title: Genealogical relationships between early medieval and modern inhabitants of Piedmont.
abstract: In the period between 400 to 800 AD, also known as the period of the Barbarian invasions, intense migration is documented in the historical record of Europe. However, little is known about the demographic impact of these historical movements, potentially ranging from negligible to substantial. As a pilot study in a broader project on Medieval Europe, we sampled 102 specimens from 5 burial sites in Northwestern Italy, archaeologically classified as belonging to Lombards or Longobards, a Germanic people ruling over a vast section of the Italian peninsula from 568 to 774. We successfully amplified and typed the mitochondrial hypervariable region I (HVR-I) of 28 individuals. Comparisons of genetic diversity with other ancient populations and haplotype networks did not suggest that these samples are heterogeneous, and hence allowed us to jointly compare them with three isolated contemporary populations, and with a modern sample of a large city, representing a control for the effects of recent immigration. We then generated by serial coalescent simulations 16 millions of genealogies, contrasting a model of genealogical continuity with one in which the contemporary samples are genealogically independent from the medieval sample. Analyses by Approximate Bayesian Computation showed that the latter model fits the data in most cases, with one exception, Trino Vercellese, in which the evidence was compatible with persistence up to the present time of genetic features observed among this early medieval population. We conclude that it is possible, in general, to detect evidence of genealogical ties between medieval and specific modern populations. However, only seldom did mitochondrial DNA data allow us to reject with confidence either model tested, which indicates that broader analyses, based on larger assemblages of samples and genetic markers, are needed to understand in detail the effects of medieval migration.
authors: Dipartimento di Biologia Evoluzionistica, Università di Firenze, 50122 Florence, Italy.
authors: Stefania
authors: S
authors: Vai
authors: Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biotecnologie, Università di Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, Italy.
authors: Silvia
authors: S
authors: Ghirotto
authors: Dipartimento di Biologia Evoluzionistica, Università di Firenze, 50122 Florence, Italy.
authors: Elena
authors: E
authors: Pilli
authors: Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biotecnologie, Università di Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, Italy.
authors: Francesca
authors: F
authors: Tassi
authors: Dipartimento di Biologia Evoluzionistica, Università di Firenze, 50122 Florence, Italy.
authors: Martina
authors: M
authors: Lari
authors: Institute for Biomedical Technologies, National Research Council, 20090 Segrate, Milan, Italy.
authors: Ermanno
authors: E
authors: Rizzi
authors: Institut de Biologia Evolutiva, CSIC-UPF, Barcelona 08003, Spain.
authors: Laura
authors: L
authors: Matas-Lalueza
authors: Institut de Biologia Evolutiva, CSIC-UPF, Barcelona 08003, Spain.
authors: Oscar
authors: O
authors: Ramirez
authors: Institut de Biologia Evolutiva, CSIC-UPF, Barcelona 08003, Spain.
authors: Carles
authors: C
authors: Lalueza-Fox
authors: Dipartimento di Chimica, Biologia e Biotecnologie, Università di Perugia, 06123 Perugia, Italy.
authors: Alessandro
authors: A
authors: Achilli
authors: Dipartimento di Biologia e Biotecnologie "L. Spallanzani", Università di Pavia, 27100,Pavia,Italy.
authors: Anna
authors: A
authors: Olivieri
authors: Dipartimento di Biologia e Biotecnologie "L. Spallanzani", Università di Pavia, 27100,Pavia,Italy.
authors: Antonio
authors: A
authors: Torroni
authors: Dipartimento di Chimica, Biologia e Biotecnologie, Università di Perugia, 06123 Perugia, Italy.
authors: Hovirag
authors: H
authors: Lancioni
authors: Dipartimento di Storia, Archeologia e Storia dell'arte, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 20123 Milano, Italy.
authors: Caterina
authors: C
authors: Giostra
authors: Anthropozoologica L.B.A. s.n.c., 57123 Livorno, Italy.
authors: Elena
authors: E
authors: Bedini
authors: Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici del Piemonte, 10122 Turin, Italy.
authors: Luisella
authors: L
authors: Pejrani Baricco
authors: Human Genetics Foundation, 10125 Turin, Italy.
authors: Giuseppe
authors: G
authors: Matullo
authors: Human Genetics Foundation, 10125 Turin, Italy.
authors: Cornelia
authors: C
authors: Di Gaetano
authors: Human Genetics Foundation, 10125 Turin, Italy.
authors: Alberto
authors: A
authors: Piazza
authors: Department of Ecology and Evolution, State University of New York, Stony Brook, New York 11794-5245, United States of America.
authors: Krishna
authors: K
authors: Veeramah
authors: School of Historical Studies, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey 08540, United States of America.
authors: Patrick
authors: P
authors: Geary
authors: Dipartimento di Biologia Evoluzionistica, Università di Firenze, 50122 Florence, Italy.
authors: David
authors: D
authors: Caramelli
authors: Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biotecnologie, Università di Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, Italy.
authors: Guido
authors: G
authors: Barbujani
mesh_terms: D001499:Bayes Theorem; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D015894:Genome, Human; D049691:History, Medieval; D063426:Human Migration; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008957:Models, Genetic; D010802:Phylogeny; D058974:Phylogeography; D012372:ROC Curve; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial
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