Suebi, Alans and Visigoths did not erase the deep genetic legacy of Roman Hispania

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Genetic analysis identified two siblings buried at the archaeological sites of Castelló and Mérida, approximately 725 kilometres apart when travelling along the Roman road network. The image also shows the Germanic-style gold pins recovered from the two sites.

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Credit: © Cell, Carrión et al.

To the point

• Genetic history of Roman and Late Antique Hispania: An international study has analysed 243 ancient genomes from 31 archaeological sites to reconstruct the population history of the Iberian Peninsula between the 1st and 8th centuries CE.
• Roman rule transformed Iberia: The Roman conquest produced large-scale demographic change, turning the peninsula into a genetically diverse population mosaic with widespread ancestry from the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa.
• Limited demographic impact of later migrations: The elites of the subsequent Suebian, Alan and Visigothic Migration Period introduced Central and Northern European ancestry, without causing population replacement or major demographic change.
• Family histories behind migration: Genomic analysis reveals individual stories of migration, alliances and power, including siblings buried hundreds of kilometres apart and elite women whose identities did not necessarily reflect foreign origin.

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 1st and 8th centuries CE 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 409 CE.

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 as to 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.

Rome turned Iberia into a Mediterranean genetic mosaic

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 1st to the 4th centuries CE 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.

“Romanisation 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).

The new Germanic elites left a mark, but did not radically alter the genetics of the local population

From the 5th century onwards, 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. Rome created an extraordinarily diverse society due to population movements across the Mediterranean. Later migrations introduced new ancestries, but their demographic impact was much smaller”, says Pablo Carrión, first author of the study, who completed his doctorate at the IBE (CSIC-UPF) and is now a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig.

The genetic contribution of these groups ranges from 12 percent to 22 percent, depending on the region and social context. Admixture with local populations was gradual and did not radically alter the genetic landscape, unlike in Britain or the Balkans, where post-Roman migrations had a greater demographic impact.

“The genetic history of the Iberian Peninsula differs from that of other parts of post-Roman Europe. We find migration and new ancestries, but not population replacement or large-scale demographic impact”, says David Reich, principal investigator at Harvard University and co-senior author of the study.

Two family stories reveal migrations, alliances and struggles for power

Behind these large population movements there are, however, also individual and family stories that genomic analysis can help reconstruct. The team identified two siblings buried around 725 kilometres apart, in present-day Mérida, ancient Augusta Emerita, and at the Roman posting station of Ildum in Castellón, beside the Via Augusta. Both had entirely Central European ancestry and were probably first-generation migrants.

Their kinship and the archaeological context of their richly furnished burials point to a possible route taken by the Suebian migration. “We are not simply observing changes in genetic frequencies; we are identifying families who moved across a peninsula that was still connected by the infrastructure of the Roman Empire”, explains Iñigo Olalde, co-author of the study and Ikerbasque Research Professor at the EHU.

Other remains, those of the so-called “Suebian princesses”, reveal another side of this process. Although their rich grave goods had led them to be regarded as members of an elite that arrived from beyond the imperial frontiers, one of them had local ancestry. The finding points to marriage alliances between Suebian elites and Hispano-Roman families. The deaths of several of these women within the same period may have been linked to a succession dispute in an elective monarchy.

“These women show how genetics can change our interpretation of past elites: an identity associated with migrant groups, whether Visigothic or Suebian, did not necessarily imply foreign origin, as this could also be acquired through family, political and cultural alliances”, adds Pablo Carrión.

A genetic history that remains incomplete

Iberian populations in Late Antiquity were genetically more heterogeneous than those of the present day. This indicates that the gene pool changed once again during the mediaeval and post-mediaeval periods, shaped by Visigothic rule, the Islamic conquests, internal population movements and the expansion of the Christian kingdoms.

“Future studies of mediaeval and post-mediaeval genomes are essential to connect the peninsula’s ancient inhabitants with its present-day populations, with implications for the historical, cultural and even political fields”, notes Lalueza-Fox. The team also emphasises the need to expand sampling, particularly in the northern Iberian Peninsula and North Africa.

