Roman Empire’s collapse created a genetic melting pot in Europe

An analysis of ancient genomes from hundreds of burials in southern Germany reveal that the transition from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages was more complex than the stereotype of northern ‘barbarians’ running roughshod over a Roman Empire in decline. Instead, the genomes point to gradual genetic and cultural shifts that occurred through small-scale migration and intermarriage. Shared patterns of DNA show that northern Europeans “haven’t arrived as mass invaders or hordes or big clans — these are individual families who are already four or five generations on Roman territory”, says population geneticist and anthropologist Joachim Burger, who co-authored the analysis. They probably saw themselves as Romans, he adds.