A multidisciplinary research team led by scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology has combined ancient DNA data with a clear archaeological, anthropological and historical context to reconstruct the social dynamics of Avar-period steppe descent populations that settled in Europe's Carpathian Basin in the 6th century. The study involved analysing entire communities by sampling all available human remains from four fully excavated Avar-era cemeteries, analysing a total of 424 individuals and discovering that around 300 had a close relative buried in the same cemetery. This allowed the reconstruction of several extensive pedigrees, revealing that the communities practised a strict patrilineal system of descent. Women played a key role in promoting social cohesion, linking individual communities by marrying outside their original community. Changes within a site indicated community replacement, probably linked to political changes, showing that genetic continuity at the level of ancestry can mask the replacement of whole communities, with important implications for future archaeological and genetic research.