Ancestry and kinship in a Late Antiquity-Early Middle Ages cemetery in the Eastern Italian Alps

In South Tyrol (Eastern Italian Alps), during Late Antiquity-Early Middle Ages, archeological records indi-cate cultural hybridization among alpine groups and peoples of various origin. Using paleogenomics, we reconstructed the ancestry of 20 individuals (4th-7th cent. AD) from a cemetery to analyze whether they had heterogeneous or homogeneous ancestry and to study their social organization. The results revealed a primary genetic ancestry from southern Europe and additional ancestries from south-western, western, and northern Europe, suggesting that cultural hybridization was accompanied by complex genetic admix-ture. Kinship analyses found no genetic relatedness between the only two individuals buried with grave goods. Instead, a father-son pair was discovered in one multiple grave, together with unrelated individ-uals and one possible non-local female. These genetic findings indicate the presence of a high social status familia, which is supported by the cultural materials and the proximity of the grave to the most sacred area of the church.

Automated summary

The study reveals that the individuals from a cemetery in South Tyrol have diverse genetic ancestries, indicating complex genetic admixture with cultural hybridization. The presence of a high social status family is also discovered in the cemetery.