KDA-517: Kiskundorozsma

Avar Middle Period 

Sample: KDA-517 Hungary_Avar_Middle [2019 Bolzano]

Location: Kiskundorozsma-Daruhalom (Southeastern Hungary)

Grave #: 517

Date: Late 8th Century CE [775 AD]

KDA-517: Grave No. 517:

Context: "The skeletal remains of a young adult male were found in the grave with traces of a coffin and an iron buckle. The burial was dated to the last third of the 7th century CE."

MtDNA: H16c

YDNA: G-Y82047*

YDNA Pedigree: G-M406>G-PF3293>G-PF3316>G-Z6029>G-S9591>G-Y82047*
YFULL ID: ERS9945118

YFULL Tree: https://www.yfull.com/tree/G-Y82047/

SNPS: G-FGC41451* (xBY151009,Z39937,Z45397,BY187643,FT29722,FGC41449,Z31416)

Global 25:

HUN_middle_Avar:KDA517__AD_680__Cov_81.43%,0.129758,0.142174,0.036204,0.008721,0.032621,0.008088,0.00564,0.003231,0.002863,0.005649,0.001786,-0.000599,-0.001635,0.00867,-0.012758,0.006762,0.009909,0.003927,0.012318,-0.004752,-0.003868,-0.006677,0.003204,-0.003133,0.002994

GLOBAL25 MODERN CLUSTERING: Clusters with modern Serbians and Romanians

Y Coverage: 0.269

apAdm Model: EU_cline 57% EU_Core5 43% EU_Core2

Hierarchical Ward Clustering (2635 ancient genomes): EU_Core1 53%; EU_Core5 47%.  Clusters with the indigenous local population on the Carpathian Basin, i.e. ancient Bellbeakers, Longobards, Slavs.

ENA Accession #: https://www.ebi.ac.uk/ena/browser/view/PRJEB31764?show=reads

New #> PRJEB49971

Site Context: Kiskundorozsma-Daruhalom-dűlő (KDA; Csongrád-Csanád County) 66,67:

"In 2003 and 2004, three Avar age cemeteries were found close together during the preventive excavations of highways M5 and M43. The burial grounds were near the present-day town of Kiskundorozsma, at the western and eastern banks of the Maty Creek. The Kiskundorozsma-Daruhalom-dűlő cemetery is considered fully excavated, and 93 burials were found. The graves formed four parallel lines, and they were oriented mainly in NW-SE directions. Traces of wooden coffins were registered in 62% of the pits, besides remains of other wooden constructions were also documented. Animal bones were found in 57% of the burials. Implements (e.g., knives) and pottery (e.g., vessels) were the most frequent types of grave goods in the series. Female graves contained belt buckles, a string of beads (e.g., melon seed-shaped beads) and different hoop-jewelry (e.g., finger rings, bracelets). Besides, male burials were characterized by similar types of jewelry and sets of ornamented belts. The cemetery was dated to the Middle Avar period, the last third of the 7th century CE, and close relationships were supposed with the population of the Kiskundorozsma-Kettőshatár I and II series. We involved four samples in our analysis."

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Whole genome analysis sheds light on the genetic origin of Huns, Avars and conquering Hungarians

The study: "identified three core populations, representing immigrants from each period, with no recent European ancestry. Our results suggest that this “immigrant core” of both Huns and Avars originated in present day Mongolia, and their origin can be traced back to Xiongnus. On the other hand, the “immigrant core” of the conquering Hungarians derived from an earlier admixture of Mansis, early Sarmatians and descendants of late Xiongnus. In addition, we detected shared Hun-related ancestry in numerous Avar and Hungarian conquest period genetic outliers indicating a genetic link between these successive nomadic groups. Aside from the immigrant core groups we identified that the majority of the individuals from each period were local residents, harboring “native European” ancestry."

Most individuals had local European ancestry

We performed principal component analysis (PCA), by projecting our ancient genomes onto the axes computed from modern Eurasian individuals (Fig. 2a and Extended Data Fig.1). On Fig. 2a most samples from each period project on with modern European populations, moreover these samples form a South-North cline along the P2 axes, which we termed the EU-cline. In order to group the most similar genomes, we clustered our samples together with all published ancient Eurasian genomes, according to their pairwise genetic distances obtained from the first 50 PCA dimensions (PC50 clustering, see Methods). As such, we identified five genetic clusters within the EU-cline (Fig. 2 and Supplementary Table 3), well sequestered along the P2 axes, which were named EU_Core1 to EU_Core5 respectively"

"From the 76 samples in the Avar-cline, 26 could be modeled as a simple 2-way admixture of Avar_Asia_Core and EU_Core (Supplementary Table 6c) indicating that these were admixed descendants of locals and immigrants, while further 9 samples required additional Hun and/or Iranian related sources. In the remaining 40 models Hun_Asia_Core and/or Xiongnu sources replaced Avar_Asia_Core (Supplementary Table 6d, summarized in Supplementary Table 1b). Scythian-related sources with significant Iranian ancestries, like Alan, Tian Shan Hun, Tian Shan Saka12, or Anapa (this study), were ubiquitous in the Avar-cline, but given their low proportion, qpAdm was unable to identify the exact source."

"Our data are compatible with the Rouran origin of Avar elite25, though the single low coverage Rouran genome26 provided a poor fit in the qpAm models (Supplementary Table 6b). The elite preserved very ancient east Asian genomes with undisputable origin, as had been also inferred from Y-Hg data27,28, however just half of the Avar-cline individuals had Avar_Asia_Core ancestry, implicating diverse origin of the Avar population. Our models indicate that the Avars incorporated groups with Xiongnu/Hun_Asia_Core and Iranian ancestries, presumably the remnants of the European Huns and Alans or other Iranian peoples on the Pontic Steppe, as suggested by Kim 201323. People with different origin were seemingly distinguished, as samples with Hun-related genomes were buried in separate cemeteries."

