%0 Journal Article
%A Gnecchi Ruscone, Guido Alberto
%A Rácz, Zsófia
%A Samu, Levente
%A Szeniczey, Tamás
%A Faragó, Norbert
%A Knipper, Corina
%A Friedrich, Ronny
%A Zlámalová, Denisa
%A Traverso, Luca
%A Liccardo, Salvatore
%A Wabnitz, Sandra
%A Popli, Divya Ratan
%A Wang, Ke
%A Radzeviciute, Rita
%A Gulyás, Bence
%A Koncz, István
%A Balogh, Csilla
%A Lezsák, Gabriella M.
%A Mácsai, Viktor
%A Bunbury, Magdalena M. E.
%A Spekker, Olga
%A le Roux, Petrus
%A Szécsényi-Nagy, Anna
%A Mende, Balázs Gusztáv
%A Colleran, Heidi
%A Hajdu, Tamás
%A Geary, Patrick
%A Pohl, Walter
%A Vida, Tivadar
%A Krause, Johannes
%A Hofmanová, Zuzana
%+ Genetic History, Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society
Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society
The Leipzig School of Human Origins (IMPRS), Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society
Lise Meitner Research Group BirthRites - Cultures of Reproduction, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society
Department of Human Behavior Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society
Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society
Genetic History, Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society
%T Network of large pedigrees reveals social practices of Avar communities (advance online) : 
%G eng
%U https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-000F-36FE-7
%R 10.1038/s41586-024-07312-4
%7 2024-04-24
%D 2024
%8 24.04.2024
%* Review method: peer-reviewed
%X From ad 567–568, at the onset of the Avar period, populations from the Eurasian Steppe settled in the Carpathian Basin for approximately 250 years1. Extensive sampling for archaeogenomics (424 individuals) and isotopes, combined with archaeological, anthropological and historical contextualization of four Avar-period cemeteries, allowed for a detailed description of the genomic structure of these communities and their kinship and social practices. We present a set of large pedigrees, reconstructed using ancient DNA, spanning nine generations and comprising around 300 individuals. We uncover a strict patrilineal kinship system, in which patrilocality and female exogamy were the norm and multiple reproductive partnering and levirate unions were common. The absence of consanguinity indicates that this society maintained a detailed memory of ancestry over generations. These kinship practices correspond with previous evidence from historical sources and anthropological research on Eurasian Steppe societies2. Network analyses of identity-by-descent DNA connections suggest that social cohesion between communities was maintained via female exogamy. Finally, despite the absence of major ancestry shifts, the level of resolution of our analyses allowed us to detect genetic discontinuity caused by the replacement of a community at one of the sites. This was paralleled with changes in the archaeological record and was probably a result of local political realignment.
%J Nature
%@ 0028-08361476-4687