The paper shows that major political changes did not necessarily have equivalent demographic consequences. Rome profoundly transformed the composition of Iberian society; the elites of Late Antiquity, in contrast, exerted a lasting political and cultural influence without replacing the population.

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Journal

Cell

DOI

10.1016/j.cell.2026.09.052

Mystery skeleton found in Roman sarcophagus at Westminster Abbey may finally have an identity

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Interior of the sarcophagus. Detail of the western part, prior to in situ cleaning of the skeletal remains.

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Credit: © Pre-Construct Archaeology Ltd.

The identity of a mysterious skeleton found in a Roman sarcophagus in the grounds of Westminster Abbey more than 150 years ago appears closer to being solved.

When the limestone sarcophagus was excavated at the Abbey in 1869, it was found bearing an inscription to Valerius Amandinus – a wealthy Briton who lived in the city around 300 to 400 AD.

However, sculpted on the lid was a Latin cross from dating from approximately the 10th or 11th century suggesting that the human remains which were found within may belong to someone who had died many centuries later - their identity has been a mystery ever since.  

Now a new analysis, published in the peer-reviewed Journal of the British Archaeological Association, by Professor Warwick Rodwell, Consultant Archaeologist at Westminster Abbey concludes that the bones belonged to a high-ranking medieval monk.

Professor Rodwell believes the most likely candidate is Aelfwig who died around 1020 after a career as an Abbot at Westminster Abbey, then a Benedictine monastery.

Another is Aelfwig’s successor Wulnoth who died in 1049 and is presumed to have been buried at the Abbey, as was Aelfwig.

“We have two viable contenders for the occupant of the sarcophagus,” says Professor Rodwell, Consultant Archaeologist at Westminster Abbey.

“We do not know the date of birth of either. But either would fit equally well if we assume the Abbot was in his early twenties when the appointment was made and close to fifty when he died.

“The fact Aelfwig was already a monk of Westminster might favour him.”

Another clue that suggests the skeleton belonged to an Abbot lies in the fact the occupant was ‘honoured’ with a ‘fine sarcophagus’. His wooden coffin was placed inside the stone burial casket in what could represent an early example of recycling. The lid was then re-carved to feature a large Latin cross, according to Professor Rodwell.

The skeleton and Roman sarcophagus have been the subject of extensive research and discussion over the years.  

These latest findings provide fresh insights into its history. They result from a series of extensive analyses by Professor Rodwell with the assistance of other experts.

They include Channel 4’s Time Team who examined the archaeology and structure of King Henry III’s original sacristy on the north side of Westminster Abbey in 2009.

This was the area of the Abbey where in 1820 workmen accidentally unearthed the sarcophagus, smashing the lid into six pieces. The damage was repaired when the Roman coffin was later officially ‘discovered’ in 1869. 

A present-day excavation of the sacristy was carried out by Pre-Construct Archaeology, one of the UK’s largest commercial archaeological and heritage practices. Completed in 2025, the work was necessary to enable the building of the King Charles III Sacristy at the Abbey which is set to open next year.

This project included an analysis of the skeleton found in the sarcophagus by human bone specialist James Young Langthorne from Pre-Construct Archaeology (PCA).

He determined the age of the deceased man to be between 35 and 49 and around 5ft 9 ins in height. This differs from an assessment in the 1800s which suggested it was a ‘robust young man’, around 5ft 7ins and aged no more than 30 years old. 

A bone sample was also sent to the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre for carbon dating. Results indicated a date of 987 to 1052 AD. Says Professor Rodwell: “This confirms that the reuse of the sarcophagus, and the associated remodelling of its cover, occurred in the late Saxon period.”

In his article, Professor Rodwell also explains how it had been believed the skeleton had been lost. However, this was shown not to be the case when the stone coffin was sent to a conservation studio in 2016. When PCA researchers lifted the lid, they found to their surprise an almost-complete skeleton inside.

Professor Rodwell details another ‘remarkable new discovery’ in his paper. The researchers in 2016 found an outline of rectangular structure in the sarcophagus. This was marked out in a white residue which had been left by lime, a substance traditionally used in burials.

