Ancient DNA analysis sheds light on dark event in medieval Spain

Date:
September 23, 2021
Source:
University of Huddersfield
Summary:
Researchers used ancient DNA analysis to identify a member of
a population expelled from medieval Spain known as the 'Segorbe
Giant'. The results have shed light on the brutal political decision
that led to a dramatic change in population following the Christian
reconquest of Spain.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
An international research team led by the University of Huddersfield's Archaeogenetics Research Group, including geneticists, archaeological scientists, and archaeologists, has published the genome sequence of
a unique individual from Islamic medieval Spain -- al-Andalus -- the
results of which have shed light on a brutal event that took place in
medieval Spain.


==========================================================================
The individual, who was discovered in an eleventh century Islamic
necropolis from the city of Segorbe, near Valencia in Spain, is known to
local archaeologists as the 'Segorbe Giant' because of his unusual height.

His skeleton had suggested that he might have some African ancestry. Most
of Spain had been progressively conquered by Arabs and Berbers from
Northwest Africa from the eighth century onwards, creating one of the
major centres of medieval European civilisation.

The ancient DNA analysis was carried out by Dr Marina Silva and Dr Gonzalo Oteo-Garcia, who had been working on the University's Leverhulme Trust
doctoral scholarship programme in evolutionary genomics.

They found that the "Giant" carried highly specific North African genetic lineages on both his male and female lines of descent -- the Y-chromosome
and the mitochondrial DNA -- the oldest individual known to have this particular pattern of ancestry. This suggested that his recent ancestry
was indeed amongst the newly Islamicised Berber populations of medieval Northwest Africa.

But a more detailed examination revealed a more complex situation. The
male and female lines of descent account for only a small fraction of
our overall ancestry -- that from our father's father's father and our
mother's mother's mother, and so on.

His genome-wide ancestry showed that he also carried a significant amount
- - likely more than half -- of local Spanish ancestry in his chromosomes.

Moreover, stable isotope analyses suggested that he most likely grew
up locally meaning the "Giant's" Berber ancestry was in fact due to
migration from an earlier generation. He therefore belonged to a settled community that had thoroughly intermixed local Spanish and immigrant
North African ancestry.

What was especially striking revealed Professor Martin Richards, Director
of the University's Evolutionary Genomics Research Centre, was that he
was very unlike modern people from Valencia, who carry little or none
of his Berber genetic heritage.

This can be explained by the changing political situation following
the Christian reconquest of Spain as Dr Oteo-Garcia, who recently
commenced work at the University of Parma, explained: "The decree of
expulsion of Moriscos from the Valencia region, that is, Muslims who
had already been forcibly converted to Christianity, was followed
by the resettlement by people from further north, who had little
North African ancestry, thereby transforming the genetic variation
in the region." Dr Silva, who now works at London's Francis Crick
Institute, said: "The impact of this dramatic change in population,
resulting from a brutal political decision hundreds of years
ago, can finally be witnessed directly using ancient DNA, as seen
here in the ancestry of the 'Segorbe Giant' and his contemporaries." ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Huddersfield. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Marina Silva, Gonzalo Oteo-Garci'a, Rui Martiniano, Joa~o
Guimara~es,
Matthew von Tersch, Ali Madour, Tarek Shoeib, Alessandro
Fichera, Pierre Justeau, M. George B. Foody, Krista McGrath,
Amparo Barrachina, Vicente Palomar, Katharina Dulias, Bobby Yau,
Francesca Gandini, Douglas J.

Clarke, Alexandra Rosa, Anto'nio Brehm, Anto`nia Flaquer,
Teresa Rito, Anna Olivieri, Alessandro Achilli, Antonio Torroni,
Alberto Go'mez- Carballa, Antonio Salas, Jaroslaw Bryk, Peter
W. Ditchfield, Michelle Alexander, Maria Pala, Pedro A. Soares,
Ceiridwen J. Edwards, Martin B.

Richards. Biomolecular insights into North African-related ancestry,
mobility and diet in eleventh-century Al-Andalus. Scientific
Reports, 2021; 11 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-95996-3 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/09/210923115624.htm

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