eotvos Lorand University; Eotvos Lorand University; Masaryk University; University of Vienna; Austrian Academy of Sciences; Max Planck Society; Fudan University; Istanbul Medeniyet University; HUN-REN; HUN-REN Research Centre for the Humanities; James Cook University; Szeged University; University of Cape Town; HUN-REN; HUN-REN Research Centre for the Humanities; Max Planck Society; Max Planck Society; Institute for Advanced Study - USA; HUN-REN; HUN-REN Research Centre for the Humanities
• 刊物名称: Nature
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0028-5063
• DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07312-4
• 发表日期: 2024-05-09
• 页码: 376-+
• 关键词: ancient human genomes; admixture; extraction; sequence; HISTORY; populations; migration; strontium; FRAMEWORK; patterns

摘要

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(1). Extensive sampling for archaeogenomics (424 individuals) and isotopes, combined with archaeological, anthropological and historical contextualization of four Avar-period cemeteries, allowed for a detailed description of the genomic structure of these communities and their kinship and social practices. We present a set of large pedigrees, reconstructed using ancient DNA, spanning nine generations and comprising around 300 individuals. We uncover a strict patrilineal kinship system, in which patrilocality and female exogamy were the norm and multiple reproductive partnering and levirate unions were common. The absence of consanguinity indicates that this society maintained a detailed memory of ancestry over generations. These kinship practices correspond with previous evidence from historical sources and anthropological research on Eurasian Steppe societies(2). Network analyses of identity-by-descent DNA connections suggest that social cohesion between communities was maintained via female exogamy. Finally, despite the absence of major ancestry shifts, the level of resolution of our analyses allowed us to detect genetic discontinuity caused by the replacement of a community at one of the sites. This was paralleled with changes in the archaeological record and was probably a result of local political realignment.