Given the paucity of archaeogenetic data available for medieval European populations in comparison to other historical periods, the genetic landscape of this age appears as a puzzle of dispersed, small, known pieces. In particular, Southeastern Europe has been scarcely investigated to date. In this paper, we report the study of mitochondrial DNA in 10th century AD human samples from Capidava necropolis, located in Dobruja (Southeastern Romania, Southeastern Europe). This geographical region is particularly interesting because of the extensive population flux following diverse migration routes, and the complex interactions between distinct population groups during the medieval period. We successfully amplified and typed the mitochondrial control region of 10 individuals. For five of them, we also reconstructed the complete mitochondrial genomes using hybridization-based DNA capture combined with Next Generation Sequencing. We have portrayed the genetic structure of the Capidava medieval population, represented by 10 individuals displaying 8 haplotypes (U5a1c2a, V1a, R0a2’3, H1, U3a, N9a9, H5e1a1, and H13a1a3). Remarkable for this site is the presence of both Central Asiatic (N9a) and common European mtDNA haplotypes, establishing Capidava as a point of convergence between East and West. The distribution of mtDNA lineages in the necropolis highlighted the existence of two groups of two individuals with close maternal relationships as they share the same haplotypes. We also sketch, using comparative statistical and population genetic analyses, the genetic relationships between the investigated dataset and other medieval and modern Eurasian populations.

The governments’ intervention in the economy impacts technological performance and sustainability. This role has become even more critical due to the COVID-19 situation and in the context of the continuous increase in resource consumption, which requires finding alternative solutions. We provide a comprehensive literature review about the state’s economic functions, redistribution of resources in society, and the role of state intervention in sustainability-related issues, giving a full description of the opinions and concepts primarily of economists. We propose to study governments’ interventions in their economy using budgetary resources on public expenditure, highlighting the leading factors in government policies using a suggested intervention index. The state’s intervention policy’s stability is measured via the intervention index’s partial autocorrelation function over the years. We collected data from OECD data sets and conducted a descriptive statistical analysis followed by panel data analysis. Subsequently, two questions are explored about the state’s intervention and its technical performance and technology-related sustainability issues. Results show that economic strength positively affects the intervention. Expenditures on education may lead to better technological outcomes, unlike expenses on health. The tax burden inhibits innovation and technological progress, but total governmental revenues positively affect technological performance.

No abstract

The historical province of Dobruja, located in southeastern Romania, has experienced intense human population movement, invasions, and conflictual episodes during the Middle Ages, being an important intersection point between Asia and Europe. The most informative source of maternal population histories is the complete mitochondrial genome of archaeological specimens, but currently, there is insufficient ancient DNA data available for the medieval period in this geographical region to complement the archaeological findings. In this study, we reconstructed, by using Next Generation Sequencing, the entire mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) of six medieval individuals neglectfully buried in a multiple burial from Capidava necropolis (Dobruja), some presenting signs of a violent death. Six distinct maternal lineages (H11a1, U4d2, J1c15, U6a1a1, T2b, and N1a3a) with different phylogenetic background were identified, pointing out the heterogeneous genetic aspect of the analyzed medieval group. Using population genetic analysis based on high-resolution mitochondrial data, we inferred the genetic affinities of the available medieval dataset from Capidava to other ancient Eurasian populations. The genetic data were integrated with the archaeological and anthropological information in order to sketch a small, local piece of the mosaic that is the image of medieval European population history.