🏛️ Rome was a genetic crossroads

Genomes from 127 people at 29 sites around Rome, spanning 12,000 years, reveal two big shifts: first with incoming Neolithic farmers, then before the Iron Age with added Steppe ancestry.

By Rome’s founding, locals already looked like modern Mediterranean people. In the Imperial era, most newcomers traced to the eastern Mediterranean and Near East; later, in Late Antiquity, ancestry shifted back toward central and northern Europe. The constant theme is high diversity through time.

Takeaway: Ancient Rome drew people from across the Mediterranean and beyond, and its DNA mirrors those changing connections.

Source: Antonio et al., 2019. Ancient Rome: A genetic crossroads of Europe and the Mediterranean.