TY - JOUR

T1 - The Etruscans: a population-genetic study

AU - Vernesi, Cristiano

AU - Caramelli, David

AU - Dupanloup, Isabelle

AU - Bertorelle, Giorgio

AU - Lari, Martina

AU - Cappellini, Enrico

AU - Moggi-Cecchi, Jacopo

AU - Chiarelli, Brunetto

AU - Castrì, Loredana

AU - Casoli, Antonella

AU - Mallegni, Francesco

AU - Lalueza-Fox, Carles

AU - Barbujani, Guido

PY - 2004

Y1 - 2004

N2 - The origins of the Etruscans, a non-Indo-European population of preclassical Italy, are unclear. There is broad agreement that their culture developed locally, but the Etruscans' evolutionary and migrational relationships are largely unknown. In this study, we determined mitochondrial DNA sequences in multiple clones derived from bone samples of 80 Etruscans who lived between the 7th and the 3rd centuries b.c. In the first phase of the study, we eliminated all specimens for which any of nine tests for validation of ancient DNA data raised the suspicion that either degradation or contamination by modern DNA might have occurred. On the basis of data from the remaining 30 individuals, the Etruscans appeared as genetically variable as modern populations. No significant heterogeneity emerged among archaeological sites or time periods, suggesting that different Etruscan communities shared not only a culture but also a mitochondrial gene pool. Genetic distances and sequence comparisons show closer evolutionary relationships with the eastern Mediterranean shores for the Etruscans than for modern Italian populations. All mitochondrial lineages observed among the Etruscans appear typically European or West Asian, but only a few haplotypes were found to have an exact match in a modern mitochondrial database, raising new questions about the Etruscans' fate after their assimilation into the Roman state.

AB - The origins of the Etruscans, a non-Indo-European population of preclassical Italy, are unclear. There is broad agreement that their culture developed locally, but the Etruscans' evolutionary and migrational relationships are largely unknown. In this study, we determined mitochondrial DNA sequences in multiple clones derived from bone samples of 80 Etruscans who lived between the 7th and the 3rd centuries b.c. In the first phase of the study, we eliminated all specimens for which any of nine tests for validation of ancient DNA data raised the suspicion that either degradation or contamination by modern DNA might have occurred. On the basis of data from the remaining 30 individuals, the Etruscans appeared as genetically variable as modern populations. No significant heterogeneity emerged among archaeological sites or time periods, suggesting that different Etruscan communities shared not only a culture but also a mitochondrial gene pool. Genetic distances and sequence comparisons show closer evolutionary relationships with the eastern Mediterranean shores for the Etruscans than for modern Italian populations. All mitochondrial lineages observed among the Etruscans appear typically European or West Asian, but only a few haplotypes were found to have an exact match in a modern mitochondrial database, raising new questions about the Etruscans' fate after their assimilation into the Roman state.

KW - Bone and Bones

KW - DNA, Mitochondrial

KW - Ethnic Groups

KW - Europe

KW - Evolution, Molecular

KW - Fossils

KW - Genetic Variation

KW - Genetics, Population

KW - Haplotypes

KW - History, Ancient

KW - Humans

KW - Italy

KW - Molecular Sequence Data

KW - Phylogeny

KW - Reproducibility of Results

KW - Roman World

U2 - 10.1086/383284

DO - 10.1086/383284

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 15015132

VL - 74

SP - 694

EP - 704

JO - American Journal of Human Genetics

JF - American Journal of Human Genetics

SN - 0002-9297

IS - 4

ER -