“Although no physical traces of that feature remained, it can only have been a timber coffin, which has completely decayed over the course of the seven centuries that the sarcophagus was buried in the sacristy courtyard,” writes Professor Rodwell. 

The sarcophagus is on public display in the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries at Westminster Abbey.

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Journal

Journal of the British Archaeological Association

DOI

10.1080/00681288.2026.2675788

Drones help archaeologists find Aboriginal rock art sites hidden in Australia’s Blue Mountains

 

Drone-mounted laser scanning identifies three previously unregistered rock shelters, offering a faster way to survey challenging landscapes and help Indigenous communities protect cultural heritage.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

University of Sydney

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Dr Jacob Bongers and a DJI M350 drone with a YellowScan Explorer V2 LiDAR sensor

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Credit: University of Sydney

Drone-mounted laser technology is helping archaeologists locate Aboriginal rock art sites hidden in the rugged, densely vegetated landscapes of Australia’s Blue Mountains, demonstrating a new approach to surveying archaeological sites that can be difficult and expensive to reach on foot.

Researchers from the University of Sydney and the Australian Museum, working alongside the Dharug Custodian Aboriginal Corporation, used drone-based LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) to identify three previously unregistered Aboriginal rock shelters containing rock art and stone artefacts.

LiDAR (Light, Detection and Ranging) uses laser pulses to create detailed 3D maps of the landscape, helping researchers detect features hidden beneath dense bushland and tree cover. The newly recorded shelters contain visually striking rock art, including red hand stencils, as well as stone artefacts.

The team says the approach could help Aboriginal communities, archaeologists and heritage managers locate and protect cultural sites more efficiently across Australia.

The research was published in Remote Sensing.

Walking side by side

The work forms part of the Gulamada Project, which is built on the principle of walking side by side, bringing together scientific knowledge and First Nations cultural knowledge to better understand and care for Country.

“From the outset, our vision for the Gulamada Project has been to create a true nexus of science and culture. This work highlights the importance of listening, learning and working together,” said project co-director, and Indigenous rock art expert, Wayne Brennan, at the University of Sydney.

The Gulamada Project received $248,610 from Round 1 of the Australian Government’s First Nations Heritage Grants program, managed by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW). This program provides funding for on-Country projects led by First Nations people to help identify, record and protect First Nations heritage in existing World and National Heritage-listed places.

Susan Templeman, the Federal Member for Macquarie, which includes the Blue Mountains said: “This project demonstrates the power of bringing together First Nations knowledge and new technology to better understand and protect Australia’s rich cultural heritage. I’m proud that the Australian Government’s First Nations Heritage Grants program is supporting important projects like Gulamada here in the Blue Mountains, already renowned for the extraordinary natural and cultural significance within our rugged landscapes.”

The drone-based field surveys confirmed the locations of six registered rock shelters and three previously unregistered shelters containing rock art and stone artefacts. The work also produced much more accurate coordinates than those listed in the official NSW sites register – the Aboriginal Heritage Information Management System (AHIMS).

After the drone surveys identified potential rock shelter sites, project co-director Dr Amy Mosig Way, a research archaeologist at the University of Sydney and the Australian Museum, led teams of students and volunteers into the field to verify the locations and assess whether the shelters contained cultural material.

Wayne Brennan and Erin Wilkins (Dharug Custodian Aboriginal Corporation) then led the rock art recording at confirmed sites.

“One of the most rewarding aspects of the Gulamada Project has been creating opportunities for students to gain hands-on experience in cultural heritage research in a community-centred project,” Dr Way said.

Rock shelters in the Blue Mountains

More than 200 rock shelters containing cultural and archaeological evidence have been recorded in the Blue Mountains. Yet, according to Dr Way, only an estimated 10 percent of the region has been surveyed because of its rugged and difficult terrain.

The new methodology enables Aboriginal communities, archaeologists and heritage managers to search vast areas of challenging landscape much faster than traditional ground surveys.

“This work is exciting because it offers an efficient and accurate way to locate sites in rugged environments, which are notoriously arduous, expensive and time-consuming to survey,” said Dr Jacob Bongers, lead author on the drone research and a digital archaeologist at the University of Sydney. He is also a former AMF/AMRI Visiting Research Fellow at the Australian Museum.

