Who were the Proto Albanian (500 – 900 AD)?

Proto Albanian is one of the 27 curated source populations in the Classical Antiquity era of the Ancestrify qpAdm analysis: a group of published ancient genomes from one archaeological context, pooled as a single reference the model can test your genome against.

Does Proto Albanian in my result mean they were my ancestors?

No. A source population is a reference the model tests against, never a statement about who your ancestors were. A coefficient on this source means the ancestry those burials represent helps explain your genome to within statistical noise — similar ancestry composition, not descent from those individuals. Ancestrify never claims a population is your ancestor.

What does a Proto Albanian percentage in a qpAdm model mean?

qpAdm estimates the mixture proportions that best explain your genome as a combination of the chosen sources, given a fixed set of outgroup (right) populations, and reports a p-value for whether the model is statistically acceptable together with a standard error for every proportion. The percentage is that estimated share, with its uncertainty published beside it.

How do I get a qpAdm model that uses Proto Albanian?

Order the Ancestrify qpAdm analysis (€29.99, one-time) and upload the raw file you already have from a consumer test. Your genome is merged into the AADR reference panel and modelled across both eras; each era's model is built from that era's source populations, so a model for the Classical Antiquity era draws on Proto Albanian where it improves the fit.

Can I model Proto Albanian ancestry for free first?

Yes. The Ancestrify Lab runs Global25 admixture calculators, a nearest-populations distance tool and an AdmixTools 2 workbench in your browser with no account, and several calculators cover the Classical Antiquity era. Those are G25 fits, not formal qpAdm models — the paid analysis is the one with a p-value.

Proto Albanian — ancient DNA source population (qpAdm)

Who they were

Artistic interpretation of the Proto Albanian (AI-generated artwork, not documentary evidence)

Period: 500 – 900 AD
Era in the analysis: Classical Antiquity
Region: Western Balkans
Role in the model: Source (left) population — a reference qpAdm tests against

The Proto Albanian source represents the early medieval population of the western Balkans — present-day Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro and western North Macedonia — during the centuries when the Slavic migrations reshaped the peninsula. Ancient genomes from the region show that the Roman-era Balkan population, itself descended largely from Iron Age Illyrian-related groups with an eastern Mediterranean admixture, persisted here through the migration period with less Slavic-related inflow than in the northern and eastern Balkans, which is the genetic background against which the Albanian language emerged (Olalde et al. 2023; Lazaridis et al. 2022).

This ancestry is the majority heritage of present-day Albanians and a substantial layer in Montenegrins, Kosovars, Macedonians and the Arbëreshë communities of southern Italy, and it is related to the populations of Epirus and the Ionian coast. In the model it sits between the Illyrian source, its ancient forerunner, and the Early Slavic source that overlays it, with the Aegean source close on the southern side.

In Ancestrify's qpAdm service, Proto Albanian is a source in the "Classical Antiquity" era. The report shows its weight with a standard error and a Z-score, so you can see not only how much of the model it carries but how confidently that share is separated from zero, and a model that cannot support it is rejected rather than published. For Albanian and western Balkan genomes it is usually the anchoring source, and its weights against the Illyrian and Early Slavic sources are the most informative contrasts the era offers for this region.

Y haplogroups E-V13, J2b-L283 and R1b-Z2103, and mtDNA H, K, J and T2, are typical of these samples. A haplogroup alone is never evidence of a share.

In your report
A population of the western Balkans emerging during the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age, representing the ancestral groups of modern Albanians. These populations are generally associated with southern Illyrian and related Balkan groups, carrying a genetic profile formed by a mixture of Neolithic European farmer ancestry and Bronze Age steppe-derived components. Ancient DNA from the region shows substantial continuity from earlier Bronze Age populations, with additional influences from neighboring Balkan groups, reflecting the area's position between the Adriatic and interior Balkans. Despite later historical events, including Roman rule, migrations, and Slavic expansions, these populations retained a distinct genetic substrate that persisted in parts of the western Balkans. Proto-Albanians therefore represent a continuity of indigenous Balkan ancestry with moderate external input, forming the genetic and historical basis of later Albanian populations.

Artwork is an AI-generated artistic interpretation informed by the archaeological record — not documentary evidence.

Where this population sits in the model

The Ancestrify qpAdm analysis models your genome once per era. The Classical Antiquity era has 27 curated source populations, and Proto Albanian is one of them: every candidate model for that era is a combination of these sources, tested against a fixed set of outgroup populations, and only a model that passes the statistical fit check is published — with a p-value, and a standard error on every proportion.

A reference, not a verdict: every population on this page is a source the model tests your genome against — a well-sampled point in ancient genetic space that a mixture of ancestries can be expressed in terms of. A weight on it means your genome is well described as partly resembling those people; it is never a statement that they, specifically, were your ancestors, and a population that fits well is not the only one that could.

Read how the method works on the qpAdm analysis page, or the definitions in the glossary.

Model it yourself for free

The Ancestrify Lab runs in your browser, with no account. Paste a Global25 row into an admixture calculator that covers the Classical Antiquity era, rank the closest ancient populations in the distance tool, or run f4, qpWave and qpAdm on the public panel in the AdmixTools 2 workbench. These are Global25 fits and exploratory statistics, not the formal qpAdm model of the paid analysis.

Questions

Who were the Proto Albanian (500 – 900 AD)?
Proto Albanian is one of the 27 curated source populations in the Classical Antiquity era of the Ancestrify qpAdm analysis: a group of published ancient genomes from one archaeological context, pooled as a single reference the model can test your genome against.
Does Proto Albanian in my result mean they were my ancestors?
No. A source population is a reference the model tests against, never a statement about who your ancestors were. A coefficient on this source means the ancestry those burials represent helps explain your genome to within statistical noise — similar ancestry composition, not descent from those individuals. Ancestrify never claims a population is your ancestor.
What does a Proto Albanian percentage in a qpAdm model mean?
qpAdm estimates the mixture proportions that best explain your genome as a combination of the chosen sources, given a fixed set of outgroup (right) populations, and reports a p-value for whether the model is statistically acceptable together with a standard error for every proportion. The percentage is that estimated share, with its uncertainty published beside it.
How do I get a qpAdm model that uses Proto Albanian?
Order the Ancestrify qpAdm analysis (€29.99, one-time) and upload the raw file you already have from a consumer test. Your genome is merged into the AADR reference panel and modelled across both eras; each era's model is built from that era's source populations, so a model for the Classical Antiquity era draws on Proto Albanian where it improves the fit.
Can I model Proto Albanian ancestry for free first?
Yes. The Ancestrify Lab runs Global25 admixture calculators, a nearest-populations distance tool and an AdmixTools 2 workbench in your browser with no account, and several calculators cover the Classical Antiquity era. Those are G25 fits, not formal qpAdm models — the paid analysis is the one with a p-value.