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Steppe Ancestry in western Eurasia and the spread of the Germanic Languages

Authors
Hugh McColl,Guus Kroonen
J. Moreno-Mayar,Frederik Seersholm,Gabriele Scorrano,Thomaz Pinotti,Tharsika Vimala,R. Andreasen,Per Ethelberg,Ralph Fyfe,Marie-José Gaillard,Henrik Larsen,Morten Mortensen,Fabrice Demeter,Marie Jørkov,Sophie Bergerbrant,Peter Damgaard,Morten Allentoft,Lasse Vinner,Charleen Gaunitz,Abigail Ramsøe,Isin Altinkaya,Rasmus Henriksen,Evan Irving-Pease,Serena Sabatini,Anders Fischer,William Barrie,Andrés Ingason,Anders Rosengren,Andrew Vaughn,Jialu Cao,Jacqueline Staring,Jesper Stenderup,Fulya Yediay,Torbjörn Ahlström,Sofie Albris,Biyaslan Atabiev,Pernille Bangsgaard,Maria Belcastro,Nick Card,Philippe Charlier,Елизавета Черных,Torben Christiansen,Alfredo Coppa,Maura Coster,Sean Denham,Sophie Desenne,Jane Downes,Karin Frei,Olivér Gábor,Johan Gårdsvoll,Zanette Glørstad,Jesper Hansen,Stijn Heeren,Marie Henriksen,Volker Heyd,Mette Høj,Mads Holst,Rimantas Jankauskas,Henrik Janson,Mads Jessen,Jens Johannsen,Torkel Johansen,Ole Kastholm,Andrea Kern,Ruslan Khaskhanov,Katrine Kjær,В. Колосов,L.M. Kootker,A. Larsen,Thierry Lejars,Mette Løvschal,Niels Lynnerup,Yvonne Magnusson,Kristiina Mannermaa,Vyacheslav Masyakin,Anne Melheim,Inga Merkytė,Vyacheslav Moiseyev,Søren Møller,Erika Molnár,Nadja Mortensen,Eileen Murphy,Bjarne Nielsen,Doris Pany‐Kucera,Bettina Paulsson,Marcia León,Håkon Reiersen,Walter Reinhard,Antti Sajantila,Birgitte Skår,Vladimir Slavchev,Václav Smrčka,Lasse Sørensen,Georg Tiefengraber,Otto Uldum,Jorge Vega,Daniele Vitali,Alexey Voloshinov,Sidsel Wåhlin,Holger Wendling,Anna Wessman,Helene Wilhelmson,Karin Wiltschke‐Schrotta,Joào Zilhão,Christoph Zollikofer,Thorfinn Korneliussen,Bruno Chaume,Jean-Paul Demoule,Thomas Werge,Line Olsen,Rasmus Nielsen,Lotte Hedeager,Kristian Kristiansen,Martin Sikora,Eske Willerslev,Hanne Larsen,A. Rosengren,Anders Bjørk,Biaslan Atabiev,Chernykh M.,Anne Larsen
+120 authors
,Stig Møller
Published
Mar 14, 2024
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Abstract

Summary Germanic-speaking populations historically form an integral component of the North and Northwest European cultural configuration. According to linguistic consensus, the common ancestor of the Germanic languages, which include German, English, Frisian, Dutch as well as the Nordic languages, was spoken in Northern Europe during the Pre-Roman Iron Age. However, important questions remain concerning the earlier Bronze Age distribution of this Indo-European language branch in Scandinavia as well as the driving factors behind its Late Iron Age diversification and expansion across the European continent. A key difficulty in addressing these questions are the existence of striking differences in the interpretation of the archaeological record, leading to various hypotheses of correlations with linguistic dispersals and changes in material culture. Moreover, these interpretations have been difficult to assess using genomics due to limited ancient genomes and the difficulty in differentiating closely related populations. Here we integrate multidisciplinary evidence from population genomics, historical sources, archaeology and linguistics to offer a fully revised model for the origins and spread of Germanic languages and for the formation of the genomic ancestry of Germanic-speaking northern European populations, while acknowledging that coordinating archaeology, linguistics and genetics is complex and potentially controversial. We sequenced 710 ancient human genomes from western Eurasia and analysed them together with 3,940 published genomes suitable for imputing diploid genotypes. We find evidence of a previously unknown, large-scale Bronze Age migration within Scandinavia, originating in the east and becoming widespread to the west and south, thus providing a new potential driving factor for the expansion of the Germanic speech community. This East Scandinavian genetic cluster is first seen 800 years after the arrival of the Corded Ware Culture, the first Steppe-related population to emerge in Northern Europe, opening a new scenario implying a Late rather than an Middle Neolithic arrival of the Germanic language group in Scandinavia. Moreover, the non-local Hunter-Gatherer ancestry of this East Scandinavian cluster is indicative of a cross-Baltic maritime rather than a southern Scandinavian land-based entry. Later in the Iron Age around 1700 BP, we find a southward push of admixed Eastern and Southern Scandinavians into areas including Germany and the Netherlands, previously associated with Celtic speakers, mixing with local populations from the Eastern North Sea coast. During the Migration Period (1575-1200 BP), we find evidence of this structured, admixed Southern Scandinavian population representing the Western Germanic Anglo-Saxon migrations into Britain and Langobards into southern Europe. During the Migration Period, we detect a previously unknown northward migration back into Southern Scandinavia, partly replacing earlier inhabitants and forming the North Germanic-speaking Viking-Age populations of Denmark and southern Sweden, corresponding with historically attested Danes. However, the origin and character of these major changes in Scandinavia before the Viking Age remain contested. In contrast to these Western and Northern Germanic-speaking populations, we find the Wielbark population from Poland to be primarily of Eastern Scandinavian ancestry, supporting a Swedish origin for East Germanic groups. In contrast, the later cultural descendants, the Ostrogoths and Visigoths are predominantly of Southern European ancestry implying the adoption of Gothic culture. Together, these results highlight the use of archaeology, linguistics and genetics as distinct but complementary lines of evidence.

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