Iron Age Italic population genetics: the Piceni from Novilara (8th–7th century BC)

Abstract

Background: Archaeological data provide evidence that Italy, during the Iron Age, witnessed the appearance of the first communities with well defined cultural identities. To date, only a few studies report genetic data about these populations and, in particular, the Piceni have never been analysed.

Aims: To provide new data about mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variability of an Iron Age Italic population, to understand the contribution of the Piceni in shaping the modern Italian gene pool and to ascertain the kinship between some individuals buried in the same grave within the Novilara necropolis.

Subjects and methods: In a first set of 10 individuals from Novilara, we performed deep sequencing of the HVS-I region of the mtDNA, combined with the genotyping of 22 SNPs in the coding region and the analysis of several autosomal markers.

Results: The results show a low nucleotide diversity for the inhabitants of Novilara and highlight a genetic affinity of this ancient population with the current inhabitants of central Italy. No family relationship was observed between the individuals analysed here.

Conclusions: This study provides a preliminary characterisation of the mtDNA variability of the Piceni of Novilara, as well as a kinship assessment of two peculiar burials.

Keywords:

• Ancient DNA
• Mitochondrial DNA
• autosomal markers
• Italian population genetic
• Piceni

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Alberto Marino for his valuable insights and feedback on this manuscript. We would like to thank Zita Laffranchi and Michael Beck De Lotto for providing us the data of the anthropological studies. We are indebted to Maria Cristina Carile and Eugenio Bortolini for their precious suggestions and for English review. We would also like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for the precious comments and useful suggestions.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Additional information

Funding

SS is supported by the European Research Council ERC-2011-AdG 295733 grant (Langelin), DL is supported by RFO grant (University of Bologna). GG is supported by RFO grant (University of Bologna). Archaeological researches were financed by Autostrade per l’Italia Spa.