The Italic Iron Age is characterized by the presence of various ethnic groups partially examined from a genomic perspective. To explore the evolution of Iron Age Italic populations and the genetic impact of Romanization, we focus on the Picenes, one of the most fascinating pre-Roman civilizations, who flourished on the Middle Adriatic side of Central Italy between the 9th and the 3rd century BCE, until the Roman colonization.
More than 50 [DNA] samples are reported, spanning more than 1000 years of history from the Iron Age to Late Antiquity. Despite cultural diversity, our analysis reveals no major differences between the Picenes and other coeval populations, suggesting a shared genetic history of the Central Italian Iron Age ethnic groups. Nevertheless, a slight genetic differentiation between populations along the Adriatic and Tyrrhenian coasts can be observed, possibly due to different population dynamics in the two sides of Italy and/or genetic contacts across the Adriatic Sea. Additionally, we identify several individuals with ancestries deviating from their general population. Lastly, in our Late Antiquity site, we observe a drastic change in the genetic landscape of the Middle Adriatic region, indicating a relevant influx from the Near East, possibly as a consequence of Romanization.
Our findings, consistently with archeological hypotheses, suggest genetic interactions across the Adriatic Sea during the Bronze/Iron Age and a high level of individual mobility typical of cosmopolitan societies. Finally, we highlight the role of the Roman Empire in shaping genetic and phenotypic changes that greatly impact the Italian peninsula….
In the early years of the 3rd century BCE, the Picene culture started to fade due to the Roman expansion. The Romans have deeply impacted the history of Italy by contributing to different socio-cultural aspects and, possibly, to demography and genetics. The rise of a multicultural Roman Empire changed the genetic landscape of the city of Rome, introducing a strong genetic component from the Near East that also lasted throughout the Late Antiquity. Although this shift in the gene pool has also been observed outside the city of Rome, it is still unclear how pervasive it was in the entire peninsula.
To shed light on all these aspects, we conducted an archaeogenetic analysis of the Italian Middle Adriatic populations covering a period of more than 1000 years by performing shotgun sequencing of 102 ancient individuals….
Overall, combining genetic and archeological evidence, we suggest that the Adriatic Sea was a hotspot for the commercial, social, and genetic connections between the two peninsulas, with the populations living on its shores directly involved in the exchanges….
We identified a common genetic origin for all the Italian IA ethnicities analyzed until now despite minor regional differences, with a particularly strong homogeneity among the Picenes. We highlighted the genetic similarities of the Italian and Balkan peninsulas during these ages, indicating common histories and/or frequent contacts across the Adriatic in the frame of the Mediterranean genetic continuum already described. The presence of several individuals with different genetic make-up among the IA groups analyzed so far, suggests that a cosmopolitan society began to emerge and persisted in Italy during this period, reaching its climax during the Roman Imperial period. With the onset of the Roman Empire in the area and in the subsequent Late Antiquity, we observed a shift in the genetic landscape toward the Near East mirroring the pattern observed in Rome and on the Tyrrhenian side, pointing out that this change affected Central Italy and possibly the entire peninsula.
Leave A Comment