“Importantly, our methodology is helping expand the record of Aboriginal cultural sites in the Blue Mountains and has the potential to be applied in other regions,” Dr Bongers said.

Protecting sacred sites

While identifying previously unregistered rock shelters is significant, the broader impact may be the ability to find and safeguard many more cultural sites across Australia using a faster and more targeted approach.

The technology provides Aboriginal communities with another tool to use alongside existing knowledge and cultural practices to locate, document and protect important heritage sites before they are affected by development, erosion, bushfires or other threats.

Further research

These promising results lay the groundwork for further LiDAR-assisted surveys across Australia in partnership with Aboriginal communities.

The research team plans to work with Aboriginal communities to test and adapt the approach in different environments, including the tropical savannahs of western Arnhem Land and the semi-arid landscapes of western NSW.

Ultimately, the methodology could become more than a tool for locating archaeological sites. It has the potential to support Aboriginal communities in documenting, managing and safeguarding cultural landscapes for future generations.

 

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Journal

Remote Sensing

DOI

10.3390/rs18203495 

Fatal Neanderthal wound may be earliest evidence of a wooden spear attack on a human ancestor

 

Peer-Reviewed Publication

University of Cambridge

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A video of a 3D rendering of the hole in the scapula and fragments embedded in the sediment underneath the scapula in situ prior to conservation.

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Credit: Dr Emma Pomeroy

• Circular hole in 75,000-year-old scapula suggests lethal conflict involving sharpened wooden spears among Neanderthals in the Middle East.
   
• Remains also show evidence of brutal facial injury at least a year before death, meaning Neanderthal was likely cared for prior to dying violently.

A round hole in the shoulder blade (scapula) of a Neanderthal whose partial remains were unearthed in a cave in Iraqi Kurdistan may be the earliest known example of lethal interpersonal violence with a wooden spear in the hominin fossil record.

The Neanderthal’s scapula – a broad, flat bone so thin in places it becomes almost translucent when held up to light – was preserved almost intact under seven-and-a-half metres of rock and sediment for around 75,000 years.

Intact, that is, apart from the 15mm-wide circular perforation, which Cambridge archaeologists who led the excavation say was made by a spear of sharpened wood, as a spear tip of flint or stone would leave a flat or angular hole.

The spear penetrated the left chest cavity from the front and travelled through the body – including lung and likely major arteries – before punching a hole in the left scapula, causing rapid death. Researchers think the fatal strike may have been an intended “heart shot”.

Bevelling around the hole is typical of an exit wound. The team found tiny shards of bone displaced by the weapon, the position of which suggests a spear entered from above at a downward trajectory. They were even able to piece back part of the hole using these fragments, guided by faint ridges where the bone was marked by muscle.

“It’s extraordinary to have a perfectly preserved scapula from 75,000 years ago. These bones are so thin that you often don’t get complete scapulae from modern burials,” said Dr Emma Pomeroy, study lead author from Cambridge’s Department of Archaeology. “We were able to lift it out in one piece from under almost eight metres of rock and sediment.”

Archaeologists call the remains Shanidar A, named for the famous cave in which they were found, and have published their findings in the journal Scientific Reports.

Due to decomposition, very few wooden objects survive from deep in prehistory. Some waterlogged examples of spears dated to around 200,000 years ago – when early Neanderthals roamed Europe – were found in Schöningen, Germany, in the 1990s.  

These preserved spears – some over two metres long – were manufactured from carefully-selected timber to have weight distribution optimised for throwing, like modern javelins, and were probably used for hunting large game.

The earliest known rounded wooden spear is over 400,000 years old. Just the pointed end survived, pulled from the UK shoreline at Clacton-on-Sea in 1911.

Similar technology may well have caused the death of Shanidar A, argue researchers. They say the wound could be the first evidence for use of sharpened wooden spears in the prehistoric Middle East.

“Holes left by recreations of spears from this time are an excellent fit for the one we found in the Neanderthal scapula,” said Pomeroy, a fellow at Newnham College, Cambridge. “That early technology absolutely works for this wound.”

