This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: An international study led by the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (IBE, CSIC-UPF) in Barcelona, the Natural Sciences Museum of Barcelona, Harvard University and the University of the Basque Country (EHU) has reconstructed the genetic history of the Iberian Peninsula between the first and eighth centuries A.D. using 243 ancient genomes from 31 archaeological sites. The Iberian Peninsula was one of Rome's earliest major conquests.
Its position between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, together with its abundant natural resources, made Hispania a key territory for the empire. Centuries later, the weakening of Roman power facilitated the arrival of the Alans, Vandals and Suebi in A.D. 409. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, these and other Germanic groups established new kingdoms in various parts of Europe, including the Visigothic Kingdom, founded on the peninsula in 507.
Although some were short-lived, these emerging states helped shape medieval political identities and, in the long term, the map of Europe's future states. It was, however, still an open question whether the profound political and cultural influence of these migrations was accompanied by a demographic transformation of comparable magnitude. By combining genetic and archaeological evidence, the new study published in Cell has concluded that the Roman conquest of the Iberian Peninsula produced a large-scale demographic change.
In contrast, the Suebi, Vandal, Alan and Visigoth migrations in Late Antiquity had a more limited impact on the genetic makeup of Hispania. The study, the first systematic, large-scale archaeogenomic analysis of this period, shows that the Iberian population changed profoundly as Roman rule became established. In contrast to the relative genetic homogeneity of the Iron Age, individuals from the first to the fourth centuries A.D. display much greater ancestry diversity.
Roman rule encouraged the arrival of people with eastern Mediterranean and North African ancestry, creating a heterogeneous society connected to human networks across the Mediterranean. "Romanization was not only a political, linguistic and cultural transformation. Our data show that it was also a major demographic transformation, connecting local populations with human movements originating in different parts of the Mediterranean," explains Carles Lalueza-Fox, current director of the Natural Sciences Museum of Barcelona, co-senior author of the study and principal investigator at the IBE (CSIC-UPF).
From the fifth century onward, the study has identified individuals with Central and Northern European ancestry, particularly in archaeological contexts associated with the new political groups. However, most communities retained the diverse profile of the Hispano-Roman population. "What surprised us most was the contrast between the two processes.
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