Ancient DNA of 4,500 people and the spread of Germanic languages

An international team led by the University of Copenhagen and Leiden University analysed DNA from more than 4,500 ancient individuals, including 712 genomes sequenced for the first time, according to eurekalert.org. The results appear in two studies in Nature, one on the Germanic languages and one on the Celtic languages. The researchers combined genetics, archaeology and linguistics to reconstruct major migrations across Europe. eurekalert.org

DNA does not show directly which language people spoke, noted Eske Willerslev, senior author and Professor at the Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen. For this reason the team compared the genetic data with linguistic and archaeological evidence. eurekalert.org

Germanic languages and the Scandinavian migrations

The researchers identified a previously unknown major migration into Scandinavia around 4,000 years ago. The newcomers likely arrived from areas around the Baltic Sea and spread rapidly across Scandinavia. The authors suggest that they may have carried the earliest ancestor of today's Germanic languages. eurekalert.org

This challenges the long-held assumption that the roots of Germanic languages arrived with earlier migrations about 5,000 years ago. According to the findings, the linguistic foundations of English, German, Dutch and the Scandinavian languages may have spread a thousand years later than previously thought. eurekalert.org

The studies also describe a second movement. Around 1,500 years ago, several centuries before the Viking Age, people from what is now northern Germany migrated into Denmark and southern Sweden. In some regions, particularly Zealand, they became a major part of the local population. eurekalert.org

This migration coincides with the emergence of Old Norse. The newcomers were closely related to groups that also contributed to the Anglo-Saxons in Britain, which may help explain similarities between Viking and Anglo-Saxon cultures, including shared artistic traditions and closely related languages. eurekalert.org

Origins of the Celtic languages

A companion study applied the same approach to the Celtic languages. About 2,500 years ago they were spoken across much of Europe; today they survive mainly in Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Brittany. Scholars have debated for more than a century whether they originated on Europe's Atlantic coast or farther east in central Europe. eurekalert.org

The ancient DNA points to a movement of people from central Europe around 3,000 years ago that spread westwards into France, Britain, Ireland and the Iberian Peninsula. According to the researchers, this is the simplest explanation for the spread of Celtic languages. It also challenges one of the most influential theories, which places their origin on the Atlantic coast. eurekalert.org

The authors stress that DNA alone cannot reveal the language of ancient people. The conclusions rest on combining genetic data with decades of linguistic and archaeological research. eurekalert.org

Copenhagen team: ancient DNA of 4,500 people shows a Scandinavian migration 4,000 years ago

Germanic languages and the Scandinavian migrations

Origins of the Celtic languages

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