“What evidence we have suggests that Neanderthals and their ancestors developed woodworking and weapon-making skills many thousands of years before the death of Shanidar A. This package of capabilities could have spanned the full range of Neanderthal homelands, from Wales to Siberia.”

Pomeroy points out that the death might have been a hunting accident. “Animals such as mammoths may have been hunted up close with thrusting spears, so it’s easy to imagine lethal injuries.”

However, she says there are hints of deliberate violence. “The position of the wound and the force required to push it right through the Neanderthal’s body bear the hallmarks of an intended kill shot directed towards the heart.”  

There is no way of knowing the context for the violence, and whether modern humans could have been involved, although archaeologists believe the most straightforward interpretation is interpersonal violence between Neanderthals.

“All we can ever know about the end of this Neanderthal’s life is that it was violent, and came at the end of a wooden spear,” said Prof Graeme Barker, fellow of St. John’s College, Cambridge, who leads the Shanidar Cave excavations.

“Evidence of systematic violence is extremely rare in deep prehistory. The vast majority comes from periods of settled farming communities thousands of years after hunter-gather societies like our Neanderthals.” 

Split tooth and signs of caring

The shoulder blade was excavated alongside a mostly complete right hand, two left ribs plus a right-rib fragment, and seven teeth – all that remains of an adult Neanderthal estimated to have been around 45 years old when they died violently.

One tooth, an incisor from the front of the lower jaw, had been split lengthways, with only half remaining, while surrounding teeth had been rotated inward.

The half-tooth had significant tartar (dental calculus) build-up along the exposed root canal, suggesting it stayed in the mouth for some time after what scientists say must have been major blunt-force trauma to the front of the face.

“Surviving a blow that splits a tooth in this fashion, then continuing to live and eat for a period of at least a year and maybe more, would have required care and support from other Neanderthals,” said Pomeroy.

Shanidar A may have been fed soft food after the initial injury, says Pomeroy. Previous research on sediment in Shanidar Cave shows that plant foods were being soaked before cooking around the same time. “There’s no doubt that Shanidar A would have had difficulty communicating and been in absolute agony for a long period of time.”

“The remains of Shanidar A reflect the dual nature of so much of what we recognise as human. On the one hand, we have evidence of a terribly violent end. On the other, this was clearly an individual who was cared for during their lifetime.”

Prof Barker said: “It is fascinating to have evidence for both compassion and violence amongst Neanderthals, our closest evolutionary cousins, embodied in this one individual.” 

‘Funerary behaviour’

The vast cave in the foothills of Iraqi Kurdistan known as Shanidar is one of the world’s most famous Neanderthal sites. Excavations in the 1950s led by Ralph Solecki found ten individuals, including a “cluster” of four located in the same spot despite dying at different times, suggesting the Neanderthals had returned to inter their dead.

Remains of a Neanderthal from another part of the cave, who lived thousands of years later, showed evidence of a paralysed arm, arthritis, deafness and partial blindness. Yet they had lived a long life, so must have been cared for.

These signs of compassion, social support, and ritual around death, led to a revision of the Victorian view of Neanderthals as brutish and subhuman. Evidence of sophistication has continued to emerge, from cave art to jewellery, along with genetic analysis showing interbreeding between Neanderthals and modern humans.

Shanidar A was unearthed in 2020, and is one of three further Neanderthals found in the burial cluster by the Cambridge-led team since 2015, taking the total to five – four adults and an infant – in an area of the cave just 1.5 metres long by one metre wide, and a metre deep.

The spot is located directly behind a large vertical boulder, a “prominent marker”, and the remains are separated by thin layers of sediment. Shanidar A is the deepest yet found in the cluster, and possibly the first lain to rest in the space, positioned on their back, head facing east, as with the body directly above.

“The best explanation is intentional and symbolic funerary behaviour,” said Pomeroy. “These Neanderthals returned to the same place to lay their dead to rest. Some were deposited before the earlier body had fully decomposed, so this was happening within years or decades.”

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Journal

Scientific Reports

DOI

10.1038/s41598-026-69193-z