https://phys.org/news/2018-09-dna-early-medieval-alemannic-warriors.html

 

 

DNA of early medieval Alemannic warriors and their entourage decoded

 

In 1962, an Alemannic burial site containing human skeletal remains was discovered in Niederstotzingen (Baden-Württemberg, Germany). Researchers at the Eurac Research Centre in Bozen-Bolzano, Italy, and at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena, Germany, have now examined the DNA of these skeletal remains.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2018-09-dna-early-medieval-alemannic-warriors.html#jCp

 

 

Archaeologists recovered 13 human skeletons, the remains of three horses and some very well-preserved grave goods of diverse origin. This burial, which was discovered near a Roman road not far from Ulm, is considered one of the most important Alemannic gravesites in Germany. The site consists of individual and multiple graves, from which it was hypothesised that the individuals had not all been buried at the same time. The molecular genetic investigations have now brought new details to light about the individuals and their final resting place in this high-ranking warrior type burial.

 

Using DNA analysis, the researchers were able to reconstruct maternal as well as paternal kinship. On the basis of tooth samples, the scientists could ascertain that five of the individuals were either first- or second-degree relatives. In addition, the deceased displayed a variety of patterns of genetic origin, indicating Mediterranean and northern European roots. "These results prove the existence of remarkable transregional contacts. The fact that they were buried together also indicates a link between the families and their entourage, which went beyond death," explains Niall O'Sullivan, who did his doctorate at Eurac Research and carried out some of the analyses at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena.

 

 

In this context, the grave goods with which the multiple graves were adorned and which are of Frankish, Lombard and Byzantine origin, are also very interesting. Their diverse origin in combination with the new genetic data indicates cultural openness, and demonstrates that members of the same family were receptive to different cultures.