How the Slavic Migration Reshaped Central and Eastern Europe
2 days ago
- #European history
- #ancient DNA
- #Slavic migration
- Dramatic population change in Eastern Germany, Poland/Ukraine, and the Northern Balkans during the 6th-8th centuries CE, with over 80% ancestry from Eastern European newcomers.
- Independent study of 18 genomes from South Moravia confirms the pattern of Slavic migration.
- Regional differences: Northern regions saw near-complete genetic turnover, while the Balkans experienced more mixing between newcomers and locals.
- Migration involved entire families, showing no sex bias, indicating integration rather than conquest.
- Flexible social structures emerged, with large patrilinear pedigrees in Eastern Germany and more traditional structures in Croatia.
- Slavic origins traced to southern Belarus to central Ukraine, matching linguistic and archaeological reconstructions.
- Slavic expansion was a mosaic of different groups adapting locally, not a monolithic event.
- Eastern Germany saw 85% ancestry shift to Eastern European newcomers post-Thuringian kingdom decline.
- Poland's earlier inhabitants were replaced by Eastern European newcomers, closely related to modern Poles, Ukrainians, and Belarusians.
- Croatia shows a mix of Eastern European and local ancestry, highlighting complex demographic history.
- Independent study in Moravia links demographic shift to Slavic-associated material culture from Ukraine.
- Slavic migration was a grass-root movement, settling new territories without imposing fixed identities or elite structures.
- Slavic success attributed to pragmatic, egalitarian lifestyle, avoiding heavy burdens of declining empires.
- Genetic findings show common ancestral origin but regional differences due to mixing with local populations.
- Slavic migration was the last demographic event to permanently reshape Europe's genetic and linguistic landscape.