Analisi paleogenetiche su resti umani antichi. Gli Etruschi di Felsina e dintorni: evidenze genomiche dall’Etruria padana

During the Early Iron Age (9th-8th century BCE), the Etruscan civilization flourished in a large area of central Italy with local expansions into neighboring regions, such as Campania and the Po Valley. Palaeogenomic evidence from over 50 ancient human remains coming from necropolyses associated to the Etruscan city of Felsina (present-day Bologna) and dated between the 8th and 6th century BCE (Hallstatt phase), allows to define for the first time the genetic profile of the Etruscan community of the Po Valley area. Archaeological findings show clear evidence of extensive contacts between the Etruscans of Felsina and Celtic-related groups from the Early Iron Age onwards. The newly generated genomic data help to investigate the dynamics underlying the relationship between these two culturally distinct groups and to evaluate the resulting biological impact on the genetic makeup of Felsina. To further explore this point, additional samples from the Po Valley and dated to the Gallic migration period (4th-3rd century BCE, La Tène phase) were added to the dataset. Although most of the Etruscan samples from Bologna carry a local genetic profile, a significative and heterogeneous fraction of the analysed individuals show a high genetic affinity to ancient central and northern European populations. Unexpectedly, almost all the samples coming from the more recent necropolises show an autochthonous signal. Radiocarbon dating revealed the presence of a few individuals belonging to the Roman Imperial period that are are genetically distinct from the previous Iron Age samples, showing an increased affinity to ancient groups from the Caucasus and, in one single case, to subsaharan Africa.