Ancient DNA and Paleoproteomic Analysis on Roman Imperial-Era Individuals from Histria, Romania

[Ajeje Brazorf]

https://www.ebi.ac.uk/ena/browser/view/PRJNA1023923

In this study, we employed shotgun sequencing techniques to delve into the genetics of ten archaeological individuals who were interred in the Roman necropolis of Histria. Histria was a city established by Greek colonists and is located near the Black Sea and the mouth of the Danube. Our project explores various facets of their genetic makeup. First, we performed ancient DNA authentication was rigorously conducted to ensure the reliability of the genetic data. We also estimated the sex of these individuals using genomic technique, recognizing the nuances of skeletal preservation and the limitations of traditional methods. Moreover, contamination estimates were meticulously assessed to distinguish endogenous DNA from potential exogenous sources. Finally, we investigated the intricate details of population structure of this sample. This multi-faceted approach offers a holistic view of the genetic landscape of this unique archaeological cohort. Because we upload the raw fastq files, we urge researchers that use our data to perform their own filtering and quality assessments before including the data into their downstream analyses.

https://www.researchgate.net/publica...istria_Romania

[Ajeje Brazorf]

Romania_Histria_RomanImperial:SRR26291258__AD_350__Cov_12.82%,0.117238,0.11577,0.028661,0.016473,-0.001231,0.017012,0.004935,-0.009461,-0.019634,-0.020228,-0.01088,0.003297,-0.019029,-0.012799,0.00095,-0.001326,0.009127,-0.00038,0.000628,0.003752,0.007112,0.014838,0.015159,0.001807,-0.011496
Romania_Histria_RomanImperial:SRR26291260__AD_350__Cov_12.09%,0.114961,0.153345,-0.013576,-0.061047,0.004616,-0.021196,0.009635,-0.006923,0.009204,0.025878,-0.005684,0.005695,-0.004906,-0.011973,-0.002714,0.007558,0.018254,0.00266,0.00817,0.002501,-0.004866,-0.002597,0.002711,-0.001084,-0.000479
Romania_Histria_RomanImperial:SRR26291262__AD_350__Cov_10.70%,0.111547,0.157407,-0.033941,-0.076874,0.011694,-0.042391,0,-0.005769,0.008999,0.031345,0.016239,0.013788,-0.009068,0.000826,-0.021715,-0.019093,-0.004433,0.001394,-0.00264,-0.014007,-0.013975,-0.008408,-0.004067,-0.001807,0.008622
Romania_Histria_RomanImperial:SRR26291264__AD_350__Cov_44.33%,0.122929,0.140143,0.017348,-0.017442,0.032314,-0.006136,-0.010575,-0.004384,0.004704,0.023691,0.005684,0.002248,-0.009812,-0.00812,-0.000679,0.007027,0.007302,0.005194,0.004148,-0.006878,-0.010107,0.006059,-0.006162,0.004217,-0.001676

Distance to:	Romania_Histria_RomanImperial:SRR26291258__AD_350__Cov_12.82%
0.03951832	Serbia_Kormadin:I27296__AD_523__Cov_70.38%
0.04048438	Ukraine_Cernavodă_I_En:KTL003__BC_3613__Cov_54.12%
0.04290667	Ukraine_Usatove_En:MAJ023__BC_4145__Cov_41.76%
0.04408350	Ukraine_Usatove_En:USV005__BC_3588__Cov_77.23%
0.04547515	Ukraine_Usatove_En:MAJ002__BC_4351__Cov_81.43%
0.04636064	Ukraine_Cernavodă_I_En:KTL006__BC_4058__Cov_82.61%
0.04750083	Ukraine_Usatove_En:USV004__BC_3703__Cov_36.75%
0.04781509	Ukraine_Usatove_En:MAJ003__BC_3777__Cov_75.93%
0.04887052	Croatia_SisakPogorelec:I26762__AD_375__Cov_70.51%
0.04915905	06lab_scaled

Distance to:	Romania_Histria_RomanImperial:SRR26291260__AD_350__Cov_12.09%
0.03097495	Italian_Apulia:GSM1094915
0.03103385	Italy_Imperial.SG:R125.SG__AD_200__Cov_52.87%
0.03116398	Italy_Imperial.SG:R436.SG__AD_100__Cov_79.12%
0.03133645	Italian_Campania:NaN195ST
0.03162812	Italian_Apulia:GSM1094905
0.03197749	Greek_Kos:GreeceKos6
0.03210208	Italy_Imperial.SG:R47.SG__AD_295__Cov_71.94%
0.03234480	Italian_Campania:NaN58AC
0.03272331	Italian_Campania:NaN207MM
0.03277867	Greek_Kos:GreeceKos2

Distance to:	Romania_Histria_RomanImperial:SRR26291262__AD_350__Cov_10.70%
0.03530435	Turkey_C:I10547__BC_4500__Cov_37.78%
0.04011201	Turkey_C:I10542__BC_3511__Cov_67.71%
0.04089628	Italy_Imperial.SG:R78.SG__AD_100__Cov_70.85%
0.04124276	Italy_IsolaSacra_RomanImperial.SG:R11109.SG__AD_200__Cov_50.24%
0.04129087	Turkey_EBA:I5735__BC_2975__Cov_32.76%
0.04165278	Italy_Imperial.SG:R66.SG__AD_200__Cov_47.00%
0.04191124	Turkey_Aegean_Mugla_Samantas_Byz:I20264__AD_604__Cov_71.20%
0.04271511	Turkey_WestByzantine:I8373__AD_600__Cov_56.19%
0.04390767	Greece_Islands_LBA:LAZ020__BC_1318__Cov_87.28%
0.04432065	eolien_friend_mother_scaled

