rome

A new large-scale ancient DNA study has found that Rome reshaped the people of Iberia more profoundly than the Suebi, Vandals, Alans and Visigoths who arrived centuries later. The Cell study analyzed 243 ancient genomes from 31 archaeological sites, spanning the first to the eighth centuries AD. Its most striking message is that dramatic political change did not necessarily mean population replacement. Map of the Iberian Peninsula and Visigothic provinces around 710 AD. (Alexander Keith Johnston/ Public domain ) Rome Turned Hispania into a Genetic Mosaic Before Roman rule, Iron Age Iberian communities were comparatively less genetically diverse. During the Roman period, however, people with eastern Mediterranean and North African ancestry became widespread, creating what researchers describe as a heterogeneous