Network of large pedigrees reveals social practices of Avar communities

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216224%3A14210%2F24%3A00138304" target="_blank" >RIV/00216224:14210/24:00138304 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07312-4" target="_blank" >https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07312-4</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07312-4" target="_blank" >10.1038/s41586-024-07312-4</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Network of large pedigrees reveals social practices of Avar communities

Original language description

From ad 567-568, at the onset of the Avar period, populations from the Eurasian Steppe settled in the Carpathian Basin for approximately 250 years 1 . 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 societies 2 . 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.

Czech name

—

Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

—

OECD FORD branch

60102 - Archaeology

Project

Result was created during the realization of more than one project. More information in the Projects tab.

Continuities

P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)

Publication year

2024

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Nature

ISSN

0028-0836

e-ISSN

—

Volume of the periodical

629

Issue of the periodical within the volume

8011

Country of publishing house

GB - UNITED KINGDOM

Number of pages

8

Pages from-to

376-383

UT code for WoS article

001207800900024

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85191239017