Distance to:	Romania_Histria_RomanImperial:SRR26291264__AD_350__Cov_44.33%
0.02392151	Italian_Tuscany
0.02495239	Italian_Emilia
0.02566911	Italian_Piedmont
0.02574672	Italian_Tuscany:Tuscany93
0.02593932	Italian_Tuscany:VO65
0.02606928	French_Provence:S_34
0.02625782	Swiss_Italian
0.02656263	Austria_Klosterneuburg_Roman_oLevant.SG:R10654.SG__AD_347__Cov_85.55%
0.02658444	Italian_Tuscany:NA20508
0.02663113	Italian_Piedmont:ItalyPiedmont63

[Voskos]

Target: Romanian
Distance: 2.1730% / 0.02172976
57.0 Romania_Histria_RomanImperial
26.2 Lithuania_BA
10.0 Bulgaria_Medieval_oEastAsia
6.8 Lebanon_Medieval.SG

[Nurzat]

if you add them versus modern population on Vahaduo G25 plot, they overlap Italian Campania and Greek Apulia (both are in Magna Graecia).

one of them clusters with Serbs/Romanians/Moldovans, and seems to be an outlier (Greek-Scythian mix or Scythian).

one of them clusters with Tuscans.

two of them are in the area of Greek Islanders/Greek Italians.

overall I think they show best affinity to Ancient Greeks, which is a nice confirmation, and those not clustering there are normal for any seaside city of the period, as each such city had various „foreigners” living inside it: traders, merchants, sailors, craftsmen, mercenaries etc


edit:
also want to add that modern Greeks are a bit more to the right on the plot, because of subsequent (slight) north-Balkan and Slavic mix, compared to ancient Greeks, which overlap present day southern Italians. so the results for those two purely Greek samples in Histria are normally Greek, but indeed the third sample is maybe Celtic-admixed and the fourth might be a Scythian or a Greek-Scythian

[celticdragongod]

Distance to: CDG_scaled
0.08749589 Romania_Histria_RomanImperial:SRR26291258__AD_350_ _Cov_12.82%
0.10026527 Romania_Histria_RomanImperial:SRR26291264__AD_350_ _Cov_44.33%
0.15647321 Romania_Histria_RomanImperial:SRR26291260__AD_350_ _Cov_12.09%
0.19008259 Romania_Histria_RomanImperial:SRR26291262__AD_350_ _Cov_10.70%

Target: CDG_scaled
Distance: 8.1840% / 0.08184022
65.2 Romania_Histria_RomanImperial:SRR26291258__AD_350_ _Cov_12.82%
34.8 Romania_Histria_RomanImperial:SRR26291264__AD_350_ _Cov_44.33%

[Dušan]

if you add them versus modern population on Vahaduo G25 plot, they overlap Italian Campania and Greek Apulia (both are in Magna Graecia).

one of them clusters with Serbs/Romanians/Moldovans, and seems to be an outlier (Greek-Scythian mix or Scythian).

one of them clusters with Tuscans.

two of them are in the area of Greek Islanders/Greek Italians.

overall I think they show best affinity to Ancient Greeks, which is a nice confirmation, and those not clustering there are normal for any seaside city of the period, as each such city had various „foreigners” living inside it: traders, merchants, sailors, craftsmen, mercenaries etc

I got one of them in mixed mode with modern population


Target: Dušan_scaled
Distance: 1.7362% / 0.01736220
42.0 Lithuanian_VZ
23.2 Romania_Histria_RomanImperial:SRR26291262__AD_350_ _Cov_10.70%
18.0 Russian_Smolensk
7.8 Sardinian
3.8 Albanian
3.8 Italian_Liguria
0.8 Georgian_Svaneti
0.6 Even


Target: Dušan_scaled
Distance: 1.8411% / 0.01841149 | ADC: 0.25x RC
78.4 Ukrainian_Lviv
16.4 Romania_Histria_RomanImperial:SRR26291262__AD_350_ _Cov_10.70%
5.2 Sardinian




Distance to: Romania_Histria_RomanImperial:SRR26291262__AD_350_ _Cov_10.70%
0.05013644 Greek_Dodecanese_Rhodes
0.05161876 Bulgarian_Jew
0.05210844 Cypriot
0.05365559 Romaniote_Jew
0.05405329 Italian_Jew
0.05416275 Greek_Dodecanese
0.05562643 Turkish_Jew
0.05620579 Sephardic_Jew
0.05929678 Greek_Kos
0.06113890 Greek_Deep_Mani



Target: Romania_Histria_RomanImperial:SRR26291262__AD_350_ _Cov_10.70%
Distance: 4.0269% / 0.04026894
40.6 Samaritan
34.2 Sardinian
24.6 Greek_Trabzon
0.6 Papuan_Highland_A

[Lemurian]

Very interesting, thanks. And it makes sense.