The Albanians of Arbëria

From village cemeteries at Barç in the southeast and Bardhoc and Pazhok in the north come the Albanians of the last medieval generations and the first Ottoman centuries — farmers and highlanders buried by their churches as the empires changed above them. Their genomes carry the region's Iron Age ancestry almost unchanged: the measured proof that the Albanians of written history are the old population of these valleys, not newcomers.

The genome-wide data behind this entry was published in Ancient DNA evidence for the history of the Albanians.

Every Ancestrify Global25 report includes the free Notable Matches lens: your coordinates are compared to every sequenced member of every catalog entry, and the distance to the closest member is reported — a Euclidean distance in the same 25-dimensional space the Distance lens uses. Because these are a small group of real individuals, not a population average, distances naturally run larger than population distances — that is expected, not a poor result. And one thing is never claimed: a small distance means similar ancestry composition, not that the Albanians of Arbëria are your ancestor. See how it looks in the live demo or read about the full G25 analysis.

• 01

  Who were the Albanians of Arbëria?

  The Albanians of Arbëria (c. 1400–1700 CE, Barç and Bardhoc, Albania) are one of the Iconic discoveries entries in our Notable Matches catalog, represented by 6 sequenced ancient genomes published in the study "Ancient DNA evidence for the history of the Albanians".

• 02

  What does "matching" the Albanians of Arbëria mean?

  Your Global25 coordinates are compared to the entry's sequenced members and the distance to the closest one is reported — a Euclidean distance in the same 25-dimensional reference space the Distance lens uses. A notable entry is one person or one small burial group, not a population average, so distances naturally run larger than population distances.

• 03

  Are they my ancestor?

  No — and no DNA test can show that. A small distance means your genome sits near theirs in a shared reference space: similar ancestry composition, not descent. Ancestrify never claims a notable individual is your ancestor or relative.

• 04

  How do I see my own distance to the Albanians of Arbëria?

  Notable Matches is a free lens on every Ancestrify Global25 report — never sold separately. Order the G25 analysis (29.99 EUR), and your report ranks your coordinates against the full catalog, with a portrait, dossier and map for every entry. The public demo shows the lens with example data.

The catalog holds every published entry across three tiers — browse the full Notable Matches directory. Nearby entries:

• The Roma of Barçc. 1500–1700 CE

• The Retainers of Machu Picchuc. 1420–1530 CE

• The Black Death Londonersc. 1330–1360 CE

• The Jews of Tàrrega1348 CE

• The Jews of Medieval Erfurtc. 1270–1400 CE

• The Medieval Bosnians13th–15th century CE

• The Christians of Norman Segestac. 1120–1320 CE

• The Norse of Greenlandc. 950–1400 CE

• The Muslims of Segestac. 870–1170 CE

• The Medieval Docleansc. 800–1100 CE

• The Gaels of Kilteasheenc. 700–1300 CE

• The Christians of Sigtunac. 900–1050 CE