Ancestry and kinship in an Late Antiquity-early medieval cemetery in the eastern Italian Alps. BSS cemetery

In South Tyrol (Eastern Italian Alps) during Late Antiquity-Early Middle Ages (3rd -11th cent. AD), archeological records indicate cultural hybridization among alpine groups and peoples of various origin. However, whether cultural interactions were accompanied by genetic exchanges remain unexplored using nuclear data. Through paleogenomics, we reconstructed the ancestry of 20 individuals (4th-7th cent. AD) from one cemetery from South Tyrol. Although the alpine samples showed primary ancestry from southern Europe, their genomes exhibited additional ancestries from south-west, west and north suggesting complex genetic admixture with groups of different origins. Differences emerged when comparing our results to those from other single cemeteries from Europe. Moreover, kinship analyses revealed no genetic relatedness between the only two males which were buried with grave goods. Instead, we identified close relatives in one multiple grave which also hosted not related individuals, that genomic, anthropological and archeological information suggest belonging to an high-status familia.