The international team of researchers has shown that Etrusks are the ancient inhabitants of the North-West Italy – not as a result of migrations from the Middle East, but come from immigrants from the steppe, which came to the region in the bronze age. The article of scientists is published in the journal Science Advances.
The civilization of Etruscans inhabited in the territory of modern Tuscany had a huge impact on the development of neighboring Roman. However, the origin of this nation, whose language was not Indo-European, remained a mystery since the times of historians of the ancient world. According to one hypothesis, which he adhered to, in particular, Herodotus, – Etrusks were formed by waves of migrations from the East Mediterranean, one of which was, in particular, from Anatolia. On the other, the first-headed Diogenes of Galicarnas, Etruski developed from the previously local culture of Villanov.
Researchers from the Institute for Studying History of the Human Society Max Planck, Harvard, Copenhagen, Siena and Florentine Universities analyzed the genomas of 82 people found in 12 archaeological monuments of Central and Southern Italy, which lived from 800 to our era for 1000 years. They could not detect traces of migration from Anatolia. It turned out that in many respects the genome of Etruscans was similar to the genetic profile of the founded Rome Latins: most of their ancestors came from the steppes of the Black Sea and the Caspiani in the Bronze Age.
Etrusca-related Genofond remained stable even after the conquest of Etruscan cities Rome – until the establishment of the empire, when he experienced a large one – up to 50 percent – the influx of genes from the population of the Eastern Mediterranean. According to researchers, it is explained by the movement in the Roman Empire of slaves and legionnaires. In the early Middle Ages, the influx of North European genes is noted, which indicates that German migrants who came during the great resettlement of the peoples – in particular, Langobard – left a significant heritage. The fact that from 1000 years, the population of Tuscany, Lazio and Basilikati remained for the most part unchanged, says, according to researchers about the fact that the gene pool of the population and southern Italy has formed at least a thousand years ago.