Greece & Rome · 1st–8th centuries AD · Mérida, Iberian Peninsula, Spain
Ancient genomes show Roman rule reshaped Iberia's population more than the Visigoths
A study of 243 people who lived between the 1st and 8th centuries AD puts the Germanic newcomers' genetic share at 12 to 22 percent, depending on region and social context.
Peer-reviewed paper
Mérida, Spain Rome changed the genetic make-up of the Iberian Peninsula far more than the Germanic kingdoms that followed it, according to a study of ancient DNA from 243 people who lived between the 1st and 8th centuries AD. The Suebi, Alans and Visigoths who took power from the 5th century left a measurable genetic trace, but most communities kept the mixed Hispano-Roman ancestry that had formed under Roman rule.
The work was led by the Institute of Evolutionary Biology in Barcelona, with the Natural Sciences Museum of Barcelona, Harvard University and the University of the Basque Country. The team analysed remains from 31 archaeological sites and compared the results with 58 individuals whose genetic data had already been published. The study, by Carrión and colleagues, appears in the journal Cell.
A wider mix under Rome
Iberia was one of Rome's earliest major conquests, valued for its position between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean and for its natural resources. Iron Age Iberians were fairly alike genetically. Individuals from the 1st to 4th centuries AD show a much wider range, with ancestry from the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa.
The North African ancestry appears at sites across southeastern Iberia and reaches some regions farther north, and both women and men took part in the movement from northwest Africa. Under Roman control, the researchers found, the populations on the two shores of the Strait of Gibraltar became genetically closer than they had ever been before.
New rulers, same population
From the 5th century the Suebi, Vandals, Alans and Visigoths took political control of the peninsula. The team set out to test whether this change of rulers came with a matching change of population. They found people with Central and Northern European ancestry, mostly in graves tied to the new ruling groups, while most communities kept the mixed Hispano-Roman profile. The newcomers' genetic share ranges from 12 to 22 percent, depending on region and social context.
Other parts of Europe went a different way after Rome's collapse. In England, early medieval burials put the Anglo-Saxon share at 76 percent on average. In parts of the Balkans, such as modern Serbia, Slavic migrations contributed 40 to 60 percent. In Iberia the study finds only gradual mixing and nothing close to a population replacement, in which incoming groups largely take the place of the people already living there.
The genomes also reveal individual relationships. Two siblings of fully Central European ancestry were buried about 725 kilometres apart, measured along the Roman road network: one at Mérida, the other at Ildum, a Roman posting station in Castellón. Both burials were rich, and Germanic-style gold pins were recovered from the two sites. The researchers read the family tie and the wealth of the graves as evidence of a Suebian route across a peninsula still connected by Roman roads.
A second case concerns the so-called Suebian princesses from Los Blanes in Mérida. Their grave goods, including gold pins and jewellery, suggested foreign elites, yet one of the women had local ancestry. The team takes this as a sign of marriage alliances between Suebian rulers and Hispano-Roman families. Several of the women died around the same time, possibly, the researchers suggest, over a succession dispute in an elective monarchy. On this evidence, a Visigothic or Suebian identity did not always mean foreign birth.
People in Iberia today are less genetically varied than the individuals in the study, so the gene pool shifted again in medieval and later times, through Visigothic rule, the Islamic conquests and the growth of the Christian kingdoms. The team now wants more samples from those later periods, from northern Iberia and from North Africa. Work in Roman North Africa would show whether people moved in both directions.
Sources
- Suebi, Alans and Visigoths did not wipe out genetic legacy of Roman Hispania, ancient genomes study finds (Archaeology News)
Paper: Carrión et al., Cell (2026)
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