ancient-greece9 min
Ancient Greek Army DNA: Who Fought at Himera?
DNA from ancient Himera reveals a diverse 480 BCE Greek army, distant mercenaries, local soldiers and mobility across the Mediterranean.
Articles
ancient-dna
33 articles on ancient-dna — ancient-DNA research written up for readers who want the evidence, not just the headline.
ancient-egypt9 minAncient Egyptian DNA: What the First Old Kingdom Genome Reveals
The first whole genome from Old Kingdom Egypt reveals deep North African ancestry and an eastern Fertile Crescent connection—with major limits.
phoenicians8 minPhoenician DNA: The Unexpected Ancestry of the Punic World
Ancient DNA reveals that Punic communities shared Phoenician culture but drew most sampled ancestry from Sicily, the Aegean and North Africa.
yamnaya8 minYamnaya DNA: Where Steppe Ancestry Came From
Ancient DNA traces Yamnaya ancestry to Caucasus–Lower Volga and Dnipro–Don populations before the great Bronze Age steppe expansion.
minoan9 minMinoan and Mycenaean DNA: Migration, Kinship and Marriage
DNA from 102 prehistoric Aegeans traces migration into Crete and Greece, Mycenaean-era mobility, family burials and frequent cousin unions.
slavs9 minSlavic DNA and Migration: What 555 Ancient Genomes Reveal
A 555-genome study traces large-scale Early Medieval migration associated with Slavic expansion, regional admixture and changing communities.
huns9 minWere the Huns Descended from the Xiongnu? What DNA Shows
Ancient DNA connects some European Huns to Xiongnu elite lineages while revealing a highly diverse Carpathian Basin population.
neanderthals9 minWhen Did Humans Mix with Neanderthals? Ancient DNA Narrows the Date
Genomes from Ranis and Zlatý kůň date the shared Neanderthal admixture in ancestors of non-Africans to roughly 45,000–49,000 years ago.
iron-age-britain9 minIron Age Britain DNA: Women, Kinship and Celtic-Era Mobility
DNA from Iron Age Britain reveals matrilocal communities, female-line descent and continuing migration across the English Channel.
roman-frontier10 minRoman Frontier DNA: How Central Europe Changed After Rome Fell
A 258-genome study reveals migration, Roman provincial mobility and family life along southern Germany's frontier after imperial rule.
etruscans9 minEtruscan DNA: What Ancient Genomes Reveal About Their Origins
Ancient Etruscan DNA supports local Iron Age origins, genetic similarity to Latin neighbors and major ancestry shifts under imperial Rome.
avars8 minAvar DNA: Family Trees from a Lost Steppe Empire
Ancient DNA reconstructs Avar-period families, marriage networks and neighboring communities with different ancestry across Central Europe.
rapa-nui8 minRapa Nui DNA: Collapse, Resilience and Contact with the Americas
Fifteen ancient Rapanui genomes challenge a severe pre-European collapse and date Indigenous American-related ancestry to 1250–1430 CE.
green-sahara9 minGreen Sahara DNA: Who Lived in North Africa 7,000 Years Ago?
DNA from two women at Takarkori reveals a deeply rooted North African lineage and suggests Saharan pastoralism spread mainly through culture.
tarim-basin8 minTarim Mummy DNA: The Unexpected Origins of Xinjiang’s Bronze Age People
DNA from 13 early Tarim Basin mummies reveals a genetically isolated local population that adopted dairy, crops and technologies from neighbors.
anglo-saxons10 minAnglo-Saxon DNA: How Migration Reshaped Early Medieval England
A 460-genome study reveals large North Sea migration, local integration and regional ancestry change in Early Medieval England.
natural-selection9 minAncient DNA and Natural Selection: How Farming Changed Our Genes
A study of 15,836 ancient and modern West Eurasians finds hundreds of genes under strong directional selection over the past ten thousand years.
denisovans9 minThe Oldest High-Coverage Human Genome Is a Denisovan
A 200,000-year-old molar from Denisova Cave yields a second high-quality Denisovan genome and reveals at least three distinct Denisovan groups.
denisovans8 minThe Harbin Skull: Putting a Face on the Denisovans
Ancient proteins and mitochondrial DNA from dental calculus identify the near-complete Harbin cranium from northeastern China as a Denisovan.
ladakh9 minLadakh Ancient DNA: A Forgotten Population at 4,000 Metres
Ten genomes from a Himalayan cave reveal a population that was half Tibetan-related and half North Indian-related, mixing from about 2800 years ago.
plague8 minThe Oldest Known Plague Outbreak: Lake Baikal, 5,500 Years Ago
Yersinia pestis genomes from four Siberian hunter-gatherer cemeteries show lethal plague outbreaks millennia before cities, farming or rats.
leprosy9 minLeprosy Was in the Americas Before Europeans Arrived
Ancient genomes of Mycobacterium lepromatosis from Canada and Argentina show a second leprosy pathogen circulating in the Americas before contact.
south-america8 minEight Millennia of Continuity: An Unknown Lineage in Argentina
238 ancient genomes from the Southern Cone reveal a deep central Argentina lineage that persisted for thousands of years with little inward migration.
picuris-pueblo8 minPicuris Pueblo DNA: A Tribe Commissions Its Own Ancient-DNA Study
Picuris Pueblo initiated a genomic study of its own ancestors, showing continuity across a millennium and a firm link to Chaco Canyon.
pompeii9 minPompeii DNA: What the Plaster Casts Got Wrong
Ancient DNA from five Pompeii plaster casts overturns the family stories told about them for more than a century.
east-asia8 minDonghulin: A Deep Lineage at the Dawn of Farming in North China
Genomes from an 11,000-year-old site near Beijing reveal an unknown deep northern East Asian lineage and 2,000 years of change at one place.
albania11 minAlbanian DNA: Ancient Origins, Continuity and Migration
A 2026 ancient DNA study traces Albanian ancestry from Bronze and Iron Age West Balkan groups through Roman-era and medieval admixture.
balkans10 minAncient Balkan DNA: Romans, Slavs and Migration
Ancient Balkan DNA reveals Roman-era Anatolian mobility, mixed late-antique migrations and lasting ancestry linked to Slavic expansion.
indo-european10 minIndo-European Origins: The Hybrid Hypothesis Explained
A 2023 Science study analyzed 161 languages, dated the Indo-European root to about 8,120 years ago, and proposed a debated hybrid origin.
vikings8 minViking DNA: What 442 Ancient Genomes Reveal
A 442-genome Viking study reveals regional Scandinavian ancestry, family expeditions, migration and Viking identities beyond genetic ancestry.
anatolia2 minThe Genetic making of Anatolian Turks
qpAdm modeling shows modern Anatolian Turks carrying ancestry from Neolithic farmers, Yamnaya, and later Iron Age to medieval populations, reflecting a complex mix of local and incoming ancestries.
balkans2 minNeolithic Ancestry of present-day Balkan Populations
qpAdm modeling shows modern Balkan populations carry varying proportions of Neolithic farmer and Bronze Age steppe ancestry, reflecting long-term regional continuity.
italy2 minThe Genetic Ancestry of the Picenes: A New Genomic Portrait of an Ancient People
Recent ancient DNA research provides the first comprehensive view of the Picenes (Picentes), an Iron Age population of Central Italy along the Middle Adriatic coast. This study sheds light on their paternal lineages, ancestral composition, and genetic relationships with neighboring populations.