How did G-M406 end up among the Avars?

It does not appear that the G-M406 Avar samples possess a paternal lineage that would reasonably be associated with the original Ugrian speaking peoples.  There is no evidence to suggest that G-M406 men of Anatolia had reached this area at that time.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT: SCYTHIANS 800 BC - 200 BC:

The nomadic Scythians and their western branch the Sarmatians spoke a Proto Indo European language that was closely related to Persian.  They became the  dominant power on the Pontic steppe in the 8th century BC.  They eventually controlled a territory from modern-day Ukraine north of the Black Sea to encompassing almost all of modern Kazakhstan.

In the 7th century BC, the Scythians crossed the Caucasus and raided the Middle East along with the Cimmerians.  They defeated the Medes in 650 BC and played a leading role in the destruction of the Assyrian Empire in the Sack of Nineveh in 612 BC. The Scythians engaged both the Persian Empire and the Kingdom of Macedonia.  They were weakened by huge defeat against Macedonia and their Ukrainian and Black Sea territory was ceded to a related group the Sarmatians.  In the late 2nd century BC, their capital at Scythian Neapolis in the Crimea was captured by Mithridates VI and their territories incorporated into the Bosporan Kingdom.  By this time they had been largely Hellenized. 

HISTORICAL CONTEXT: SARMATIANS (200 BC - 400 AD)

The Sarmatians

HISTORICAL CONTEXT: HUNS (370 AD-454 AD)

The Huns were nomads from Central Asia whose origin is still up for debate.  We do not know their language.  They arrived on the river Volga around 370 AD and by 430 had conquered many Germanic peoples living outside of the Roman Empire includingth e Goths.  By the death of Atilla, their most famous ruler in 454, they lost most of their lands. 

Some scholars have proposed that the appearance of the the Huns in Europe coincided with the dissappearance of the Xiongnus, a strikingly similar group from Chinese records.  Northern Xiongnus were expelled from Mongolia in the second century CE.  Maróti et al. claims that confirms a genetic relationship of the Huns with the Xiongnus peoples, adding weight to the Asiatic origins of this group.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT: AVARS (580 AD - 804 AD)The Avars replaced the Huns on the Pontic Steppe and the borders of the Byzantine Empire.  They are also thought to have been from Central Asia and like the Huns scholars have speculated a core descent from the Xiongnus people. Their language is also unknown but is widely assumed to have been a Mongolian or Turkic language. While group like many Steppe tribes were said to be an amalgamation of several ethnic lineages. Maróti et al. puts forward a genetic relationship of the core Avar population with the Xiongnus peoples, adding weight to the Asiatic origins of this group.

Still, the Avars should be considered a multiethnic people.  Csanád Bálint's adds a compelling perspective, "The ethnogenesis of early medieval peoples of steppe origin cannot be conceived in a single linear fashion due to their great and constant mobility", with no ethnogenetic "point zero", theoretical "proto-people" or proto-language.  Moreover, Avar identity was strongly linked to Avar political institutions. Groups who rebelled or fled from the Avar realm could never be called "Avars", but were rather termed "Bulgars". Similarly, with the final demise of Avar power in the early 9th century, Avar identity disappeared almost instantaneously." 

According to writer Walter Pohl, the Avars were likely a defeated faction previously subordinate to the Western Turkic Khaganate, and fled west of the Dnieper River.  After encroaching on Byzantine lands, they were contracted by Emperor Justinian of the Byzantine Empire to help fight against it's Germanic frontier.  

Early Avar Period 580-670: Per Wikipedia: In 597, the Avars conquered much of the Carpathian Plains defeating the Gepids.  They then subjugated other tribes occupying both Pannonia and the Carpathian Plains.  In 626, the Avars allied with the Sassanids and besieged Constantinople.  They were defeated by the Byzantines and suffered a great blow to their military power.

Middle 670-720: Per Wikipedia: Some Slavic tribes again became the subjects of the Avars, however their empire dissolved into 5 branches. Two were conquered by the Khazar Empire to the East, one established themselves in the Bulgar Empire on the Danube. The fourth moved to Ravenna.  The fifth one established the Avar Khaganate.  While the Avar empire had diminished to half its original size, the new Avar-Slav alliance consolidated their rule west from the central parts of the mid-Danubian basin.

Late 720-804: Per Wikipedia:  In 788, the Avars invaded Bavaria and were repulsed.  The Frankish-Bavarian alliance invaded the Avar Khanate and under Charlemagne had completely defeated the Avars by 796.  The Avar chieftains converted to Christianity.  The Bulgarian Empire conquered the southeastern Avar lands in 804.  Ultimately, the remnants of the Avars were subsumed by the conquering Hungarians in the later part of the 9th Century AD.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT: HUNGARIANS (895 AD-present):The Hungarians or Magyars conquered the Carpathian Basin in 895 AD.  Prior to their conquest they lived to the east of the Carpathian Mountains and according to Maróti et al. they were an descended from an early admixture of the Mansi people (a people living in the Urals who's language is a part of the Ugric branch of the Finno-Ugric languages), early Sarmatians and descendants of late Xiongnus (who were also ancestral to the Huns and the Avars).  

Hungarians speak a Finno-Ugric language related to Finnish, part of the Uralic language family.  The original Finno-Ugric homeland is thought to somewhere near the Ural mountains or western Siberia and is associated with a high percentage of YDNA Haplogroup N.  The Finno-Ugric branch of the Uralic language is dated to approximately 2,000 BCE.