Ancient DNA from Balkan refugium reshapes picture of post-glacial European ancestry

Researchers have posted a preprint to bioRxiv reporting genome-wide ancient DNA data from nine individuals recovered from sites across Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, southern Italy, and Sardinia, dating to between roughly 30,000 and 7,000 years ago. The study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, addresses a longstanding gap in the ancient-DNA record: whereas the Iberian and Italian refugia — areas that remained ice-free during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, approximately 26,000–19,000 years before present) — have been relatively well characterised genetically, the Balkan refugium had been largely invisible due to an absence of sequenced individuals from this period.

The new dataset includes three Epipaleolithic individuals from Romania, one from Bosnia and Herzegovina, three Mesolithic individuals from Greece, one Epipaleolithic individual from southern Italy, and one Mesolithic individual from Sardinia. Together they allow the authors to characterise a genetic lineage they term Balkan Hunter-Gatherers and to trace its dispersal across Europe following the LGM. The preprint argues this ancestry component had a pan-European impact that had previously been masked by the absence of suitable reference populations.

The work extends a growing body of archaeogenomics research into European prehistory and is relevant to researchers studying post-glacial population dynamics, ancestry modelling, and the settlement history of the continent. It will also be of interest to genealogists and educators engaged with Palaeolithic and Mesolithic European history. As a preprint, the findings await independent peer review.