Ancient Rome: A genetic crossroads of Europe and the Mediterranean

Anno:

2019

Ancient Rome: A genetic crossroads of Europe and the Mediterranean

Antonio ML#1, Gao Z#2,3, Moots HM#4, Lucci M5, Candilio F6,7, Sawyer S8, Oberreiter V8, Calderon D1, Devitofranceschi K8, Aikens RC1, Aneli S9, Bartoli F10, Bedini A11, Cheronet O8, Cotter DJ3, Fernandes DM8,12, Gasperetti G13, Grifoni R14, Guidi A15, La Pastina F7, Loreti E16, Manacorda D17, Matullo G9, Morretta S18, Nava A5,19, Fiocchi Nicolai V20, Nomi F15, Pavolini C21, Pentiricci M16, Pergola P22, Piranomonte M23, Schmidt R24, Spinola G25, Sperduti A19,26, Rubini M27,28, Bondioli L19, Coppa A29, Pinhasi R#30, Pritchard JK#31,3,28.

Science. 2019 Nov 8;366(6466):708-714. doi: 10.1126/science.aay6826. PMID: 31699931

Author information

1: Program in Biomedical Informatics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
2: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
3: Department of Genetics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
4: Stanford University, Department of Anthropology, Stanford, CA, USA.
5: DANTE Laboratory for the study of Diet and Ancient Technology, Sapienza Università di Roma, Rome, Italy.
6: School of Archaeology, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
7: Dipartimento di Biologia Ambientale, Sapienza Università di Roma, Rome, Italy.
8: Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
9: Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche, Università di Torino, Torino, Italy.
10: Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
11: Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività Culturali (retired), Rome, Italy.
12: CIAS, Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
13: Soprintendenza Archeologia, belle arti e paesaggio per le province di Sassari e Nuoro, Sassari, Italy.
14: Dipartimento di Civiltà e Forme del Sapere, Università di Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
15: Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici, Università degli Studi di Roma Tre, Rome, Italy.
16: Curatore beni culturali presso la Sovrintendenza Capitolina, Rome, Italy.
17: Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici Università degli Studi di Roma Tre, Rome, Italy.
18: Soprintendenza Speciale Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio di Roma, Rome, Italy.
19: Servizio di Bioarcheologia, Museo delle Civiltà, Rome, Italy.
20: Christian and Medieval Archaeology, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy.
21: Università della Tuscia, DISUCOM Dipartimento di Scienze Umanistiche, della Comunicazione e del Turismo, Viterbo, Italy.
22: Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France.
23: Soprintendenza speciale Archeologia Belle arti e paesaggio di Roma, Rome, Italy.
24: University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
25: Musei Vaticani, Reparto Antichità Greche e Romane, Vatican City.
26: Dipartimento di Archeologia, Università di Foggia, Foggia, Italy.
27: SABAP-LAZ Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività Culturali, Rome, Italy.
28: Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
29: Dipartimento di Biologia Ambientale, Sapienza Università di Roma, Rome, Italy. pritch@stanford.edu ron.pinhasi@univie.ac.at alfredo.coppa@uniroma1.it.
30: Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria. pritch@stanford.edu ron.pinhasi@univie.ac.at alfredo.coppa@uniroma1.it.
31: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA. pritch@stanford.edu ron.pinhasi@univie.ac.at alfredo.coppa@uniroma1.it.
#: Contributed equally

Abstract

Ancient Rome was the capital of an empire of ~70 million inhabitants, but little is known about the genetics of ancient Romans. Here we present 127 genomes from 29 archaeological sites in and around Rome, spanning the past 12,000 years. We observe two major prehistoric ancestry transitions: one with the introduction of farming and another prior to the Iron Age. By the founding of Rome, the genetic composition of the region approximated that of modern Mediterranean populations. During the Imperial period, Rome's population received net immigration from the Near East, followed by an increase in genetic contributions from Europe. These ancestry shifts mirrored the geopolitical affiliations of Rome and were accompanied by marked interindividual diversity, reflecting gene flow from across the Mediterranean, Europe, and North Africa.